according to the straits times yesterday…

Breaking News

No bonus for civil servants

PRINCIPLE STILL HOLDS
‘We still maintain the principle that pay in civil service should be market-competitive.

It has served us well so far. We’ve been able to attract, retain and have a good civil service. (tats the case why is there a need for MDES?) So it is a principle we will follow.

Once the economic situation stabilises, we will return to examine the benchmarks and see what can be done.’

DPM Teo Chee Hean, who is also minister-in-charge of the civil service
 

APART from their regular 13th month wage supplement, civil servants will not be receiving any other bonus next month.

Read the full story in Friday’s edition of The Straits Times.

indeed a breaking news..

November 19, 2009 A MAN used the Internet to lure six college students into having a sex party with his friends at a resort in Bentong, Pahang.

According to Harian Metro, police found that the man had also been organising sex parties with students in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Selangor for the past year.

The man was detained along with five others aged between 20 and 22 after authorities conducted a 3am raid on the apartment he had rented.

It is believed that the man, together with his friends — two of whom were civil servants — had persuaded the students to have sex while under the influence of alcohol.

The students, all aged 19, were willing participants in the party.

Three couples held at the scene were tested positive for the drug ketamine and had 2.3g of the same substance with them.

Ok, so this is my first attempt at this blogging malarkey, and I intend to start with a pretty topical and contentious issue – the proposed pay cuts in the public service in the upcoming budget.

It is only fair that I tell you at the outset that I am a civil servant and have been for almost 9 years and have worked in a couple of different Departments, but I think this puts me in a perfect position to comment on what I believe needs to be done in order to reform the civil/public  service. I can’t really comment on the overall public service, well no more informatively than any of you can, but if the approach taken in the civil service is indicative of that taken in the public service then most of what I am about to say about the civil service is likely to be equirelevant to the public sector. For those who may not be aware of the differences between the public and civil service it is essentially this – the civil service is those that work in “central government” i.e. Work directly in Departments. Public Service encompass teachers, nurses members of the Gardai Siochana etc.

Now here comes the surprise – I agree with major expenditure cuts in the civil/public service, my issue is with how this government intends to implement them.

The civil service is full of deadwood, i.e. People who have been there for years and are merely sitting tight until the pension arrives, these people are surplus to requirements – there is simply not enough work for them to do. The civil service has an ingrained inefficient manner of working which involves insane levels of beauracracy – this actually creates work for those who, if work was carried out efficiently, would be surplus staff. When I speak of beauracracy and inefficient work practices I will give you this example. The head of a section requires a letter to be typed, he will tell his next in command what he wants in this letter, this 2nd in command will pass the message to the next in command and so on until it reaches the clerical officer – this will usually involve passing through 5 sets of hands before the person who will type the letter actually gets it. So the clerical officer types the letter – now instead of giving it directly to the head of section, the typed letter then passes straight up the chain of command again until it reaches the head of the section, this could easily come back down and back up the line depending on amendments that are required. Now surely what should happen here is the head of section should give the direction directly to the clerical officer to type up and the clerical officer hands it straight back to the head of section. This shows how the inefficiencies are built into the system which in fact creates more work than it completes.

Another inefficiency is the fact that the personnel sections take no account of any skills or qualification a person has when they join a Department and that person is simply slotted into the next available position, this means that there are a number of highly qualified civil servants sitting in jobs that they are not qualified to do. It is not beyond belief that a qualified accountant could be sitting in the IT section, while a computer programmer is working in the accounts department.

Now my problem with the across the board pay cut is that essentially hardworking civil servants (and there are very very many of them) are receiving a cut in pay to subsidise the inefficient system that is in place, a system that should have been overhauled years ago by successive governments, but instead of root and branch overhaul, this inefficient system was facilitated by the crazy levels of recruitment in recent years.

I understand that we are now in a fire fighting situation and something has to be done and done quick. Well how about some creative ways of creating a reduction in pay levels? The government introduced an incentivised career break which allowed a civil servant take a career break for three years while continuing to receive 1/3 of their wages up to a maximum of €12,500. This is principle was a good idea, it would get people off the payroll, would encourage more efficient work practices due to a reduction in staff while still ensuring that there was trained staff ready to return to work if and when they were required. However; the problem with this scheme was the very very short time frame people had to avail of it. They had little over 2 months to sort out what they might do for the next three years, this may have involved arranging travel plans, childminding, study etc. There just wasnt enough time given to arrange the next three years of your life. I know for a fact that people applied for extensions to the deadline to take up the offer, these applications were refused. So essentially people who wanted to leave the payroll were essentially restricted from doing so.

There is also an early retirement scheme running but the figures on the take-up are not yet available.

Dont even get me started on the farce and momentous waste of our money, taxpayers money, that was decentralisation. People were asked to sign up to this years ago, but in many cases the offices have not moved, this is despite staff having arranged new homes, schools etc in the new decentralised towns only to find out that they are still working in Dublin but their “home” is now in Kilkenny. So instead of cutting down on commuting, it in fact added to it. What is probably most annoying about the decentralisation is that the government is still adamant that it will happen – IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. Despite the fact that it will never happen there are staff in certain Departments in Dublin who are barred from transferring or going for promotions because they are “signed up” for at least 4 years to a Department who is decentralising – but it never will decentralise.

