Sunday 14 August 2011

Pots and kettles.

They just don't care.

Tell them they've done wrong, and they laugh at you.

Ask them to explain their theft and they refuse.

Reason does not work, they will not listen. They believe they are right in all things. They are unafraid of punishment and utterly unconcerned about the public's opinion of them.

I mean, what can you do with people like this?

They decry the looters while stealing ten times as much from us. The moral high ground has never been so far below sea level.

If we're lucky, they'll all drown.

14 comments:

JuliaM said...

"I mean, what can you do with people like this? "

Don't tempt me!

Anonymous said...

How do I apply for one?

Ralph Musgrave said...

Typical emotive and irrational Daily Mail reporting. As long as public sector practice is similar to private sector practice, and as long as there are reasonable checks on when expense claims are made, I’ve no objection to this credit card system. Checking up on every single expense claim made by employees is extremely time consuming. As long as expense fiddling is reasonably well under control, I’ve no objections.

Mike Spilligan said...

Mr Musgrave: Of course it's typical Daily Mail reporting, because it's the Daily (or Sunday) Mail - and we regular readers know that one has to probe further than the headline. If it wasn't for the Mail, and some others, we would never get to know of these things, and make our own judgement.
Also, it's far different when a private company does this, for the obvious reason that it's not taxpayers' money they're wasting.
Also, when a private sector employee breaks the rules he/she stands a good chance of being sacked and possibly losing a pension, while public servants aren't likely to get more than a slap on the wrist and carry on as before. In extremis, they get transferred to another department!
"As long as expense fiddling is reasonably well under control": Well, if you read the article you'd have seen that it's not, and that's tantamount to saying, "You can steal if it's not too much".
Yes, I've been "on expenses" in industry, and was also responsible for checking others' expenses. It needn't be time consuming if it's done methodically and rationally. I worked in a company with nearly 3,000 employees of whom about 40% were "on expenses" and if we'd have spent as much as IPSA is spending to run its scheme - £2m. a year - we'd have soon put the company into administration.
My guess is that you, too, are a public servant who finds the whole thing tiresome; after all it's only someone else's money

James Higham said...

Am I permitted to swear on your blog, Leggie? Utter fucking hypocrites, these bastards and the sooner they're excised, the better.

Mr Ecks said...

As well as the credit card scam it would be looking into the amount of wining and dining that senior civil servants receive from all manor of organisations/individuals. This is not paid for by the taxpayer but it is an obvious source of corruption in public life.

Captain Haddock said...

I was once the subject of an "investigation" & was served with a Form 126, which required me to pay (out of my own pocket) for the replacement of a pair of Issue, Olive Green, Denim trousers which were accidentally shrunk in the wash ..

Because I had been "careless" and because they were originally from "public funds" ..

Bent as feckin' corkscrews .. the lot of 'em ..

shuggie said...

The councils had to finally agree to show their accounts for credit card spending. Makes good reading. Aberdeenshire claimed £500 for hoodies, £500 a night stays at Hyde park hotels, £500 for dog warden armbands, 20 big button phones ( eyesight problems ?)..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/council-spending/8541942/Aberdeenshire-Council-credit-card-spending.html


Aberdeen City haven't fessed up yet so there must be some interesting reading from their accounts.

Anonymous said...

Ralph Musgrave..."As long as expense fiddling is reasonably well under control, I’ve no objections."

Are you a politician or member of some other taxpayer funded organisation?

PT Barnum said...

Ralph Musgrave was the character from a Sherlock Holmes story who forgot to pass down the family ritual about where the king's gold was hidden on the estate, which led, according to the law of unforseen consequences, to murder being done.

kitler said...

@ralph

'Checking up on every single expense claim made by employees is extremely time consuming.'

So is keeping up to date with council tax and self assesment income tax forms but see how far you get using that as an excuse not to pay the government its protection money.

Screw all politicians and thier appologists. Society is going to go tits up and those of a self reliant libertarian mindset will thrive whilst the unrealistic and the feckless will get the lives they so richly deserve.

Captain Haddock said...

"Checking up on every single .............. is extremely time consuming" ..

Yes, I believe that to be the mind-set of UKBA, when it comes to illegal immigrants & asylum seekers too ..

Typical response from the "Snivelling Serpents" ...

Leg-iron said...

Ralph - I have to keep every single receipt for the taxman, because the rule is simple - no receipt, no claim. I don't get let off with a single unaccounted penny. Yes, it takes time, but I'm expected to do it anyway.

For me it's unpaid time too.

For those checking government accounts, it's not only paid time, it's precisely what they are paid to do. So the 'it takes time' argument doesn't work here.

Comparison with the private sector doesn't work because they are not taking money by force. If I don't like the way a private business operates, I just don't buy their product or service. I am not forced to hand over money to any private business, and private business does not demand to see my accounts.

Those tax returns I have to keep every little detail for end up with me paying money to the government. I have no option there.

Is it too much to expect them to apply the same rules to themselves as they do to me?

bollixed said...

Ralph, I've been in positions where I had to check expenses from others. Private sector obviously. Easy. You flick through them, judge from experience which ones are reasonable, then take a closer look at the more generous applications. Also I let it be known that every week I would take 5 at random and go through them with a fine tooth comb. Any fiddling and they were either given the chance to 'rectify' the 'mistake' or were simply sacked and reported to the police for theft or fraud. Never had to report one person and never had any problems with expenses. Why is that so difficult to operate in the public sector? Oh yeah, its only us tax paying mugs money!! I like the way you think reasonable theft is acceptable. Are you fer real??

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