What kind of fucked-up, dysfunctional workplace is our government operating in?

[noblegiraffe]

Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament? Can't get through the day without a suitcase of wine in Downing Street, drugs everywhere in Parliament? Subsidised bars on work premises?

I guess the fact that they tried to make an exemption for the bars in the Houses of Parliament when introducing a curfew for pubs should have been a warning sign that there's far too much reliance on alcohol in our ruling classes.

There was a lot of talk about standards in public life during the Owen Paterson scandal. Surely not being pissed or high on the job is a basic standard?

Aside from the issue that they couldn't even stop having massive piss-ups during lockdown, AIBU to think that something needs to be done to introduce basic rules like 'If you're not safe to drive, you're not allowed to vote in new laws'?

If you wouldn't be happy with a teacher teaching your kids half-cut and would expect rules to prevent this, why should we tolerate our government ruling the country while making their way through the contents of the wine fridge?

People have been posting 'oh yes, it's always been like this'.

Well it shouldn't be in future.

@Goldenbear

Merrymouse, there are facts and there are beliefs and respectfully, this is what you believe but it is no more than that.

Yes, you are absolutely free to argue that it is preferable to hang around at your desk, half drinking, half working, and I am free to argue that it sounds sad and inefficient.

They, the lot of them in No 10, are public servants and should be held to a high standard. That's not opinion, that is fact and had been fact until Bozo set Cummings loose in there. Cummings' intent was to design chaos into the system causing it not to function then be rebuilt. This has worked BUT he appears to have not factored Bozos romance, followed by his own absence, into the design. Thus the current FU. It's embarrassing watching Cummings behaving like a rejected swain and its embarrassing having Bozo, no longer Cummings' creature, lumbering around unleashed. Send for Mary Shelley.

How can it be inefficient if the company is making considerable profits. Fair enough you think it's 'sad' still unsure why, based on what reasoning but 'sad' is just reactionary insult, it is not the same as a trying to provide an explanation for an alternative view. It is pretty immature imo and funnily enough reminds me of the typical Bozo comments.

No one works at maximum efficiency anyway. If the 'inefficiency' means that your computer is on for 5 extra minutes on a Friday, when everyone is socialising in the office anyway, who would give a flying?

And you can call it sad all you want, but anything that made timesheets slightly bearable was a winner for me.

Slightly more bearable, sorry. They're never bearable.

They should be held to a high standard but they are not are they as there is no opposition to keep them in check, no opposition deemed worthy of our votes, in fact, aren't the very people who voted them in the last time the same people who had their lives destroyed by the tories.

They should be held to a high standard but they are not are they as there is no opposition to keep them in check, no opposition deemed worthy of our votes

They're currently being investigated, yes? They are finding that the court of public opinion is not in their favour in this matter? The polls are currently putting Labour 13 points ahead.

What I think we really need to know is whether the makers of so many of our laws in Brussels were drunk at the time.

One part of the answer is that a good many of them were proposed by the British, because we know now how people in Westminster and Whitehall can't function without being well lubricated. I don't suppose for one moment that they became teetotal once they stepped onto the Eurostar.

Now that we are free of the EU, Bozo and Co they can be sober at all times. There is no reason whatever to copy the French with their wine drinking.

Erm, stating the obvious here, but the aim of civil servants is not to make a company money.

Although the current government clearly haven't realised that, as they are determined to make their cronies' companies money, and themselves too. Quite efficient at it, they are. The boozing probably helps smooth things along.
Matt Hancock's pub-landlord-turned-medical-supplies-manufacturer-overnight pal would agree, no doubt, after winning £40m in contracts.
Liz Truss has spotted how to cadge a few drinks off the taxpayer, too.

Whether the public funding this efficiency agree is another matter.

The current opposition isn't the only problem: a majority of voters voted against the Tories in the last GE...

The opposition is not responsible for the behaviour of civil servants under the aegis of the current PM.

Well the administration very much reflects the leadership in power. Where are the checks and balances on this power, 'untouchable' Tories is the main reason they thought they'd get away with this- they may still, especially if Sue decides it's largely the civil servants at fault.

It doesn't really matter if a majority of voters voted against the Tories in the last election as unlike the Tories they didn't consolidate the progressive votes. Starmer didn't back PR so where does that leave the Labour Party. They are ahead now but their advantage is no way as strong as it should be given the circumstances and there is no election today so lets see what he manages to do with this advantage.