An idea for cutting pay is offering a voluntary redundancy package to the civil service. I understand that the exchequer doesn’t have the money to pay out big redundancy packages at the moment but how about this idea?

Mary has been in the Civil Service for 10 years, she is currently on €500 a week. The redundancy package is 5 weeks pay per year of service. So Mary is entitled to around €25,000. Let Mary take the package today, but pay her her “lump Sum” in installments of at least €500 a week until the completed entitlement has been satisfied. This eradicates huge up front payouts, but would have an instant reduction on the public pay bill as there would be no need for employer contributions, pension contributions etc. While Mary  is receiving her installments she is permitted to work somewhere else without there being an income tax penalty because of the two incomes. Ok this won’t solve the hole in the finances on it’s own, but it will go some way towards it and will show that “clever incentives” can result in a win-win situation. This government has not been short of imaginative ideas when it came to bailing out the banks and setting up NAMA.

A huge proportion of the hole in the public finances has been created by the bail out of the banks. So the government use our taxes to bail out the banks and then cut our pay on top of this to fill the void.

I do believe that the media have set up a public sector vs. private sector debate and I dont believe that this is helpful. It must be remembered that public servants pay taxes the same as everyone else, yes there are inefficiencies in the civil service, but these are the environments that we are required to work within, we didnt create them but simply inherited them, and seriously dont believe the hype, the pension isnt really that great (and we forego a state pension). The high average salaries that you hear being quoted left right and center include the salaries of judges, state employed barristers, solicitors, accountants, doctors etc which pushes the averages up. Have a look on the Department of Finance website, our salaries are quoted there – have a look and you will see that it’s not all that rosy in the civil service and it certainly isnt helped by the scapegoating that is going on at the moment.

BBBB

Cowboys & Angels (2003)
★★★ / ★★★★

The premise of “Cowboys & Angels,” directed by David Gleeson, was a shy and a bit naive 20-year-old (Michael Legge) who moves into the city because he wishes to have more excitement in his life. While looking a place to live, he gets paired up with a gay fashion student (Allen Leech). I’m glad this did not turn out to be one of those movies where the main character meets someone gay and realizes that he, too, was gay. In fact, I’m glad that this film wasn’t just about one thing. There’s something very modern about it; I felt like I watching a movie from the perspective of a real twentysomething. It was able to balance several subplots with ease: Legge’s frustration with being laughed at by girls whenever he shows interest in them, his inner conflict between being a civil servant or a student in an art school, his blossoming friendship with Leech, his unattainable crush (Amy Shiels) who has a history of dating women, and his temptations toward drugs to soothe his loneliness. Right from the get-go, I was interested in getting to know the lead character because he seemed to have this inner charm that most people failed to see (maybe it’s because of his lack of sense of style?). I thought the best parts of the film were the scenes when he would try to make a connection, sometimes to the point of borderline desperation, to the point where I just felt bad for him. I remember thinking, “Aww, I’ll be your friend!” because it was easy to tell that the constant rejections were eating him from the inside. I also enjoyed the scenes between Legge and Leech just hanging out in their apartment. They had this sort of bromance going on and it was really cute. That scene when Leech told Legge, “I’m going to do to you what I’ve always wanted to do ever since I laid my eyes on you” (or something along those lines) was really funny. I thought this film was going to be one of those thoughtless LGBT films but it turned out to be pretty unpredictable. If you enjoy LGBT films, see this movie if you can because it just might surprise you.

Hyacinth Harewood Continues to Live a Full Life - Photo by Donna Kakonge

Hyacinth Harewood is a civil servant with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) working from home, former college professor, former businessperson, former volunteer and mother of five living in Toronto, Canada. She worked as a sessional lecturer with Carleton University in Ottawa, as a professor with Algonquin College in Ottawa for 16 years, has been working with CRA since the late 1980s, and once had her own sole-proprietorship business focusing on communications and written work. This consummate professional used to get up at 3:00 a.m. to work on her business, and then take care of five children to get them ready for school. She would continue working on her business while her children were at school and tend to their needs once they were home. She played the role of a superwoman well. This impressive woman who was educated at the University of Western Ontario where she studied French and Spanish, then received her master’s degree at the University of Ottawa in applied linguistics managed to juggle a life of work, family and children. She has been a terrific role model for her five children.

Harewood was born in Antigua, West Indies on October 15, 1946. She is the eighth out of a family of 10. Her parents were active in politics in Antigua. She spent a lot of time listening to them and observing them. She says she was an ambitious student that aimed to come out on the top of the heap.

“When I was young it was books, books, books and competing, competing and competing and leaving the competition in the dust,” says Harewood. “In high school I was the only person in school who actually passed the [high school certificate the year I graduated] exam. I passed it the same time. I came out first class. I moved up with an attitude of being the best, leave the competition in the dust. We do say that a lot to our young people, it is a very elitist kind of position. For the people who do not come out on top, what happens to them?

