And It’s Only 10%

More than 5,000 civil service jobs are set to go at the Ministry of Defence in a drive to cut costs, prompting alarm among trade unions. David Williams, the permanent secretary, said the department was aiming to lose 10% of its 56,800 staff by the end of the parliament. It has already shed thousands under the previous government through a hiring freeze that was due to end in March 2025.

What on earth do they all do..? They certainly don't keep the Armed Services running like clockwork:

Two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and two support tankers will be decommissioned, with the savings reinvested into the defence budget. Healey blamed the move on a “dire inheritance” left by the previous Tory administration. Williams’s comments about reducing the size of the MoD appears to have come as a surprise to those working in the department and the leading civil service trade union.

I'd ask when the last government is going to stop being the catch-all for trouble under this government, but I suspect I know the answer... 

Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: “We had been given no warning this was coming. To announce job cuts in parliament and talk about 10% of MoD jobs being lost as a ‘jumping-off point’ is hugely disrespectful to our hard-working members, who deserve better from their employer.

“Our members in the MoD are doing essential work in keeping the country running and we shall not let them, or other dedicated public servants, pay the price for the previous government’s financial black hole.

“We demand an urgent meeting with ministers to get to the bottom of what is happening at the MoD but, rest assured, PCS will fight for every job because we believe our members’ commitment should be recognised and rewarded, not dismissed in the Houses of Parliament.”

I suppose it's nice to know at least one aspect of our Armed Services is up for a fight, even if it's just with the government... 

And I'm Just Fine With That...

...because as a taxpayer, I expect parents to feed their own damn kids!

More than half a million children will go hungry during school holiday periods from the October half-term if the government fails to renew a £1bn local welfare crisis fund due to end in six weeks’ time, charities have warned.

English councils last year spent £370m from their household support fund (HSF) allocations on holiday food vouchers for pupils on free school meals (FSM) – but more than a quarter of authorities say this support could disappear if the fund is ditched.

Well, they've still got the child benefit. They could always spend it on feeding the child for a change.  

“If HSF ends, with no long-term strategy to replace it, it will instantly plunge millions into more financial turmoil. The effects of poverty, deprivation and even malnutrition will be exacerbated and the additional costs to public services will be huge,” a report by the charity End Furniture Poverty report concludes.

'Furniture Poverty'...? What on earth..? 

Yes, Reader, it's a real thing, apparently. 

Council-run local crisis support would disappear from nearly a third of English local authority areas covering 18 million people, including Birmingham, Bradford, Nottingham, Westminster, Croydon, Hampshire, Slough, and Stoke-on-Trent. Its removal would also push scores of local food banks to the brink of insolvency, with many having become reliant on HSF cash grants to meet the explosion in demand for charity food as a result of Covid and the cost of living crisis.

Give something away for free and there's a rise in demand for it? Well, imagine my shocked face!  

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, last month identified the £500m HSF budget for the first six months of this year as one of a number of “unfunded” commitments made by the previous government – part of a £22bn spending shortfall – which would come under Treasury scrutiny. Campaigners say they believe ministers will be wary of provoking a public backlash if school holiday food vouchers disappear in many areas of England. A popular campaign led by the footballer Marcus Rashford in 2020 twice forced the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, to reverse plans to scrap holiday free school meals support.

I think campaigners should be well aware by now that Starmer's government couldn't care less about a 'public backlash'... 

Campaigners are urging the HSF to be maintained for at least six months. Claire Donovan, the head of policy at End Furniture Poverty, said: “We know the HSF is a sticking plaster, but we desperately need one last extension of funding while an urgent review of local authority crisis support is carried out.”

Let's hope you don't get it. Because you should never have got the initial money in the first place.  

PCCs Spending Your Money

But not necessarily on what you want, of course...

A new role has been created to provide emotional support to families of victims seriously injured or killed in road accidents.

Is this something that's desperately needed, then?  

As part of a collaboration with road safety charity Brake, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has funded the new Independent Road Victim Advocate (IRVA) position. The IRVA, who will be employed by Brake, will be specifically trained to assist families during their most challenging times.They will be able to help with day-to-day tasks that can become overwhelming for people who have lost a loved one such as managing their finances and helping them to understand procedures such as court cases.

'Managing their finances'..? Seems to be going a bit further than the uaual police victim support services!  

Will it replace them?

