AIBU?
Give me strength, the NHS is on its knees and Therese Coffey issues this.....
DevaleraSpawnOfSatan · 15/09/2022 12:15
ErrolTheDragon · 15/09/2022 13:06
GreenLunchBox · 15/09/2022 12:49
Does she really have a PhD in 'chemistry'? That seems... unlikely
She's got a bunch of papers
www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Therese-A-Coffey-82428216
Not surprised she didn't stick with it, doing reactions using hydrogen sulfide sounds unpleasant.
HyperDrivenIntoParalysis · 15/09/2022 13:40
I can't read the article but I love the Oxford comma. Why on earth would she want to get rid of that? I'd have some sympathy if she wasted her time and resources on asking people to communicate in a manner that's more clear but to waste time and resources asking them to be less clear?
The mind boggles.
wigywhoo · 15/09/2022 14:01
Right, this is being blown out of all proportion by people with an axe to grind.
I am a civil servant, when a new Minister is appointed we receive guidance on how the line their briefing prepared etc. all
Involving things like this. Ministers of all colours do this. It will have been shared with her last department too. It's been leaked to cause political damage which is shameful and against the Civil Service Code.
wigywhoo · 15/09/2022 14:03
wigywhoo · 15/09/2022 14:01
Right, this is being blown out of all proportion by people with an axe to grind.
I am a civil servant, when a new Minister is appointed we receive guidance on how the line their briefing prepared etc. all
Involving things like this. Ministers of all colours do this. It will have been shared with her last department too. It's been leaked to cause political damage which is shameful and against the Civil Service Code.
Conscious of my typos, sorry.
Ted27 · 15/09/2022 15:20
I'm also a civil servant- all new SoS and ministers do this.
It saves a lot of time and aggravation if they are clear what they want.
No point winding them up unnecessarily.
The instructions also usually contain more substantive things eg some ministers will prefer data to be presented in graphs and charts with minimal text. Others like more written text and explanation
As they say - nothing to see here
donquixotedelamancha · 15/09/2022 15:22
Can anyone think of any organisation the size and diversity of the DoHaSC in which the boss would try to prescribe it's employee's working practice to such a degree?
Even a new McDonald's CEO would expect his staff to have more independence and flexibility than that.
It just suggests such a ridiculous approach to management.
donquixotedelamancha · 15/09/2022 15:24
I am a civil servant, when a new Minister is appointed we receive guidance on how the line their briefing prepared etc. all Involving things like this. Ministers of all colours do this. It will have been shared with her last department too.
See, I get that, I just can't understand anyone effective thinking such minor details are worth proscribing. I thought it was nuts when JRM did it- it just gets people's back up.
EgonSpengler2020 · 15/09/2022 15:28
Theresa Coffey's head would explode if she saw the digital clinical records in the ambulance trust I work for.
Regardless of what you type, the system turns the first letter of every word into a capital. Drives me frickin' bonkers, and I'm no grammar pedent.
CandyLeBonBon · 15/09/2022 15:32
NightmareSlashDelightful · 15/09/2022 12:32
I'd like to thank my parents, JK Rowling and Martin Amis.
or
I'd like to thank my parents, JK Rowling, and Martin Amis.
Sometimes you really do need the cheeky little squiggle.
I'll never thank Martin Amis for writing such unreadable and Unlikeable drivel. JKR on the other hand, is fabulous. As is an Oxford comma.
She's bikeshedding!
Shpaniel · 15/09/2022 16:01
I’ve worked in the corporate sector for over 20 years as will many others on this thread. I’ve been a junior and eventually exec manager.
Never have I been given, or have I issued, statements like this. Why? Because it makes precisely ZERO difference to outcomes which for
most businesses is making money. For the NHS it should be better patient experience and outcomes. How does having any civil servant spend even a small amount of time tailoring comms support that and demonstrate ‘best value’ of public money?
Topseyt123 · 15/09/2022 16:06
If either Thérèse Coffey or Jacob Rees-Smug were my MP (it is Kemi Badenoch instead, and she is not great either) then I would be very tempted to write to them using as many Oxford commas and "unacceptables" (hated by Rees-Smug) as I could shoehorn in. 🤣
Seriously though, I had to look up Oxford comma too despite being a bit of a spelling and grammar pedant. I've never used it because I was always taught that no comma was needed before the "and" at the last item on a list. We didn't learn lots of grammar rules in our school, so that was one of the few.
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