“I do feel I have a responsibility to everybody,” Harewood continues. “The idea of always being the best, the only one left sitting on the top of the heap, I do not believe in that approach anymore. I believe in a more balanced approach, not in mediocrity.”

Harewood came to Canada at the age of 17 to attend the University of Western Ontario. Her children tease her that she was actually 18 because she turned that age shortly in October (a month after school started). She studied French and Spanish, including the literature of these languages. She also took German. This knowledge of languages has added to Harewood’s international flair. After graduation, she got married and moved to Ottawa, Canada and attended the University of Ottawa to study applied linguistics in a master’s program. She was still working on her master’s thesis and she taught for a year at Carleton University as a sessional lecturer teaching a first-year general linguistics course. At that time, her oldest child, son Adrian Harewood, was attending the daycare at Carleton University. Adrian Harewood is the host of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) afternoon show in Ottawa called “All in a Day.” He is considered one of the best broadcasters in the Ottawa region and with a mother like Hyacinth Harewood it is easy to understand.

Needing to make more money, Harewood joined Algonquin College in 1972 as a “teaching master,” however now the position is known as a professor. She worked at Algonquin for 16 years until 1988. Her experience in teaching has fortunately touched the lives of thousands of people who had the pleasure in knowing Harewood. She taught communications, technical writing, science fiction as elective courses and technology and social issues, as well as English as a Second Language courses. She left Algonquin to own her own business as a sole-proprietor for about two years. She recalls the contracts she would receive doing writing and communications work (writing, editing and developing brochures) for such places as the government and other businesses. She would be going out to lunches, “schmoozing,” trying to drum up more work. In the end, she left that work because she needed to make more money.

That is when she joined the federal government in the late 1980s where she currently works now. She works in human resources and although she has mainly worked in Ottawa over the years, she now works in Toronto with CRA doing tele-commuting in both official languages of Canada, English and French. She has done a lot of training working with the federal government, as well she has taken business courses that did not lead towards a degree. She says if she knew then what she knows now about business, her sole-proprietorship would have been a greater success. It is a shame that Harewood did not continue with her own business efforts, to which she would be perfectly suited for.

While in Ottawa, Harewood did volunteer work with Centrepointe Theatre in communications. She would help to edit their newsletter. She also used to be a columnist with a community newspaper called Contrast. She writes poetry and has co-edited a collection of poetry. Harewood has been continually living a life of perfect balance – giving back to the community, as well as providing for those she loves.

Harewood says working from home is not for everyone. Some people really like being able to look over at the other cubicle and ask a colleague out to lunch. She says you really need to enjoy your own company – which she does. She will often make the best use of her lunch break by getting out of the house every day – rain, sleet or shine. She will visit the library, walk and run errands. She also does crafts and handiwork, not as a side business, however as gifts for friends and family.

Harewood dreams of the ideal retirement.

“My concept of retirement is not to start working in a different way,” says Harewood. “These people who had retired and had not retired, that is not what I dream of as retirement. It is true you need to continue making a living. There are a lot of people I know who have retired who need additional income and need other kind of work. I’m dreaming of retirement, but the ideal kind of retirement.”

Harewood has spent most of her life juggling the demands of work, as well as raising five children. The proof she has done both well are displayed in how her children have turned out. Adrian is a radio broadcaster for CBC and hosts “All in a Day.” Pat is a lawyer with the Department of Justice and working with the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Anne is a criminologist. She teaches part-time hours at the State College in Antigua. She did a master’s degree with a thesis at the University of Ottawa. Harewood also has twins: Joy who is several minutes older is doing optometry and is in her third-year at the University of California at Berkeley. June is doing dentistry at Columbia University in New York. This is a tremendous achievement when so many young people face problems in societies around the world. Her children appear to be extremely well-adjusted and most definitely accomplished.

“I was sort of thinking and saying to myself that the point is I try not to get boxed into one image. I look over the things I have done and I am not exactly a rolling stone that gathers no moss,” says Harewood. “I do like to move onto different things and reinvent myself.”

Donna Kakonge is a professor, author and journalist living in Toronto, Canada. Her books can bought through her online store at: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged. She also has her own online multimedia magazine at: http://kakonged.wordpress.com. Her official website is: www.donnakakonge.com.

Morlets Blog reports -

French doctors are puzzling over the case of 44-year-old civil servant who has led a quite normal life – but with an extraordinarily tiny brain .

Point 1 – the man is French

Point 2 – he is a government employee

Case closed!

Read MORE.

Civil Service Live 2009 logo

Civil Service Live 2009 is the single largest gathering of civil servants.

Being a shiny new civil servant, attendance was a no-brainer.

