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The 'Take it Outside' thread This thread will no longer be moderated ***
Lynne, I just cannot believe you don't like the Senedd building. It is stunning architecture, jaw droppingly brilliant! I love the whole design, always have. And the easy answer to your question on the admin, is that the Westminster Welsh Office is clearly redundant and should be closed. It isn't needed. Nor is a Sec of State for Wales, who doesn't seem to do anything but collect his extra salary, anyway.
And all appointments have always been political. When labour are in power they pack the jobs with their supporters, and the Tories sack all the labour guys and replace them with their cronies, only for that cycle to rinse and repeat...
If you want to see a poor building, look at the Scottish Parliament (and I'm speaking as an architecture graduate here). Apparently its running costs are eye-wateringly high too :(
Redcar pier knocks that for six.
Rosemary (The Nosemanny) wrote: "If you want to see a poor building, look at the Scottish Parliament (and I'm speaking as an architecture graduate here). Apparently its running costs are eye-wateringly high too :("Don't I recall that building it ran over budget to an eye watering degree?
Yep, indeed so. And late too.Amazingly though the new Forth crossing has come in substantially under budget, so we haven't lost all our engineering credibility!
Never fear, you can spend the surplus on hiring the next William McGonagall to celebrate it...
Will wrote: "Never fear, you can spend the surplus on hiring the next William McGonagall to celebrate it..."Now that would be a real investment, I'd vote for that :-)
I've not seen the Senedd building so I've just taken the online tour. It looks fine online. I'll have to see it in the flesh. The idea that all the glass walls lead to transparent government made me smile. The public access suggests that security isn't thought to be much of an issue.The Scottish Parliament building left me gobsmacked. It looks as if a number of deranged architects designed the different components without ever speaking to each other.
Rosemary (The Nosemanny) wrote: "Yep, indeed so. And late too.Amazingly though the new Forth crossing has come in substantially under budget, so we haven't lost all our engineering credibility!"
Then there's the tram system in Edinburgh...
https://flic.kr/p/be1G6pWell at least the cowboys have somewhere to tether their horses. It looks unfinished, and more like a cattle mart or underneath a 1960's football stadium. I must be a proper philistine.
As a colleague of mine used to say, you're a complete Palestine.
No Geoff I'm not, as I had my appendix out years ago :o)I'm not daft I do know all appointments are political but when someone is given the remit to do a hatchet job on a board then is found a nice cushy promotion as a reward it stinks, We've had seagull management here since the 1990s. It really isn't sour grapes as my OH worked in the NHS, Kings fund etc. he's been out a long while thank goodness.
PS seagull management for those who don't know is 'crap on everyone and fly away'
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "https://flic.kr/p/be1G6pWell at least the cowboys have somewhere to tether their horses. It looks unfinished, and more like a cattle mart or underneath a 1960's football stadium. I must be a p..."
Ah - I see what you mean, Lynne. From the side view in the online tour those steps and railings are much less prominent.
BJ, that's the view from the waterfront. The steps are exaggerated...Try this one as a more normal view of the building. That people actually see (waves at my philistine friend)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/4951168...
Waves back. I love you really Will.
I have to say too Lynne, that I for one was REALLY grateful for that huge roof when I was on those steps as part of the je Suis Charlie demo....(Love you back. But you are still a philistine...)
I'll be in Cardiff in June. I'll take a look.
Will wrote: "I have to say too Lynne, that I for one was REALLY grateful for that huge roof when I was on those steps as part of the je Suis Charlie demo....(Love you back. But you are still a philistine...)"
Ah the Philistines, a proud people with a rich culture who were great artists and metal workers :-)
Didn't I post photos on Facebook of the Welsh thing when we were home last? I took a bunch...
Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "Will, you speak like a politician. And no, that is not a compliment."And that, right there, is the problem.
Some things that politicians say are rubbish. Sometimes, they promise things they can't deliver. Sometimes, they are unfairly negative about their opponents. Sometimes, they keep quiet about things that they don't expect the public to understand or deal with rationally. Sometimes, they spin scaremonger stories to win political support.
Sometimes.
Equally, sometimes politicians tell the truth. They make unpopular decisions. They give us unpopular news such as the state of the economy or the environment.
The smart way for us to deal with this is to look critically at everything politicians say and to decide which bits to believe and which bits to ignore.
Unfortunately, some people are so anti-establishment that they disbelieve everything that politicians tell them.
By all means be cynical, Geoff. That's what you are. It's your character. It's why we love you.
But try to be equally cynical about both sides of an argument. Because when one politician says "white", another says "black" and a third says "grey" ... one of them has to be right.
if you're asking the electorate to maintain that level of scrutiny and education on the issues, then why not go the whole hog and have them rule themselves without elected representatives?
Will wrote: "Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "But try to be equally cynical about both sides of an argument. Because when one politician says "white", another says "black" and a third says "grey" ... one of them has to be right."Having had long and detailed correspondence with both my MP (Now former) and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport it is blissfully apparent that have absolutely no idea of the effects of IT with regards to privacy and communications. Furthermore, they are equally disinterested in increasing their knowledge in that area, preferring to be influenced by lobbyists who have vested interests in the results.
Therefore the answer to your statement, listed above, is probably no, none of them is right.
And that is before we all point a finger at IDS and his skill and diligence in delivering a new computer system for Universal Credit... and either scream with rage at the wasted millions or just laugh helplessly(And someone voted him back in!)
many years ago when the Conservative government were moving to outlaw the 'promotion of homosexuality' by local councils (libraries, schools etc), I wrote to the MP whose private bill it was to tack on this Section 28 to a much larger piece of legislation on local government. He wrote back to me saying I should write to my own MP about the matter. I wrote back to him saying that it was his private Member's Bill which was why I was writing to him. He never replied to this point.
