CrazyDave Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, finlo said: Not others just you. Well, you just liked Cissolts post and he can’t read either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Voice of Reason Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 20 minutes ago, CrazyDave said: Maybe a large civil service can make somewhere the best place in the world to live? Would there be a valid argument against that if it was managed well? To be fair Crazy has a point here. There seems to be some sort of inbuilt bias on these pages that having civil servants is a bad thing and that we maybe have too many. Well maybe, All I know is that if I ring up the Income Tax Division here with a query I get to speak to a real person who from experience sorts me out pretty quickly ( and helpfully and politely) Contrast that with trying to deal with HMRC across where you get lost in some sort of telephone loop, endless options to press “1” or “2” etc on your telephone keypad only to end up where you started. Or endless exhortations to go on their website for FAQ’s ( which also gets you nowhere) The same sort of thing is true of many IOM Government departments. To be honest I am more than happy to pay a little extra for the superior service we get here 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 hour ago, thommo2010 said: I said in the thread tough decisions to be made that any decision the public doesn't agree with will be backtracked and here we are I'm sure they could come up with some "tough decisions" that the public would agree with wholeheartedly. They won't though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 27 minutes ago, slinkydevil said: I'd like to see one CS per person and they get assigned to us from birth. First name terms and we get to see them every day for a natter. What a great selling point for the Isle of Man. Birthday and Xmas cards too at the very least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyDave Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 42 minutes ago, CrazyDave said: Maybe a large civil service can make somewhere the best place in the world to live? Would there be a valid argument against that if it was managed well? @woolley Why is this funny? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 minutes ago, CrazyDave said: @woolley Why is this funny? The word "large" has been stretched to its limit and then stretched some more in relation to our Island government. I know we can't go in for wholesale sackings, but a recruitment freeze and a plan to reduce headcount through redeployment and rationalisation of ADMINISTRATIVE (not front line service) functions over a number of years would set the right tone. Right now the accelerator is hard down headlong towards the cliff edge, and all we are seeing is more of the same. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyDave Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 minutes ago, woolley said: The word "large" has been stretched to its limit and then stretched some more in relation to our Island government. I know we can't go in for wholesale sackings, but a recruitment freeze and a plan to reduce headcount through redeployment and rationalisation of ADMINISTRATIVE (not front line service) functions over a number of years would set the right tone. Right now the accelerator is hard down headlong towards the cliff edge, and all we are seeing is more of the same. On my god. It was a question. There was no mention of the IoM. Comprehension skills on here are seriously lacking FFS Here is the answer for you. ”The public sector in Sweden is large compared to many other countries. It consists of the central government and the municipal sector. In 2022, around 1.5 million people were employed in the public sector.” Sweden is widely regarded as the best country in the world to live in. A large governe Doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlo Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 8 minutes ago, CrazyDave said: On my god. It was a question. There was no mention of the IoM. Comprehension skills on here are seriously lacking FFS Here is the answer for you. ”The public sector in Sweden is large compared to many other countries. It consists of the central government and the municipal sector. In 2022, around 1.5 million people were employed in the public sector.” Sweden is widely regarded as the best country in the world to live in. A large governe Doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Keeping begging for your job is seriously bad taste! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Onchan Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, thommo2010 said: I said in the thread tough decisions to be made that any decision the public doesn't agree with will be backtracked and here we are But only because the case put forward was flawed; under-researched and incomplete. The Southern Board picked up on that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 47 minutes ago, CrazyDave said: On my god. It was a question. There was no mention of the IoM. Comprehension skills on here are seriously lacking FFS Here is the answer for you. ”The public sector in Sweden is large compared to many other countries. It consists of the central government and the municipal sector. In 2022, around 1.5 million people were employed in the public sector.” Sweden is widely regarded as the best country in the world to live in. A large governe Doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Er, because this is MANX forums on page 19 of a thread in which we have been discussing the antics of our government, so perhaps we can be forgiven for not immediately tumbling to the fact that you are now suddenly talking about fecking Sweden! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyDave Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 3 minutes ago, woolley said: Er, because this is MANX forums on page 19 of a thread in which we have been discussing the antics of our government, so perhaps we can be forgiven for not immediately tumbling to the fact that you are now suddenly talking about fecking Sweden! How about just reading the post? It was a question that was entirely related to the thread and the topic being discussed. Its not my problem if you skim read something and fill in some gaps that don’t exist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 33 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said: But only because the case put forward was flawed; under-researched and incomplete. The Southern Board picked up on that. And that's so often the way with IOMG actions. Decisions seem to be made for entirely political/personal reasons, often in a panic and then they have to scramble to justify them. In this case they were clearly aware that the NSC budget was running over massively (I suspect because some casual staff were given full-time positions) and killing off the Southern Pool looked like an easy way of 'saving' the money. It was also politically easy because none of the South MHKs are in CoMin. Of course the sums didn't add up, but they only had to fool Cannan and co and most of them will be impressed by 'hard choices' rhetoric providing the hardship is for other people ( a lot of MF posters are similar). As usual whether money was actually saved or whether more inconvenient and more expensive consequences would result is irrelevant. The important thing is to make the politicians feel good. But the South MHKs were already disgruntled for various reasons and Watterson in particular can be quite effective if you can drag him out of the dressing up box. So the flaws in the case were quickly pointed out. It's not just that - the row threatened to open up other embarrassing topics such as the way the NSC was run and the failure of the Eastern authorities to pay towards their local pool. So a quick about-turn was not unexpected. I noticed from Haywood's Facebook statement that Poole-Wilson was also at the meeting. You can just about argue she counts as a Southern MHK because of Santon, (though I don't think the Parish is on the Southern Pool Board) but the fact she was there suggests at least an intention to report back to try to limit damage. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 5 hours ago, Roger Mexico said: And that's so often the way with IOMG actions. Decisions seem to be made for entirely political/personal reasons, often in a panic and then they have to scramble to justify them. In this case they were clearly aware that the NSC budget was running over massively (I suspect because some casual staff were given full-time positions) and killing off the Southern Pool looked like an easy way of 'saving' the money. It was also politically easy because none of the South MHKs are in CoMin. Of course the sums didn't add up, but they only had to fool Cannan and co and most of them will be impressed by 'hard choices' rhetoric providing the hardship is for other people ( a lot of MF posters are similar). As usual whether money was actually saved or whether more inconvenient and more expensive consequences would result is irrelevant. The important thing is to make the politicians feel good. But the South MHKs were already disgruntled for various reasons and Watterson in particular can be quite effective if you can drag him out of the dressing up box. So the flaws in the case were quickly pointed out. It's not just that - the row threatened to open up other embarrassing topics such as the way the NSC was run and the failure of the Eastern authorities to pay towards their local pool. So a quick about-turn was not unexpected. I noticed from Haywood's Facebook statement that Poole-Wilson was also at the meeting. You can just about argue she counts as a Southern MHK because of Santon, (though I don't think the Parish is on the Southern Pool Board) but the fact she was there suggests at least an intention to report back to try to limit damage. This steps over the fact that the Southern pool needs significant investment in the very near term, and the action is just can kicking by extending the life of what is pretty obviously an end of life facility. None of the 'whatabout NSC' etc changes this and just suggests there is not political capital to make hard decisions, especially when the South MHKs are pretty much 'out of the tent' with no CoMin positions due to CRHS/Earystane/Pool etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hmmmm Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 This latest debacle concerning the Southern Pool brings into sharp focus how totally inept Comin is. When it was first announced I wondered how the closure would fit in with Alfs vision of growing a vibrant economy and population with wonderful leisure facilities and services. Yes it was ill thought out but it also highlights how weak the government is when confronted with public angst. It also demonstrates a complete lack of a collective plan to address the cuts that need to be made - picking small quick fixes is not the answer - a strategic approach is sadly lacking for national reductions. Departments seem to be acting in silos until unpopular decisions like this are made. Alf would have been a good CM in the halycon days of the building and business boom when Douglas sky line was framed by numerous cranes and VAT was flowing abundantly. Perhaps the MDC would have been a perfect fit for that era. Unfortunatey these are different times and Alf is not the right man. Do Comin or indeed the whole govt. not look at the diminishing reserves and think the situation is not sustainable. It seems they just carry on regardless merely paying lip service to impending and mounting financial issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Silos? We've been hearing about them since the beginning of the Bell term, they were supposed to have been addressed. When we're in times of plenty they're all the right man for the job, CMs, Ministers, MHKs. "Better to be wrestling with the problems of success than the problems of failure" as Donald Gelling spouted. Unfortunately, we now have the problems of failure to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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