I made it along on the Wednesday. I made the following notes:

• The Civil Service is humongous, yet fits neatly inside the London Olympia.
• ‘When it comes to building a better democracy people are more interested in digital engagement than constitutional renewal’ – Alex Allan, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
• Web access is the single biggest obstacle to digital engagement and no one knows the true nature of the challenge; it’s all anecdotal.
• There is a tension between the craftsman and assembly-line approaches to civil service working. It seems to be an argument about quality. Perhaps we need to look to collaborative NPD methods for a compromise and the stride forward. I found a paper on the subject by Ingvild Sundby stimulated some ideas.
• William Perrin’s ‘Blackhall‘ is a fascinating vision and the revelation that GCHQ thinks blanketing SW1 with secure wifi is possible is tantalising.
• Government is too often a recipient of innovation when it needs to be a source.
• NHS Choices costs £20m a year (Tom Loosemore, Head of 4iP). Choices should try the ‘Facebook approach’ of offering an API to let developers big or small, commercial or not-for-profit to develop parts for the site. Heck, why stop at Choices.
• ‘When blogging, civil servants should stick to openness of process, rather than openness of opinion’ – James Crabtree, Senior Editor at Prospect Magazine.
• There should have been a civil servant on the panel of the ‘Digital Engagement – Building a better democracy’ session.
• At this rate ’seek forgiveness, not permission’ is going to become the motto of the innovative civil servant.
• Microsoft Surface was fun to use and has serious potential and Infusion have been developing some neat applications for it.
• Every civil servant should go on at least one shadowing or sabbatical during their career, ideally outside of government or in another country.
• COI had the coolest stand. Well done Tiffany and Liz.
• I need to get myself a more portable laptop or a decent smartphone so that I can upload these notes as I take them down.

Looking forward to next year!

Dear Mr. Prime Minister

Greetings,

Soon after you swear in as the PM of India and your initial steps, post your appointment, had exactly fitted the requirements of the situation.

But there was a sad development too : Induction of few ministers in your team whose integrity was widely suspect and who, as per their own affidavits of election nominations, were going under investigations for criminal offenses.

You must be aware being a former top civil servant, that if superior of any government employee has expressed even the slightest doubt about his honesty and integrity in his performance appraisal record, then same Govt employee is barred from promotion and sensitive posts or even retired compulsorily from service before his time.

Ministers who wield power and authority over thousands of crores of rupees worth of public assets and whose decisions can make a whole lot of difference between progress and disaster, need to be, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion. It is surprising how you overlooked this fact while constituting ministries in both your terms of office.

No Compromises !!

‘We, the People,’ the acknowledged sovereign masters in democracy, can only hope that your own vigilance and the idealism and acute sense of right and wrong of the young blood you have inducted into the ministry will help to contain and terminate any acts of malfeasance and misuse of power.

Occasionally, though, to our disappointment, you also take recourse to the age-old excuse of politics being the art of the possible. This has been serving as a cover for corrupt politicians to hide their many sins.

Ideals and principles are not incompatible with clean politics and good governance. In India itself, there have been leaders, alas, though few, who have proved that accountable and fair governance is possible.

Actually, there was, and is, no need for you to make the kind of compromises that are the bane of the country’s politics. You have received a thumping mandate as a prime minister this time and you could have acted as a tough PM in this regard.

Accursed black hole

The respect and trust for you among Indian masses have in fact contributed to the impressive victory for Congress party. The parties in the Opposition are in disarray, and are unlikely to pose any problem in the foreseeable future. You, therefore, are in an unchallengeable position to give a determined drive to the formulation and execution of policies that you judge as the best for the country.

You have got the task of to take the country forward in all directions that matter: Political, economic, social, scientific, technological, fiscal, monetary, budgetary. No doubt you would have received plenty of suggestions and ideas as India has never suffered from any dearth of bright ideas on what needs to be done.

But real issue is not about bright ideas but rather India’s policy maker’s shaky grip on the methods of getting them done within the proposed time frames and cost estimates.

The result is that all the promises held out to the people at large vanish into the accursed black hole of failure of implementation.:(

In nut shell, lack of attention to know-how makes a over indulgence of know-what purposeless.

All who go through India’s ills and cures enumerated in the President’s Address, for instance, will find themselves in full agreement with each one of them.

For the laudable intentions contained in the Address to turn a reality, and reach their benefits to the aam aadmi, it is must for you to inculcate in your ministers a work culture that encourage and adherence to prudence, propriety and probity within their spheres of action.:)

The observations that follow are to help you to that end.

Independent and Transparent committees to evaluate tenders

There is a persistent and growing belief among all sections of aam aadmis by whom your government and party swear that huge sum is demanded and given as bribes for allocation of contracts for purchases and sanction of projects. Any new project or purchase announced, an aam aadmi presumption runs like that purpose of project is just to facilitate high personages in authority to make money, not to serve project’s real interest.

Better make all financial transactions absolutely transparent and pass evaluation of tenders above, say, Rs 100 crores, to an independent committee of former officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) nominated jointly by the CAG and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, and go by its findings, besides giving them wide publicity in the Web sites of the respective ministries.

Relentless Monitoring

Effective leadership consists in relentless monitoring and follow-up of orders without remaining content with merely issuing them. It will be great if you can regularly devote little time to review pending matters with ministers.