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said: “Through ongoing conversations with the road safety charity Brake and hearing about the work of its National Road Victim Service, I noticed a gap in our support provision regarding family members of those killed or seriously injured on the roads.

"I wanted to provide families who are going through unimaginable distress, with a specialist and tailored support network that will complement the investigative and operational work of our family liaison officers.

So...that's a 'no' then. It's in addition to them. Isn't this duplication of effort?  

“The IRVA caseworker is the first of its kind in Sussex and I am delighted to be working with leading charity Brake as we support those who need it most.

“Most collisions on our roads are preventable and every fatality is one too many. Alongside the additional support that will be provided to families through the role of the IRVA, I also intend to set up a dedicated ‘Fatal Five Unit’ to move forward the Vision Zero approach to road safety and cut fatal and serious collisions by half by 2035."

Funding for the role was obtained from the Ministry of Justice, with nearly £60,000 put in place to secure an IRVA position for the county.

The Ministry of Justice doesn't have any money. This is coming from the taxpayer. Is it a good use of scarce resources? 

It seems it's just another petty bureaucrat spending like a drunken sailor to enhance her own profile. Isn't it about time to scrap PCCs?

Then The Civil Service Should Pay

The science secretary, Michelle Donelan, received government advice before she tweeted a letter in which she accused an academic of supporting Hamas, Downing Street has said. No 10 refused to say what advice officials had given her and whether she actually followed it, but insisted she had “acted in line with established precedent”.

Lame response - find out! Signed, a bill payer. 

Kate Sang, a professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, sued Donelan for libel after the minister published a letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October urging it to cut links with her and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel of University College London. Donelan expressed her “disgust and outrage” at their appointment to an expert advisory group to Research England on equality, diversity and inclusion. However, in a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Donelan admitted she was wrong and had misunderstood the social media posts. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) later said it had paid £15,000 to settle the case without admitting liability, out of public funds.

Take it out of the civil service budget. She cleared it with them.  

On Thursday evening it was reported that Donelan’s letter was cleared by her department’s legal team. Politico said civil servants had flagged concerns during the drafting of the letter – to which numerous people, including top officials, contributed – but that the legal team had decided the position was solid.

Not that that stops Labour idiots grandstanding: 

The shadow leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell, asked whether Donelan had followed “appropriate advice” that was given to her, or had gone against it. “Because if [she went against it], then surely she should personally pay the costs,” Powell told MPs.

The person responsible for clearing it should pay. Not me and you, eh, Reader? 

There's Something Toxic In London, All Right...

But it's not the air, it's something that rhymes with 'air'...

A scheme charging some motorists £12.50 a day to drive in London to cut air pollution has been accused of using data that is ‘complete nonsense’. In an open letter to those opposing his plans, Mr Khan said toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners each year. He said: ‘Research by Imperial College London shows Bromley has the highest premature deaths linked to air pollution with an estimated 204 lives lost in 2019.’

Ah, really? 

But Bromley Council leader Colin Smith said the study commissioned by City Hall ‘chose to ignore Bromley’s much older population profile’.He said many elderly residents spent ‘their younger years in inner London experiencing the smogs and smoke-filled pubs of yesteryear’. He added: ‘It is complete nonsense.’

Like anything spouted by this jumped up little popinjay.  

Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely every year as a result of poor quality air, with those in Outer London some of the most vulnerable due to their age and therefore hardest hit. ‘Sadiq refuses to sit back and do nothing when lives are being lost and urges these local authorities to support his plans to bring cleaner air to every Londoner - wherever they live in the capital.’

Then if you really believe this, why are you telling motorists 'It's OK, pay £12.50 and you can suffocate kiddies with your exhaust all day long!'..? 

Too Little, Too Late Again...

Health chiefs will cull up to 8,000 non-frontline NHS jobs as part of a clampdown on 'waste and wokery' in the health service.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard revealed plans to cut between 30 to 40 per cent of jobs at a trio of health bodies by 2024.

How long have the 'conservatives' been in power? Why are they only just getting around to this now..?  

The move will see between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 20,000 jobs at NHS Digital and Health Education England (HEE), which is in charge of training the workforce.

The two central bodies are being merged with NHS England in an effort to reduce duplicating roles and save up to £1billion over five years.

How is it possible that they were ever set up under the noses of successive Health Ministers in the first place? Did no-one have their eye on the ball? 

