Tag: logic

In a break from some gardening, whilst searching to find what the candidates in the local election might have in their manifestos (because, with one exception, none of them have communicated with me), I came across a sitting councillor’s plans for saving the planet. Now I appreciate that, to borrow a phrase, ‘every little helps’ and that without the flashy headline nobody might have noticed it at all, but replacing paper copies of the local council newspaper with email, but only if everyone in a street agrees to do the same, is probably only going to save a few twigs, not the planet.

Anyway, the distributors are already being quite effective in saving the planet… I haven’t received a copy of Swindon News since August. I hope the council has spent wisely the 24 p it saved by not sending me the last three editions.

I spent most of this morning in a meeting discussing a new scheme aimed at people at the start of their careers. We can ask many questions about what they have done and their career history, but the one question we will not be allowed to ask is ‘How many years of relevant experience do you have?’ Why not? Because a union that monitors what we do regards it as a breach of our positive duty not to discriminate on grounds of age. Everyone in the room was agreed this was not very sensible (someone who started a new career late is just as likely to have only a few years of relevant experience as a younger person) but, apparently, we don’t wish to upset the union.

The union represents employees in our suppliers. My employer has a very strange approach to doing business.

It’s nice to see that my local MP has such a good grasp of a significant issue in her constituency. According to the local newspaper, she said

Alan [Johnson, Education Secretary] echoed my disappointment and Michael Wills’ disappointment, and of course the council’s, that the university is not coming here and has decided to pull out.

And I think he explained his scepticism that the university is quoting the Stern report on climate change as the reason why it should not come here.

Err… climate change affecting university development? Not quite. In fact, nowhere near. Neither of the University of Bath’s recent press releases mention climate change nor the Stern Report. They do mention

the Government’s priorities for the future development of higher education are shifting towards increased opportunities for study whilst in the workplace.

as set out in a letter to HEFCE from Alan Johnson and the government commissioned Leitch Review of Skills. But nothing to do with climate change (except for the political hot air quoted here).

The BBC repeated several times today that the government will be providing 1000 extra trains which it will pay for. But read the speech that this is based on and it says no such thing. The exact words are

So in the High Level Output Specification this summer, we will specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand.

In this way, if the price is right, I anticipate that we will significantly increase the number of carriages on the network by 2014.

The High Level Output Specification will be the government’s expectation for what the railway will deliver over the coming years. It does not mean that the government will pay for this. In fact, if you consider that most of the recently let rail franchises require the Train Operating Companies to pay the government a premium within one or two years rather than receive a subsidy, it is the passengers that will be paying for the trains, not the government. Methinks some people in the DfT and the Beeb must be feeling very dizzy at the moment.

The University of Bath has now confirmed its decision not to build a new campus in Swindon. The response of one of our local MPs, as reported by the Swindon Evening Advertiser, seems a bit OTT:

Mr Wills said he was very disappointed. “It’s a great shame that the town has gone so far in trying to accommodate the University of Bath,” he said.

“It’s a real blow that without any real notice to anyone in the town that they have pulled the plug on the project. This raises significant questions about other projects in the town and the region.”

One organisation has cancelled its plans owing, it says, to a change in government policy, and suddenly all other major developments are in doubt… not just in Swindon but across the south west. ’Tis a bit like claiming that, as it rained today, there is a serious risk that we will never see the sun again.

At a meeting yesterday, in answer to a question about how performance standards could be ensured in a new agency, given that it would be a monopoly supplier, the answer given was that the people at the top would be on performance related contracts and if they failed to perform they’d be looking for new jobs. The next question was “Does that mean that people in the [new agency] will be on different pay and conditions, with performance related bonuses, whilst those in the [existing agencies] will not?” Answer: “Anyone TUPEed into the [new agency] will keep their current pay and conditions.” [TUPE = Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations]. If I translate the combination of those two answers correctly it means there’ll be no incentives to meet performance standards at all.

There was a sign on a gate to a school near my home this morning stating

‘This gate is locked because of the icy conditions of the path.’

As a result, any child going to school would need to walk along the road and round to the main entrance of the school. This is a longer distance and these paths were also icy. But not the school’s responsibility. So that’s all right then. It doesn’t matter if the school increases the (albeit small) risk of a child having a serious accident on the ice, as long as the risk of the school being sued for it is reduced.