If you can make your ministers as well as the chief ministers to adopt this practice, it will surely result in an immediate flow in the tempo of action leading to swift service delivery and timely completion of projects. It will also put babudom on notice that there will be zero tolerance for arrogant response towards the aam aadmi.

Accustom Minister to think of Nation not constituencies

Until about 40 or so years ago, Central ministers used to visit every part of India to gauge a personal idea of the prevailing situations and mingle with the aam aadmis to know of their grievances and gain profit from their suggestions.

Nowadays, whether it is the central or state minister, either because he lacks self-confidence or because he is uncomfortable with English or local language, he rarely, if ever, ventures into the rest of the country. His obsession is mostly with channeling funds and jobs to his constituency or his native state.

Accustoming ministers to think of the nation as a whole will help rid the narrow politics of regionalism.

Reviving orientation camps for ministers

Rajiv Gandhi conceived the brilliant idea of a retreat in which ministers, elected representatives, bureaucrats, officers of the police and defence forces and eminent achievers of the civil society would spend a couple of days engaged in informal and friendly exchanges of views, ideas and experiences.

This helped in their cultivating a better understanding of their field of action and built up a better connection in forging a collective front on issues and problems facing the country.

I would earnestly urge you to revive this practice for developing a synergistic approach which may lead to effective and expeditious implementation of projects and schemes.

Reviving Inter-State and Zonal Councils

Mechanisms like zonal councils and the inter-state council, envisaged by India’s far-sighted Constitution makers for mutual reinforcement of the Centre and the states and contingency planning, have remained unused and ad hoc responses to situations have become the rule.

It is high time they were made into potent instruments for building a common front, regardless of parties in power, against present and future challenges.

I shall continue to be in touch with you as and when necessary.

Yours sincerely:

A Common Man

New Greg Nyce Mix

Bmore, Ragga and Summer. Download HERE

Girls Aloud

Watch out what you write

A civil servant appeared in court yesterday charged with writing an “obscene” blog about Girls Aloud in which fantasised about the torture, rape and murder of the pop band. Darryn Walker, 35, of South Shields, was charged under the Obscene Publications Act after posting a fictional piece online titled Girls (Scream) Aloud.

The 12-page blog is alleged to include detailed descriptions of the kidnap, rape and mutilation of the pop group, which comprises of Sarah Harding, Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh and Nadine Coyle. Its existence was brought to the attention of the police by the Internet Watch Foundation after it was uploaded to a porn site. Walker was arrested in February of this year.

Rinsed from the Guardian. Can’t be bothered to rewrite it.

Here is an interesting post I came across on wordpress. I enjoy reading Subba’s Blog probably more than the singapore civil servant or official press

Here is an extract from his post:

“Now Singapore’s civil servants are intelligent people, but they have become ensconced in their ivory towers. There is too much group think and there is rarely a marketplace where ideas compete. Most Ministers and civil servants come from the same elitist institutions and often have a tendency to very much function like a club. I do not know how much debate happens during the cabinet meetings, but after observing Parliament proceedings closely I have rarely seen a good debate or alternate viewpoints being pursued.

More importantly, having seen civil servants and executives in Ministries and statutory boards interact, the “group think” syndrome just continues to strengthen because they don’t want to be left out of the club. Worse, any alternate view is interpreted as a challenge to the authority, not just to a point of view. Has kowtowing the superior become the SOP (standard operating procedure) or is it a “survive and grow” strategy or worse the natural default behavior? With so many Minsters and civil servants coming from the military side, I would not be surprised if compliance fetches a better premium than creativity.”