Previous efforts to slash bureaucracy and doubling up of roles in the NHS have cost the taxpayer billions in pay-offs only for the health service to rehire them.

This time, put the stake through the heart AND cut off the head and stuff the mouth with garlic, just to be sure... 

I've Just One Question: How..?

Tourists and second home owners visiting a Cornish sea sideside resort will have to pay to use public toilets while the facilities will remain free for locals.

All eight public toilets in the west Cornish town have traditionally been free to use by everyone, but now the local authority wants to recoup some cash without adversely affecting locals.

Surely the amount of money such a scheme will cost to impliment will outweigh any gains? So...it's not about cost at all, is it? 

The town council said it is still finalising the details of the new contactless toilets but is looking at ways to ensure second home owners or holiday let users cannot use their temporary St Ives address or share any access codes with their Airbnb customers, so public toilets are only genuinely free for locals.

You're going to find a way to stop people sharing access codes, eh? 

Cool! After that, can you get to work on a perpetual motion scheme, or energy from nothing? Or even peace in the Middle East, if you really want a challenge... 

Mrs Dwelly said: 'We will be giving residents a card or code to use on their phone so when they use the public toilets it will be free. Visitors will have to pay and will be able to use their phone or credit card to do so.'

Or will ask/pay a friendly local to swipe their card/phone for them... 

"Won't Someone Think Of The Children Our Profits...?"

Before Brexit, groups of children could travel using identity cards under the List of Travellers scheme.

Now, every child must have a passport, and children with non-EU passports – including refugees – also need a £95 visa. Schools are opting to go to Ireland or Malta for English language trips, or not travelling at all.

Oh noes, 40,000 jobs at risk (according to the increasingly-hysterical 'Guardian'). Whatever shall we do? 

Kurt Janson, the director of the Tourism Alliance, said the passport requirement was having “a devastating impact on a large number of small businesses and local communities”.

“The collapse in the school group market is unnecessary as schoolchildren present no security risk, will not disappear into the black economy and start driving minicabs....”

Well, I dunno, I guess it depends on the 'children', doesn't it? 

Does The 'Guardian' Realise What It's Inadvertently Published Here?

Sunita Ghosh Dastidar - a journalist and filmmaker, apparently - on the terrible injustice of foodbanks:

I grew up in Whinney Banks in Middlesbrough, one of the most deprived areas in England, with almost a third of children living in income-deprived households. My mum is a first-generation immigrant, and my parents had to start from nothing here. For a while, we were homeless – when my mum was heavily pregnant with my brother – and I took my first steps in a hostel for families.

Hmmm, OK. But since you grew up to be a journalist, it clearly worked. I guess you must be one of those hard working immigrants who triumphed without handouts and...

Wait! 

We were eventually moved from the homeless hostel into a brand-new council house a few streets away from the corner shop where my parents used to work.

Immigrants getting council houses? I thought that was 'a myth spread by the far Right' according to the progressive press? 

Such housing is available to far fewer people now.

Well, yes, and it's no wonder, isn't it? We ran out of supply! 

People like Mark and Kath are doing what they can and their resolve to help their local community by filling people’s stomachs should be commended. But we need political intervention rather than community intervention. I was partly lifted out of poverty because of the help I received through government funding for community services, and that’s what we need now.

You mean, you want the government to stick its hand even deeper into my pocket for people who come here for a free ride? No! We're not putting up with that any longer.

Legendary Incompetence!

Mr Walker used to rent a garage on a plot of land off Whitecroft Road, Bolton. The land was sold by Bolton Council in 2019 and now belongs to Mr Walker’s neighbour.

But he is still being sent invoices for £64.

Oops! 

“They send it every couple of months, but the council sold the land in 2019. They’re so stupid, they didn’t even know when I rang them that it had been sold.

“I’ve told them about it but still get letters. I’ve had 22 letters of these invoices with six demands from debt collections threatening me with court.”

Let them try! I suspect the magistrates will take a dim view of their time being wasted. 

Paul and Ruth Whitehead bought the land off the council in 2019.

Mr Whitehead said: “Even I’m getting letters asking me to pay the garage fee – and I own it.”

You couldn't make it up, could you? 

A spokesman for the council said: “This looks like an administrative error on our part and we’re getting it fixed.”

How long does it take?!?