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General Thread for the election (old Electioneering starting early thread from Local News)


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16 hours ago, John Wright said:

But that’s exactly what you’re suggesting. And it’s a common attitude here. So, how do we achieve the situation you want. Do we have a change in the franchise so we have a teachers seat, an engineers seat, a medically qualified seat, a farmers or fisherman’s  seat, a business consultants seat, and economists seat? Otherwise how do we ensure we elect people with the qualifications you say are needed?

You really are confusing the role of minister. It’s not their job to be an expert in the field covered by their department. That’s the job of civil servants and outside experts. You’re describing a technocracy, not a democracy.

And who is going to be qualified to vote for these paragons of their professions, all of us, or just voters qualified in each departmental sector? 

 

 

Exactly this, which is why I found minister Ashford yesterday cringeworthy both on manninline and in PAC.

He has clearly read some papers and watched a few YouTube videos, so now instead of referring questions to experts feels equipped to answer them himself.

I am sure someone has already referenced it, but it was the source of a Dr Glover rant on twitter last night.

It isn't his job to know the answers to every question about scientific and medical matters.  It is his job to put the needs and views of his assigned civil servants and experts to comin and tynwald and support them to do their jobs in the best way they can for the island by making sure they have the backing, financing and physical and human resources they need

Edited by trmpton
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On 5/11/2021 at 5:04 PM, thommo2010 said:

Reading the puff piece about quayle in the paper today you'd think he had dedicated his life to politics and had some remarkable achievements. 

Well he managed to get all the way to New Zealand and back... albeit Chalmers was probably holding his hand.

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8 hours ago, code99 said:

If anybody listened to Kathryn's Magson's testimony to the PAC yesterday, they would probably conclude that we already live in a technocracy. Mrs Magson has a formidable personality, and she did not give straight answers to any questions. It seems to me that some senior civil servants are able to run rings around our politicians. This dynamic is not good for our democracy either.

Which is why people supervision, management and encouragement skills are more important than professional or academic skills/diplomas.

The same skill set applies to all ministries and departments. Quite simple. You and your civil service team focus on the following.

Do we need it.

How much does it cost.

Can we afford it.

Ensure we deliver on budget and on time.

Be transparent. Especially if things go wrong.

Hold to account.

if you can’t do that, resign.

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1 minute ago, John Wright said:

Which is why people supervision, management and encouragement skills are more important than professional or academic skills/diplomas.

The same skill set applies to all ministries and departments. Quite simple. You and your civil service team focus on the following.

Do we need it.

How much does it cost.

Can we afford it.

Ensure we deliver on budget and on time.

Be transparent. Especially if things go wrong.

Hold to account.

if you can’t do that, resign.

There'd be no one left!

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1 hour ago, John Wright said:

Which is why people supervision, management and encouragement skills are more important than professional or academic skills/diplomas.

The same skill set applies to all ministries and departments. Quite simple. You and your civil service team focus on the following.

Do we need it.

How much does it cost.

Can we afford it.

Ensure we deliver on budget and on time.

Be transparent. Especially if things go wrong.

Hold to account.

if you can’t do that, resign.

But that means their track record for the last decade or so, based on the above criteria, has been a litany of abject failure.

So why has there never been mass resignations in line with the "results" of their labours...?

Edited by P.K.
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4 minutes ago, P.K. said:

But that means their track record for the last decade or so, based on the above criteria, has been a litany of abject failure.

So why has there never been mass resignations in line with the "results" of their labours...?

I didn’t say that’s how they did it. That’s my analysis of what the job of minister entails. KISS also needs to be there, somewhere.

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8 minutes ago, John Wright said:

I didn’t say that’s how they did it. That’s my analysis of what the job of minister entails. KISS also needs to be there, somewhere.

IMHO their job also entails an essential top-down view as SMEs tend to live in their own little world, liaison with other departments to ensure joined-up thinking and an ability to lead and inspire when the going gets tough.

With the quality of the denizens of Tynwald I would have thought KISS was a given....

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2 hours ago, Andy Onchan said:

Well he managed to get all the way to New Zealand and back... albeit Chalmers was probably holding his hand.

I'm surprised he didn't do a Road Trip to NZ and return, on the pillion of Charters' Harley.

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