enjoy the rest here

Jean Viry-Babel
senior partner
VBK partners

Is old age that bad if enduring masterpieces could be teased out of it? Surely the Bard of Avon in King Lear sounded a warning note and made a case using the old king as an example, of the pitfalls of growing old without being wise. Ingmar Bergman showed what a motherlode the old age contained through his film Wild Srawberries. Vittorio De Sica has similarly created a masterpiece using a civil servant who has been left to fend for himself after the society squeezed everything worthwhile out of him. He has a piddling pension. It is ever shrinking. The governments dole  is his by right but as for his needs for company and ancillaries he is on his own. In that twilight zone a dog is not just a dog but company that can light up his hours. Carlo Battisti as a retired civil servant, impoverished and isolated puts his all in that relationship. Screenwriter Cesare Zavattini and director Vittorio De Sica gave Umberto Domenico Ferrari a certain dignity despite of lacking youth, family, friends, health, money, and home. But with little Flike, he could, clutching him to his breast, fretting over his well-being, ultimately begging the dog to come play with him he could go on as though life still continued to beat as with his infancy.  But when it runs away the effect on him—on us watching—is devastating. “I have no hesitation in stating that cinema has rarely gone such a long way toward making us aware of what it is to be a man. (And also, for that matter, of what it is to be a dog.)”– André Bazin, 1952
‘It was the fourth film that Zavattini and De Sica made together after World War II, and the first to fail. Shoeshine (Sciuscià, 1946) and The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 1948) had brought into focus, for domestic and international viewers alike, the intuitions, concerns, and methods of Italy’s best postwar filmmakers, and so had established neorealism as a movement. The impact on critics was enormous. “No more actors,” André Bazin wrote of The Bicycle Thief, “no more story, no more sets, which is to say that in the perfect aesthetic illusion of reality there is no more cinema”—or, rather, that the film is “one of the first examples of pure cinema.” The impact on audiences was equally strong, with both Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thief winning the Academy Award for best foreign-language film’.( Seeing Clearly Through Tears: On the Smart Sentiment of Umberto D. by Stuart Klawans-22Jul03)
We have the first images of Umberto D. out of an impromptu street demonstration of old-age pensioners. The police disperse the crowd leaving the central character to take up the rest. Positioning Umberto between two characters of contrasting status we are given a hint of futility of culture since his intelligence or learning makes no contact or sympathy with his landlady with pretensions to bourgeois respectability.  Despite being a gentleman, Umberto finds himself in concert with the housemaid who is uncluttered with book learning or culture. ( a nonprofessional actor, Maria Pia Casilio, discovered by De Sica when she was an apprentice seamstress). Flike is the only major character other than the landlady to be played by a trained performer, the canine actor Napoleone.
* Key Cast: Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari, Ileana Simova, Elena Rea, Lamberto Maggiorani, Alberto Albani Barbieri, Memmo Carotenuto,
* Awards: Best Story (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie 1956), Best Foreign Film (New York Film Critics Circle 1955)
* Run Time: 89 minutes
benny

Essayist, poet, dramatist, and statesman, Joseph Addison successfully combined two careers in his short life.  As a writer he produced one of the great tragedies of the 18^th century in Cato and brought to perfection the art of the periodicals essay in his journal, The Spectator.  As a civil servant he became an influential supporter of the Whigs (who sought to further the constitutional principles established by the Revolution of 1688) in a number of government posts, finally becoming secretary of state under George I. 

He achieved early fame as a writer of Latin and English verse, but it was his poems on the battle of Blenheim that brought him to the attention of the Whig leaders and paved the way to government employment and literary fame.  Dr. Johnson’s praise of The Spectator as a model of prose style established Addison as one of the most universally admired and influential masters of prose in the language.

Youth and early career.  Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, on May 1, 1672, the eldest son of the Rev. Lancelot Addison, later archdeacon of Coventry and dean of Lichfield.  After schooling in Amesbury and Salisbury and at Lichfield Grammar School, he was enrolled at the age of 14 in the Charterhouse in London. Here began his lifelong friendship with Richard Steele, who later became his literary collaborator.  Both went on to Oxford, where Addison matriculates at Queen’s College in May 1687. 

Through distinction in Latin verse he won election as Demy to Magdalen College on July 30, 1689, and took the degree of M.A. on February 14, 1693.  At Magdalen he spent ten years as tutor in preparation for a career as a scholar and man of letters.  In 1695 A Poem to his Majesty (William III), with a dedication to Lord Keeper Somers, the influential Whig statesman, brought favorable notice not only from Somers but also Charles Montague (later earl of Halifax), who saw in to the crown. (D.F.B)

Photo courtesy:  harpers

Readers are urged to read the whole article at the bottom of the page. This is my two penny’s worth!.

“For what has been lost sight of over the past 24 hours is that what we are looking at are people’s weekly housekeeping bills. Yesterday, as it happens, I bought a bumper pack of toilet rolls from Lidl, six iced buns, a small hacksaw (£1.45), a new tap, four brass plumbing olives and some discounted sausage rolls. The sausage rolls were quite unnecessary. But you neither need nor have any right to know that, though I suppose they’ll be indirectly included in the cost of your Times and your BBC licence fee. Many of those who now splutter about a Cabinet minister claiming for a bath plug are the same people who spluttered about the laxity of the previous arrangements when MPs did not have to submit receipts for small purchases. Big housekeeping bills are made up from the accretion of small purchases. Listing them is inherently undignified. MPs are damned if they itemise and damned if they don’t.”

I disagree with Mr Parrish. I remember my old Civil Service days, guide lines were given what can be claimed on expenses. It was specific and only covers overnight stays and food. PM says that the system needed overhauling but it is shamefully misleading to the public because the guidelines has always been clear

It should be the office dealing with the claims that needed overhauling. Ever since 9/11 the government has taken upon themselves to be our lord and master. Our freedom have been eroded so far to the extreme that I feel, we are living in a prison built on lies based on the 9/11 tragedy. Our identity as a nation has been slowly diminished by this. I, a staunch labour supporter am disappointed with Mr Blair, and Mr Brown has not fare any better than his predecessor.

I argue further by saying that ” What about us the rest of the British population, some of whom are living on the breadline or under it?” And some of whom have been decanted onto the streets, homes repossessed or without a job, and Mr Parrish dare to talk about these poor little mites group of MPs living on handouts. Oh what handouts they are; claims on dog foods, furnitures to furnish second homes and subsequently sold, for which the surplus should have gone directly into the treasury pot but instead went straight into the very pockets of these politicians. This government has shown and continues to do so, an increasing and alarming lack of judgement and common sense. What next?

