FFS Pickles! Get a grip...

Eric Pickles would seem to be in desperate need of a little divine inspiration judging from the above picture!

Earlier this month, we were blessed with the news that Suffolk County Council's completely useless Chief Executive had finally been kicked out - albeit with a £220,000 golden goodbye. What was Pickles comment? "The new appointee's salary needs to be more in tune with the times".

So what does that mean? Well according to sources in Suffolk this week, that actually means that the cash strapped authority will be looking to pay around £160,000 per annum which is still more than the £142,000 David Cameron gets for running the entire country!

Andrea Hill has now been on garden leave or plain simply gone for some ten weeks and apparently the appointment of a new chief executive is likely to take several months. During this time, the budget setting process for next year will be under way.

Perhaps the Council should be asking itself exactly who has been running the council since Mrs Hill's suspension? It seems to me to have been running quite satisfactorily - indeed, some sources inside the council say it has been running better - so exactly why do they need to replace her at all. It seems to me that the position has been operationally proven to be redundant.

Coming back to Pickles, one has to ask what sort of authority and grip on reality this man has to allow this fiasco to run on and on? Grow a pair, Eric, and get some legislation on the books that allows the salaries of these fat cat piss takers to be pegged at a sensible level. Why are you allowing this obscene abuse of ratepayers money to roll on and on!

And at the end of the day , why the hell are Suffolk proposing to offer the job at around £160,000 per annum. There are no end of competent managers out there who would be more than willing and able to do the job for half of that...

...and in the meantime, this week they have appointed a temporary manager for 6 months - at £150,000 a year! FFS!

FFS Pickles! Get a grip...

Eric Pickles would seem to be in desperate need of a little divine inspiration judging from the above picture!

Earlier this month, we were blessed with the news that Suffolk County Council's completely useless Chief Executive had finally been kicked out - albeit with a £220,000 golden goodbye. What was Pickles comment? "The new appointee's salary needs to be more in tune with the times".

So what does that mean? Well according to sources in Suffolk this week, that actually means that the cash strapped authority will be looking to pay around £160,000 per annum which is still more than the £142,000 David Cameron gets for running the entire country!

Andrea Hill has now been on garden leave or plain simply gone for some ten weeks and apparently the appointment of a new chief executive is likely to take several months. During this time, the budget setting process for next year will be under way.

Perhaps the Council should be asking itself exactly who has been running the council since Mrs Hill's suspension? It seems to me to have been running quite satisfactorily - indeed, some sources inside the council say it has been running better - so exactly why do they need to replace her at all. It seems to me that the position has been operationally proven to be redundant.

Coming back to Pickles, one has to ask what sort of authority and grip on reality this man has to allow this fiasco to run on and on? Grow a pair, Eric, and get some legislation on the books that allows the salaries of these fat cat piss takers to be pegged at a sensible level. Why are you allowing this obscene abuse of ratepayers money to roll on and on!

And at the end of the day , why the hell are Suffolk proposing to offer the job at around £160,000 per annum. There are no end of competent managers out there who would be more than willing and able to do the job for half of that...

...and in the meantime, this week they have appointed a temporary manager for 6 months - at £150,000 a year! FFS!

Rotten Boroughs : Essex County Council

Dear, oh dear! Poor old Essex council seems to be having a rough time of it lately...

You might remember Lord Hanningfield, the peer who was jailed fraud? Well it seems that whilst he was in prison, Essex County Council has been continuing to pay him his expenses allowance as a councillor - until a public uproar put a stop to it.

The excuse was that they were obliged to keep paying him while he was appealing against his conviction and now that the appeal has been held, they have stopped. You might think that this was piss poor and showed a distinct lack of backbone.

Anyway, Essex is also coming under criticism for its fleet of three chaffeur driven Jaguars - now cut to just one mainly used by the chairman, Rodney Bass - which it uses as a 'cost effective way of conveying councillors about their duties'. Ironically, it was Hanningfield's use of the car to ferry him between Essex and the House of Lords that focused attention on the fleet. A Freedom of Information request revelaed that the council spent over £677,000 on the cars over the past five years - and that's a lot of taxi fares!

Mike Mackrory, Liberal Democrat deputy opposition leader, said: "I find it quite extraordinary and one really wonders what on earth the journeys were and how that could be justified?" Mr Bass on the other hand commented that if the prime minister could have a car, so should he, because of the number of functions he attends.

Peter Martin, its new leader, said: "We're certainly not a profligate council. We are extremely tight with our money. We are offering extremely good value for money to our residents."