When I first started at HMRC in the 80's we always went to the pub on a Friday for a 2 hour lunch & had parties several times a year for things like Christmas, end of the tax year in works time. But that culture was stopped by the Government who basically stopped everything including the tradition of allowing staff half a day off for Christmas shopping & time to attend a Christmas lunch. I know that the majority of HMRC staff have worked from home during the pandemic, many were made redundant at Christmas 2020 without even a thank you for their service, some staff had worked there up to 40 years, they were simply given a date to clear their desks & return laptops & phones & that was it.

@Peregrina

What I think we really need to know is whether the makers of so many of our laws in Brussels were drunk at the time.

One part of the answer is that a good many of them were proposed by the British, because we know now how people in Westminster and Whitehall can't function without being well lubricated. I don't suppose for one moment that they became teetotal once they stepped onto the Eurostar.

Now that we are free of the EU, Bozo and Co they can be sober at all times. There is no reason whatever to copy the French with their wine drinking.

No, no all the laws from the time we were in the EU were made by foreigners.

@jgw1

Our great British laws are now being passed by great British piss heads. Rule Britannia!

Now that we are free of the EU, Bozo and Co they can be sober at all times. There is no reason whatever to copy the French with their wine drinking

Good point. Wine drinking is degenerate and only for foreigners, especially the French.

@longwayoff

It's embarrassing watching Cummings behaving like a rejected swain and its embarrassing having Bozo, no longer Cummings' creature, lumbering around unleashed. Send for Mary Shelley.

Excellent 🤣

I find Cummings rather refreshing, then again i like seeing those who think they can lord it over us, get what they truly deserve, especially Bojo who took us out of the EU, not because he was principled and genuinely believed it was best for the UK but because he wanted power and Brexit was the best path for an ignoramus like him to get it.

I believe he would have campaigned for remain equally as passionately if that had been the best path for him.

I hope there is Whattsapp/email/photo evidence that really does stick the sword in Bojo and he is sacked.

I hope there is Whattsapp/email/photo evidence that really does stick the sword in Bojo and he is sacked

In our house we're hoping for the killer blow to come after Johnson tries to squirm out of whatever the Sue Gray report says. Maybe a full on party vid.

Alexandra2001, sorry; you find 'Cummings rather refreshing'? I've read it all now, the public have short memories don't they. So you think that Durham Dom himself is refreshing because you don't like seeing the political elite Lord it over us, he is the political elite and he propelled Project Lies in to the public arena, making leaving the EU a feasible, 'will of the people' option. He also ensured the 2019 election win- why do you think he was employed in the first place?

I work in an old school profession that had a strong drinking culture up to 5 years ago, when things became more moderate (but still strong by the standards of teachers/surgeons etc). It would still have been unacceptable to get wasted, sleep under your desk/on a sofa and stay in the same clothes the next day though - all nighters for work were/are common, but hard drinking is reserved for points at which big deals/projects have completed and not at your desk and/or blended into a working day.

I don’t care who Cummings is, if he can get Boris Johnson to leave, there will be a lot of happy citizens.

To be honest though, BJ is such a catastrophe at the moment, the longer he stays, the better as far I can see. They are taking a very well-deserved hammering in the polls.

@Goldenbear

Alexandra2001, sorry; you find 'Cummings rather refreshing'? I've read it all now, the public have short memories don't they. So you think that Durham Dom himself is refreshing because you don't like seeing the political elite Lord it over us, he is the political elite and he propelled Project Lies in to the public arena, making leaving the EU a feasible, 'will of the people' option. He also ensured the 2019 election win- why do you think he was employed in the first place?

Yes a bad choice of words! (no edit)

what i meant is he is making life very hard for the Tories and esp Bojo atm, so all good by me..... i don't care what he did over Durham, he isn't elected, more worryingly is the backing he had from elected MPs and Ministers.

Of course he was instrumental in the UK leaving the EU but not as much as Cameron and Farage, two individuals who would get me banned (again, MN cleared me to rejoin) if i said what i think they both deserve....

Dominic Cummings bloody installed Boris in the first place.

If there’s one person I trust even less than Boris it’s DC.