Citizens locked and under curfew at night.

And indeed these bunch of toe rags of politicians dare to call the police for this so called leaks. I ask you should these same politicians not be named and shamed like the rest of us should we commit a crime? Let us call a spade a spade as over claiming expenses on a grand scale is that. Who does these politicians think they are? Demi gods? Ever omnipotent and infallible? Have they forgotten why they were elected to the office in the first place? Was there somewhere in the written oath sworn when they took up office allowing these politicians to line their pockets with so called “handouts”? They must have forgotten that they were elected to serve the master, and dont forget, we are that.

If this current government continues in its current destructive path mirroring what happened during the past 8 years in American politics, then all is lost. Dont get more wrong American people are great but the despicable George Dubya Bush has done more harm to his country than any other president before him. Both, he and Cheney have double handedly undermined the reputation of United States as a World Leader. Their boorish behaviour and bullying tactics destabilised the world peace at large. They also have squandered the world’s sympathy from the 9/11 event. And for what? It is, so that he and his cronies can benefit from war and pain inflicted on ordinary citizen of the world. It is all about Greed!

Dont get me wrong Mr Osama bin Laden is no better. This person who aspires to be the leader of the Muslim world is just as bad as Bush and Cheney.

I watch the last American election with trepidation, wondering and at times almost in despair that Mr Obama could ever win. I am glad now though, the American people have proven me and other detractors wrong. I am fairly contented with Mr Obama so far, he has not put a foot wrong. Yet!

Anyway, enough ranting today. I leave you with a quote from the Great Sir Winston Churchill

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

With that I bid you Good Night and Selamat Malam. Till tomorrow.

Morale in work is low at the moment. We have a governor who does know what he’s doing and the tail seems to be wagging the dog.

We don’t really feel as though we are the ones in control anymore, whatever way we turn the prisoners seem to be one step ahead.

Take yesterday for instance, a prisoner who we (security) know to be involved in pretty much every illicit activityhas been given a job of trust within the prison library, a job which gives him almost free access to other parts of the prison including the vunerable prisoners wing. And how did he get such a job? Because the head librarian (a 30 year standing prisoner officer who should know better) likes him. What makes it worse is the fact this employment was carried out without the knowledge of the labour control and the security office, a no no in any prison.

Prisoners see the kitchen and the library as fertile trading ground for anything illigal, so if they are up to something that’s usually where they will try and get employment. The kitchens have links to the outside world meaning it is a way of getting in mobile phones and drugs and the library is often a way to pass around contraband at an inflated cost or just simply bully weaker prisoners for whatever they may have.

So this prisoner isn’t exactly Mr Ideal.

Mark as I shall call him has a long and varied history. The last time we saw him he escaped from us while on hospital watch, a year later he turns up in Glasgow and is returned to us for an extended stay. Since his return he has been involved in pretty much everything, drugs, mobile phones, illigal DVDs (before the Playstations were banned and removed) and bullying.

And yet he is, according to the librarian, an ok guy.

So we decided to take the matter to the number one governor with all the evidence avaliable, which has in turn irritated an old back injury of mine after having to carry the box, stating  in no uncertian terms that Mark could not be trusted and therefore should be withdrawn from the library.

But as I say morale is low at the moment and with good reason, the Governor is useless.

In the face of all the evidence he decides to back up the librarian and allows the employment to go ahead.

So this is the man who wonders why his staff are so unhappy, perhaps he should listen to them once in a while and get out from behind his desk to see what it really happening in his prison at the taxpayers expense.

I never said what I am a civil servant in did I? – not that you’re interested anyway.

Well I work in a prison in London, I won’t tell you which one but there are only a few so you can guess.

I’m not a prison officer, my coward like streak tend to hold me back from confrontation and the fear of being hit. Instead I work in the administration section – security to be exact. I has its moments of interest but on the whole it’s a routine job of listening to prisoners phone calls, collecting intelligence and being a general dogsbody.

Yes it is a girls job but at the time it ws better than sigining on at the Ealing dole office. When you have a degree in History it usually means you can’t do anything in particular and have to accept whatever comes along.

But there is a bright side. The drinking nights with the officers are fun, someone usually ends up disgracing themselves and more than one has ended up in the police cells being sobered up.

My job essentially consists of listening to prisoners phone calls and reading their letters, believe me it is not as exciting as it sounds. Conversations usually consist of what they watched on TV last night, checking up on their girlfriends with their friends, shouting at afore mentioned girlfriends over the claims made by friends, demanding money from an already cash strapped family and generally being obnoxious.

Prisoners have a bad habbit, apart from the commiting crime thing, they think the world owes them everything and if they don’t get what they want they will stamp and shout like two year olds until someone eventually gives them what they want. Not once will they consider the fact that the person on the end of the phone is on their uppers themselves and can’t afford to send in money just because the prisoner has run out of chocolate and tobacco.