Photo of the Redcar Beacon that Eastwood has asked me to put up for you. Looks like a bloody helter skelter lol.http://www.bdonline.co.uk/pictures/30...
A huge phallic symbol on the landscape, well done redcar and cleveland council.
No, Geoff, the answer is that you're basing your generalisations on your perception of one or two isolated incidents. As usual.And an entire Government department employing 500 people has no idea about IT? No, just no. What I suspect happened is that you didn't like the answer you were given because it didn't agree with a conclusion you had already drawn.
Vanessa (aka Dumbo) wrote: "Photo of the Redcar Beacon that Eastwood has asked me to put up for you. Looks like a bloody helter skelter lol.http://www.bdonline.co.uk/pictures/30......"
Pompidou Centre Lite
Will wrote: "No, Geoff, the answer is that you're basing your generalisations on your perception of one or two isolated incidents. As usual.And an entire Government department employing 500 people has no idea about IT? No, just no. What I suspect happened is that you didn't like the answer you were given because it didn't agree with a conclusion you had already drawn."
And once again, you draw a conclusion without any evidence whatsoever. Once again you take the opportunity to personally insult me.
You always play the man not the issue. Because you are an empty vessel, perhaps?
just trying to recall the last occasion when anyone in the whole world ever in the history of mankind ever had their opinion changed by an online discussion...
Will wrote: "And that is before we all point a finger at IDS and his skill and diligence in delivering a new computer system for Universal Credit... and either scream with rage at the wasted millions or just l..."To be fair to him his system has cost far less than those that have been foisted on Agriculture. Back in 2007 one just 'crashed and burned' before it could even go live. (The words a quote from a senior civil servant who told our meeting this just before he retired)
I've come to the conclusion that Defra would probably have been better off if it had stayed with an entirely paper based system, just hired a few more filing clerks and not gone for these big IT programmes for logging farm data etc at all
Returning to your point regarding expenses and not all MPs were fiddling their expenses fraudulently. According to the Legg report 350 MPs had to pay back their expenses. Let me remind you, that is over half the MPs! So that's okay then, only half of them committed fraud.Unfortunately only four of them spent time at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Marc wrote: "just trying to recall the last occasion when anyone in the whole world ever in the history of mankind ever had their opinion changed by an online discussion..."Anybody under the age of 25 I would say.
Will wrote: "No, Geoff, the answer is that you're basing your generalisations on your perception of one or two isolated incidents. As usual.And an entire Government department employing 500 people has no idea..."
you really ought to read the full report they did on the RPA computer system a few years back. Staff needed two training programmes. The official one to use the official system, and then when they'd started work the people in their office would give them another training system to use the unofficial workarounds.
The problem with this was when someone from IT actually fixed a bug in the system by changing something, a lot of the unofficial systems that were doing the actual work crashed and burned. Then the staff had to erect a whole new network of systems to cover the problems the new fix had caused, as well as the problems the new fix hadn't fixed.
The report estimated that "there may be several hundred such minor systems that are maintained in an ad-hoc manner"
and my local constituents have just re-voted in an MP who was done in the last Parliament by the Standards Committee
Will wrote: "Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "Will, you speak like a politician. And no, that is not a compliment."Unfortunately, some people are so anti-establishment that they disbelieve everything that politicians tell them.
By all means be cynical, Geoff. That's what you are. It's your character. It's why we love you."
I am not cynical. Skeptical yes.
From my perspective, unlike others, I don't disbelieve everything a politician tells me. However, I can see the reasonableness that supports those beliefs.
eastwood (do you feel lucky punk,well do ya) wrote: "A huge phallic symbol on the landscape, well done redcar and cleveland council."As my friend, Mrs Brown would say ' That's nice!'
eastwood (do you feel lucky punk,well do ya) wrote: "A huge phallic symbol on the landscape, well done redcar and cleveland council."Blended in just fine with rest of the pier.
Starting as she means to go on, I see that Theresa May wants the power to stop TV and radio programms being made if she doesn't like them.
She won't stop until the TV schedules are rammed full with propaganda such as 'Benefits Street'.
Already I am legally a terrorist in Saudia Arabia.Bet i'm on her list too
My sole consolation is that I'm almost certainly never going to get a peerage, no matter who is in power :-)
That should be a proud boast Jim, not a consolation.
Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "You always play the man not the issue. Because you are an empty vessel, perhaps?"Priceless! You don't need me to point out the irony in what you have just said, do you?
Will wrote: "That should be a proud boast Jim, not a consolation."I have occasionally had the chance to speak truth unto power (in certain specialist areas.)
You feel better for having done it, and you never know, it might even do some good.
The problem they had was that they never employed me. I was a self employed consultant on a short term contract and was being paid by someone else :-)And I was always intending to keep farming anyway :-)
I'm deleting my comment Jim, I was perhaps a bit rash posting it as I'm sure you understand
http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/new... To be fair the AM s have not awarded themselves the pay rise. It was an independent committee. All the same I guess they won't refuse.
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Not merely politicians but civil servants as well. I was involved in a consultation process that worked on e-ID in sheep.In the couple of years it took from first meetings to statutory instrument, the Defra team held together reasonably well, but lost members through maternity, transfers and retirement.
When the matter came to be consulted on again three or four years later because of EU commission changes to the regulations, the Defra team was entirely new. Nobody who had been working on that stuff was still working on that stuff.