The workers at Follyville Borough Council continue to get ready for the big move. The office phone system has now been replaced with VOIP (Voice over internet protocol). This is supposed to be cheaper and will allow those working from home to make free calls. However, it is plagued with problems. For a start, you can't make a phone call unless your computer is logged on. This in itself is a process that now takes about 20 minutes each morning so, if you have just popped into the office briefly before going off somewhere else for the day, you can't make a quick phone call because it's just not worth firing up the computer. It also means that you can't be helpful and answer your colleague's phone when it rings because if they are not there, their computer will not be logged on.
This week my system has been ringing and then hanging up before I have a chance to answer. The caller gets a message asking if they want to leave a message, even though I am sitting at my desk. This then transformed into a total malfunction by the end of the week whereby my colleague had to phone someone else in the office on their mobile and get them to bring me a message to phone her back because my phone was not ringing at all (no voicemail either).
But this is not as bad as it gets. We heard on Friday that when we move we will lose our computers and will instead have "dumb terminals" connected to the server. The dumb terminals won't have any kind of sound-card in so when the phone rings ........... we won't be able to hear it! Great for getting work done but not exactly high in the "customer care" stakes. I'm starting a book on how long it will be before we get proper phones back again!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
I've just put a link to this site on my new Facebook page, so hopefully I might get a few followers!
Does anyone actually understand Facebook ....... or is it really as random as it seems? I keep getting e-mails from people I have never heard of wanting to be my friend. Is it just that (a) I have completely forgotten them over the years. (b) they think they know me but have made a mistake or (c) they are desperate for friends and will take anyone? If they read the blog for a while they will probably all be clamouring to be de-listed.
If you can explain how the system works (simply), please respond to this message.
Does anyone actually understand Facebook ....... or is it really as random as it seems? I keep getting e-mails from people I have never heard of wanting to be my friend. Is it just that (a) I have completely forgotten them over the years. (b) they think they know me but have made a mistake or (c) they are desperate for friends and will take anyone? If they read the blog for a while they will probably all be clamouring to be de-listed.
If you can explain how the system works (simply), please respond to this message.
Monday, 2 November 2009
More Government Stupidity
Just when you thought the government couldn't get any more stupid - it does just that! Not only is the level of stupidity increasing but the rate of it as well. Two significant items this week within a day or two of each other......
1. The government appoints expert scientific advisors and then not only ignores their advice but actually sacks them for having the cheek to give it. Alan Johnson the Home Secretary, on sacking the head of the government's Drug Advisory Committee, said "I have lost confidence in him". What he meant was, "I have sacked him because he said the opposite of what I wanted him to say". But if the Government already know what answer they want and what action they are going to take, why bother to have an advisory committee at all? Could it be, Alan Johnson, that if this is the attitude you are going to take, the public has lost confidence in you. Just remember that MPs are supposed to exist to represent the will of the people ......... and that the will of the people is based on facts and common sense not political dogma.
2. Two very disturbing articles in the Times about the effects of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority .....
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6898127.ece
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6898212.ece
One of my favourite poems (because it is so short I can actually remember it) is by Steve Turner -
History repeats itself.
Has to.
Nobody listens!
The government are not immune to this failure to learn lessons from history. They seem hell bent on taking us back to the Stalinist era of Russia when nobody could do anything unless the government said they could. In this country we have fought long and hard for democratic freedoms but now the government is slowly (or in some instances not so slowly) unpicking all this and reverting to ultimate state control ....... of everything. This sort of thing resulted in Revolution in Russia (and in other countries where it has been tried) and it can only be a matter of time before it happens here.
We are supposedly still a Christian country. The Queen is the head of the Church of England and we still have "Her Majesty's Government". So why the discrepancy?? One of the main commands of the Christian religion (and many other religions too I believe) is "Love your neighbour". Yet the government seems determined to put every obstacle possible in the way of people doing that. But who is the first organisation to bewail the breakdown of society as we know it in this country?? ........ that self same government! On the basis of the above, the law bringing this ridiculous scheme into being is almost certainly "ultra vires" and probably contrary to the Human Rights Act. I shall certainly ignore it and I suggest everyone else does the same. If nobody co-operates the scheme will have to fail. in addition to the ethics and common sense of the scheme, it is a horrendous waste of money. On one hand the government is saying we are in a terrible financial situation and must all tighten our belts and cut back spending, and on the other they are inventing new quangos, to carry out a function that nobody wants, will cost them money, and which will be completely ineffective anyway.
When the next election comes round I will drag the doorstep candidates indoors and not let them go until until I have a written assurance that, if elected, they will do all in their power to get this iniquitous law repealed.
1. The government appoints expert scientific advisors and then not only ignores their advice but actually sacks them for having the cheek to give it. Alan Johnson the Home Secretary, on sacking the head of the government's Drug Advisory Committee, said "I have lost confidence in him". What he meant was, "I have sacked him because he said the opposite of what I wanted him to say". But if the Government already know what answer they want and what action they are going to take, why bother to have an advisory committee at all? Could it be, Alan Johnson, that if this is the attitude you are going to take, the public has lost confidence in you. Just remember that MPs are supposed to exist to represent the will of the people ......... and that the will of the people is based on facts and common sense not political dogma.
2. Two very disturbing articles in the Times about the effects of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority .....
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6898127.ece
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6898212.ece
One of my favourite poems (because it is so short I can actually remember it) is by Steve Turner -
History repeats itself.
Has to.
Nobody listens!
The government are not immune to this failure to learn lessons from history. They seem hell bent on taking us back to the Stalinist era of Russia when nobody could do anything unless the government said they could. In this country we have fought long and hard for democratic freedoms but now the government is slowly (or in some instances not so slowly) unpicking all this and reverting to ultimate state control ....... of everything. This sort of thing resulted in Revolution in Russia (and in other countries where it has been tried) and it can only be a matter of time before it happens here.
We are supposedly still a Christian country. The Queen is the head of the Church of England and we still have "Her Majesty's Government". So why the discrepancy?? One of the main commands of the Christian religion (and many other religions too I believe) is "Love your neighbour". Yet the government seems determined to put every obstacle possible in the way of people doing that. But who is the first organisation to bewail the breakdown of society as we know it in this country?? ........ that self same government! On the basis of the above, the law bringing this ridiculous scheme into being is almost certainly "ultra vires" and probably contrary to the Human Rights Act. I shall certainly ignore it and I suggest everyone else does the same. If nobody co-operates the scheme will have to fail. in addition to the ethics and common sense of the scheme, it is a horrendous waste of money. On one hand the government is saying we are in a terrible financial situation and must all tighten our belts and cut back spending, and on the other they are inventing new quangos, to carry out a function that nobody wants, will cost them money, and which will be completely ineffective anyway.
When the next election comes round I will drag the doorstep candidates indoors and not let them go until until I have a written assurance that, if elected, they will do all in their power to get this iniquitous law repealed.
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