I also have to read their letters, not a great task considering the levels of literacy we are dealing with here, but usually they will follow the same lines as the phone calls.

So why do I do this job, I don’t know, it’s not for the money that’s for sure and I don’t feel as though I am really contributing anything to society so perhaps it’s time for a change. Doing what, especially at this time, I don’t know.

Hi, my names Mat and this is my blog.

Apparently everyone has a blog these days so this is my attempt to sound interesting to the world. In short I am a nobody. I’m not famous nor have I really achieved anything, so how interesting this will be who knows.

I’m a civil servant, yes I am one of those faceless millions you’ve heard about with those fantastic pensions and extended holidays. If only! I’m 31 and a university graduate and again like millions of others I don’t actually use the degree I studied for.

My life? Well that’s pretty normal. I do all the usual things, watch football, go out on the odd occassion and just do wht guys do.

So this is me, Mr Nobody with a normal life but with a few observations on the world around me.

Jak to sie stało ze z liczby niewielu, a taka była kiedys liczba urzedników wszelkiej maści, stało sie wielu. Kiedys urzednik był znienawidzony przez wszystkich obywateli danego państwa, czy to celnik czy inny. Nawet w biblii mamy ze celnicy to grzesznicy itd.

Otóż ot nieszczesnej rewolucji francuskiej, która była to rewolucja urzedników liczba urzedników zaczeła sie powiekszac, co nie jest bez znaczenie. Skoro teraz połowa państwa jest urzednikami to liczba ludzi nienawidzacych urzedników sie zmniejsza, bo jak sam urzednik ma sie nienawidzic.

Może własnie o to chodzi tym nieszczesnym krwiopijca. Zreszta prosze zauważyc, co czesto powtarzam. Kiedys król do którego należało dane państwo miał urzedników po to by pobierali podatek i administrowali. Wtedy on był panem urzednika i go kontrolował. A urzednik posłusznie wykonywał to co mu nakazał król. Teraz żyjemy w nie normalnym państwie czyli dupokracji, gdzie mamy 38 mln królów. Mówie teoretycznie bo tak w praktyce to ci ogłupiani przez telewizje i mas media ludzie nie maja wiekszego wpływu na nic głównie przez to ze dupokracja nie moze istniec, co udowodnił J.K Arrow -pisałem o tym wczesniej. Masy sa głupie i tak jak podczas rewolucji francuskiej czy jakiej kolwiek to nie ludzie robia rewolucja tylko grupy interesu które odpowiednio steruja masami ludzi. A wracając. tam gdzie mamy 38 mln królów, mamy urzedników którzy wykonuja polecenia tychze królów poprzez ich reprezentantów czyli rzad który z kolei jest reprezentowany przez posłów. A teraz jako obywatele panstwa jestesmy jednoczesnie na dnie drabinki decyzyjnej i jednoczesnie na górze. Bo w koncu w dupokracji panuje wiekszość. Co skolei jest nastepnym nonsensem. Nie chce zyc w kraju w którym 51% ludności mówi pozostałym 49% co ma robic. Pozatym dupokracja zawsze dązy do socjalizmu, po pierwsze dlatego ze ludzie sa głupi i łatwo daja sie zwiesc bzdurami o bezpieczenistwie ubezpieczeniach i tego typu pierdołach, jak darmowy obiad czy jeszcze coś gorszego. Po drugie dlatego ze cwaniacy dokładnie wiedza ze w socjalizmie mozna kraść, a dzieki temu w łatwy stosunkowo do wolnego runku gdzie trzeba cieżko pracować życ. I własnie ci cwaniacy wcisneli wiekszosci naiwynch biedaków, jak ktoś głupi to biedny i na odwrót, ze jak będa płacic składke na to i na tamto i podatek taki i taki to bedzie im sie zyło lepiej bo beda mieli np. zasiłek , szpital za darmo itd. Prosze zauważyc ze w tym kraju tylko biedni płaca podatki, a jak już je zapłaca to nie ma za co isc do lekarza i czekac w tej 2 rocznej kolejca po lek który jest  drogi. Bogaci nie płaca podatki ale im sie to opłac, bo pójda do już opłaconego prze biednego – z podatków – szpitala kupia leki zrefundowane przez biednego i mówią ze to dla dobra biednych.

Oglądałem nie dawno jeden odcinek “Muminków” takiej bajki z przed paru lat. I po chwili uświadomiłem sobie ze tego typu bajka teraz nie przeszła by w telewizji. O zgrozo przez “cenzure”. Dlaczego?

Po pierwsze te dziwne stworki chodza nago – zupełnie. Co mogło by źle wpłynąć na dzieci je ogladające. Zawsze można podcoś podpiąc skoro teletubisie to geje.

Po drugie mama muminka, nie chodzi do pracy tylko o zgrozo gotuje sprzata i robi te wszystkie rzeczy które normalne mamy robia. Tata muminka jest głowa rodziny i cos tam sobie duma i konstrułuje. Feministki by odrazu podniosły krzyk… jak to. Niech tata muminka zmywa gotuje i sprzata!