Owning and using solid meths tablets now needs a governement licence

I take exception to both the detail and tone of some of these comments. My father was a civil servant heading up Probation and Aftercare. He was a good man, able and highly respected, having worked in some tough prisons (Reading, Wormwood Scrubs, Wakefield) before moving into the Civil Service. To write off all Civil Servants by denigrating them with such a broad brush approach is simplistic in the extreme. There will be strong and weak performers in all walks of life. He answered to the Home Secretary of the day: Willie Whitelaw, Merlyn Rees and David Mellor. I leave it to you to work out who was the joker in  that pack.

Rant over, thread drift over, back to discussing fuel for model trains.
 
Northsider said:
I take exception to both the detail and tone of some of these comments. My father was a civil servant heading up Probation and Aftercare. He was a good man, able and highly respected, having worked in some tough prisons (Reading, Wormwood Scrubs, Wakefield) before moving into the Civil Service. To write off all Civil Servants by denigrating them with such a broad brush approach is simplistic in the extreme. There will be strong and weak performers in all walks of life. He answered to the Home Secretary of the day: Willie Whitelaw, Merlyn Rees and David Mellor. I leave it to you to work out who was the joker in  that pack.

Rant over, thread drift over, back to discussing fuel for model trains.
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I am with you, after 22 years as a serviceman (civil servant), I then worked for 26 years for the MoD, I know there are some very poor (work wise) civil servant, I worked with some, but there is a line of command.
 
I agree with Northsider and have nothing to do with the Civil Service. Also, people miss the fact that "Yes Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" are at least as much about the weakness and short-termness of ministers always with one eye on the next election as about the deviousness (or otherwise) of civil servants. For example, over 60 years ago the economic and social problems which an ageing population would produce were known (it was one thing I was studying) but governments of all shades have ignored these until it is too late to introduce an integrated policy. In fact, bearing in mind that an ageing population means a population with greater health needs, one government made things worse by limiting the number of doctors that could be trained. Civil servants set out to be as impartial in dealings with politicians despite the latters' attempts to thwart this.

Although not a civil servant, I worked for 27 years in an organisation which functioned very much like the civil service, though where a committee rather than an individual made policy, and on more than one occasion I was reminded that "I was a servant of the board" (i.e. there to do as I was told) when I put forward cons as well as pros in comments on policy proposals I was asked to put forward. (In fact at an interview for the equivalent of a deputy CEO post, the chairman of the interview panel told me that he could not accept the idea that officials should give advice to committees. On my part, I did not accept the offer of being shortlisted, despite the CEOs pleas for me to do so.) And again, there was the same short-termism as regards change and its effects.
 
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playmofire said:
No, not all. Just meant as a bit of humour. I should have added a smiley (and maybe omitted the question mark.
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No not meaning your responce, just thinking a bit more about my original. Type in haste, repent at leisure!
 
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