You might like to form your own opinions - especially if you are an Essex ratepayer...

Rotten Boroughs : Essex County Council

Dear, oh dear! Poor old Essex council seems to be having a rough time of it lately...

You might remember Lord Hanningfield, the peer who was jailed fraud? Well it seems that whilst he was in prison, Essex County Council has been continuing to pay him his expenses allowance as a councillor - until a public uproar put a stop to it.

The excuse was that they were obliged to keep paying him while he was appealing against his conviction and now that the appeal has been held, they have stopped. You might think that this was piss poor and showed a distinct lack of backbone.

Anyway, Essex is also coming under criticism for its fleet of three chaffeur driven Jaguars - now cut to just one mainly used by the chairman, Rodney Bass - which it uses as a 'cost effective way of conveying councillors about their duties'. Ironically, it was Hanningfield's use of the car to ferry him between Essex and the House of Lords that focused attention on the fleet. A Freedom of Information request revelaed that the council spent over £677,000 on the cars over the past five years - and that's a lot of taxi fares!

Mike Mackrory, Liberal Democrat deputy opposition leader, said: "I find it quite extraordinary and one really wonders what on earth the journeys were and how that could be justified?" Mr Bass on the other hand commented that if the prime minister could have a car, so should he, because of the number of functions he attends.

Peter Martin, its new leader, said: "We're certainly not a profligate council. We are extremely tight with our money. We are offering extremely good value for money to our residents."

You might like to form your own opinions - especially if you are an Essex ratepayer...

Rotten Boroughs : Suffolk County Council

Small comfort yesterday to learn that the powers that be at Suffolk County Council have finally got rid of the waste of space that was their Chief Executive.

Regular readers will know that I have written about Britain's highest paid council boss before, most recently when we was to be investigated for the effects of her 'management style' in the suicide of David White. This resulted in her being put on gardening leave after her return from holiday some eight weeks ago. You might recall that Ms Hill (pictured above) was paid £218,000 per annum, so the gardening leave in question has already cost the besieged tax payers of Suffolk around £18,000.

The council has reportedly told her to bugger off in exchange for a years salary - so now they are paying for her not to be there just the same as if she was! Many in Suffolk feel that that is a good deal because they are better off without her, her management style and her plans for the county.

The sad side of this story is that the decision appears to have been taken to avoid the 'embarassment and expense' of a long and bitterly disputed disciplinary hearing. Of course, this also effectively means that the possible cause of Mr White's suicide is effectively swept under the carpet. Little consolation then for Mr White's family to see Ms Hill given a big fat wad of money!

And the government's reaction to all this? Eric Pickles might be breathing a hefty sigh of relief that this embarassing woman has departed, but the best he could say about her replacement was that he hoped the salary offered 'would reflect the austerity of the times we are living in'.

If that's the best you can do Eric, then perhaps we should get rid of you as well?....

Rotten Boroughs : Suffolk County Council

Small comfort yesterday to learn that the powers that be at Suffolk County Council have finally got rid of the waste of space that was their Chief Executive.

Regular readers will know that I have written about Britain's highest paid council boss before, most recently when we was to be investigated for the effects of her 'management style' in the suicide of David White. This resulted in her being put on gardening leave after her return from holiday some eight weeks ago. You might recall that Ms Hill (pictured above) was paid £218,000 per annum, so the gardening leave in question has already cost the besieged tax payers of Suffolk around £18,000.

The council has reportedly told her to bugger off in exchange for a years salary - so now they are paying for her not to be there just the same as if she was! Many in Suffolk feel that that is a good deal because they are better off without her, her management style and her plans for the county.

The sad side of this story is that the decision appears to have been taken to avoid the 'embarassment and expense' of a long and bitterly disputed disciplinary hearing. Of course, this also effectively means that the possible cause of Mr White's suicide is effectively swept under the carpet. Little consolation then for Mr White's family to see Ms Hill given a big fat wad of money!

And the government's reaction to all this? Eric Pickles might be breathing a hefty sigh of relief that this embarassing woman has departed, but the best he could say about her replacement was that he hoped the salary offered 'would reflect the austerity of the times we are living in'.

If that's the best you can do Eric, then perhaps we should get rid of you as well?....

New expenses scandal

Bet you wish you had one of these, eh! It's a shiny bright Government Procurement Card - or to put it another way, a great way for our elected and unelected 'servants' to piss taxpayer's money up the wall...

If you think that the MPs expenses scandal was off the scale, then let me tell that you ain't seen nothing yet.

The cards were first introduced in 1997, the year Tony Blair entered Downing Street. They were designed to be used as a convenient way to pay for low-value work expenses such as travel tickets and office supplies, with all bills settled directly by departmental finance departments, and were initially supplied by Visa. Other companies, including American Express, now also supply them.

More than 140,000 cards have been handed out to staff, who are using them to spend more than £1 billion of public money every year. Dubbed by critics as ‘a Gold Card on the taxpayer’, thay are being widely abused because bills of less than £1,000 a month are not routinely audited. They have been used to pay for fast-food meals, drinks in the pub and even shopping trips to Tesco, with all bills sent straight to the taxpayer.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has sent a shiver through Whitehall by calling for every card statement, past and present, to be made available online. The mandarins fear that if they comply it could lead to the Civil Service’s equivalent of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009, with thousands of bogus claims being exposed.

And so they should be - not only exposed, but the abusers summarily dismissed and prosecuted!

(Full marks to the Telegraph for exposing yet another abuse of power)

New expenses scandal

Bet you wish you had one of these, eh! It's a shiny bright Government Procurement Card - or to put it another way, a great way for our elected and unelected 'servants' to piss taxpayer's money up the wall...

If you think that the MPs expenses scandal was off the scale, then let me tell that you ain't seen nothing yet.

The cards were first introduced in 1997, the year Tony Blair entered Downing Street. They were designed to be used as a convenient way to pay for low-value work expenses such as travel tickets and office supplies, with all bills settled directly by departmental finance departments, and were initially supplied by Visa. Other companies, including American Express, now also supply them.

More than 140,000 cards have been handed out to staff, who are using them to spend more than £1 billion of public money every year. Dubbed by critics as ‘a Gold Card on the taxpayer’, thay are being widely abused because bills of less than £1,000 a month are not routinely audited. They have been used to pay for fast-food meals, drinks in the pub and even shopping trips to Tesco, with all bills sent straight to the taxpayer.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has sent a shiver through Whitehall by calling for every card statement, past and present, to be made available online. The mandarins fear that if they comply it could lead to the Civil Service’s equivalent of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009, with thousands of bogus claims being exposed.

And so they should be - not only exposed, but the abusers summarily dismissed and prosecuted!

(Full marks to the Telegraph for exposing yet another abuse of power)

The NHS computer system

Back last year, I wrote a piece about totally crap software and how the government is totally incapable of specifying an IT system and is much less capable of delivering the project within budget and time scales, so it comes as no surprise to find that the latest multi-billion pound white elephant is to be subjected to yet another review.

One of the major problems with commissioning work from third party contractors is that there is no incentive to deliver the system. Every time the spec changes - which happens with government work continually - the price changes and, of course, if it doesn't work properly after delivery then there is the endless debate about what is and isn't chargeable. I liken it to driving your shiny new BMW off the forecourt only to find it breaks down 50 yards up the road and then being told you will be charged to fix it because it wasn't being driven properly.

The National Audit Office started to suspect this thing wasn't going to fly as long ago as August 2004 as you can see from their typically understated concerns here on the BBC website. In February 2007, the Daily Telegraph decided that it was doomed to failure and quoted senior sources at Fujitsu - one of the major suppliers - as voicing concern at the direction of the NHS programme and the lack of vision on how the health service can make best use of new technology.

"What we are trying to do is run an enormous programme with the techniques that we are absolutely familiar with for running small projects. And it isn't working. And it isn't going to work," he told his audience.

As with all things of this nature, there comes a time when the contractor and the government aren't going to agree and,as, usual, the government is going to blame the people who actually know what they are talking about so in May 2008, Fujitsu were fired. At this stage the project was already four years behind schedule.
So far the costs had escalated from £6.7 billion to £12 billion with worse news still to come when in January 2009, the Guardian reported that the system was on brink of failure, something which should cone as no surprise as some people had been on record as saying this for years. However, the issue refused to lay quietly around and die as hundreds of junior doctors were having their job applications screwed up!
 
So here we are in 2011, and the costs are now estimated at £20 billion and, according to the BBC, "things are getting worse"

The response? Well, the government announced there will be a review of the project. This is due to start this week.

Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee and long-standing critic of the plans, said: "It is perfectly clear that throwing more money at the problem will not work. This turkey will never fly and it is time the Department of Health faced reality and channelled the remaining funds into something useful that will actually benefit patients. The largest civilian IT project in the world has failed."

But the Department of Health said while the original vision "was flawed", the project still had the potential to deliver value for money.

Yeah, right...

The NHS computer system

Back last year, I wrote a piece about totally crap software and how the government is totally incapable of specifying an IT system and is much less capable of delivering the project within budget and time scales, so it comes as no surprise to find that the latest multi-billion pound white elephant is to be subjected to yet another review.

One of the major problems with commissioning work from third party contractors is that there is no incentive to deliver the system. Every time the spec changes - which happens with government work continually - the price changes and, of course, if it doesn't work properly after delivery then there is the endless debate about what is and isn't chargeable. I liken it to driving your shiny new BMW off the forecourt only to find it breaks down 50 yards up the road and then being told you will be charged to fix it because it wasn't being driven properly.

The National Audit Office started to suspect this thing wasn't going to fly as long ago as August 2004 as you can see from their typically understated concerns here on the BBC website. In February 2007, the Daily Telegraph decided that it was doomed to failure and quoted senior sources at Fujitsu - one of the major suppliers - as voicing concern at the direction of the NHS programme and the lack of vision on how the health service can make best use of new technology.

"What we are trying to do is run an enormous programme with the techniques that we are absolutely familiar with for running small projects. And it isn't working. And it isn't going to work," he told his audience.

As with all things of this nature, there comes a time when the contractor and the government aren't going to agree and,as, usual, the government is going to blame the people who actually know what they are talking about so in May 2008, Fujitsu were fired. At this stage the project was already four years behind schedule.
So far the costs had escalated from £6.7 billion to £12 billion with worse news still to come when in January 2009, the Guardian reported that the system was on brink of failure, something which should cone as no surprise as some people had been on record as saying this for years. However, the issue refused to lay quietly around and die as hundreds of junior doctors were having their job applications screwed up!
 
So here we are in 2011, and the costs are now estimated at £20 billion and, according to the BBC, "things are getting worse"

The response? Well, the government announced there will be a review of the project. This is due to start this week.

Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee and long-standing critic of the plans, said: "It is perfectly clear that throwing more money at the problem will not work. This turkey will never fly and it is time the Department of Health faced reality and channelled the remaining funds into something useful that will actually benefit patients. The largest civilian IT project in the world has failed."

But the Department of Health said while the original vision "was flawed", the project still had the potential to deliver value for money.

Yeah, right...

Foxy hits the spot

You will have gathered from the picture on the left that I was somewhat unimpressed with Liam Fox when I told him what to do with his nuclear deterent...

Well, I have changed my view somewhat after he came out publically against Cameron's balmy plan to enshrine the overseas aid budget in law!

My regular reader will know that I am no lover of ringfencing the aid budget at a time when this country is in the economic crapper, but to suggest that 0.7% of this country's income should be set aside by law is, frankly, completely fucking nuts!

What the hell are you thinking about, Cameron? Is there fuck all else more important for you to be concentrating on at the moment apart from this piece of patent absolute nonsense!?

So all credit to Liam Fox for saying that "I have considered the issue carefully, and discussed it with Andrew (Mitchell) and William Hague, but I cannot support the proposal in its current form."

A source close to Fox insisted that he was not opposed to the government's plan to increase spending on aid, saying: "The defence secretary fully supports the principle of a 0.7% target on international aid. The issue is simply how best to reflect this in law."

Quite right, Liam. If the government decides to give our hard earned money away to a load of bone idle Johnny foreigners then that's one thing. But the government is the government. It does not need to legislate for itself to do anything - it just does it!

It seems a shame to me that we don't have this guy running the country...

Foxy hits the spot

You will have gathered from the picture on the left that I was somewhat unimpressed with Liam Fox when I told him what to do with his nuclear deterent...

Well, I have changed my view somewhat after he came out publically against Cameron's balmy plan to enshrine the overseas aid budget in law!

My regular reader will know that I am no lover of ringfencing the aid budget at a time when this country is in the economic crapper, but to suggest that 0.7% of this country's income should be set aside by law is, frankly, completely fucking nuts!

What the hell are you thinking about, Cameron? Is there fuck all else more important for you to be concentrating on at the moment apart from this piece of patent absolute nonsense!?

So all credit to Liam Fox for saying that "I have considered the issue carefully, and discussed it with Andrew (Mitchell) and William Hague, but I cannot support the proposal in its current form."

A source close to Fox insisted that he was not opposed to the government's plan to increase spending on aid, saying: "The defence secretary fully supports the principle of a 0.7% target on international aid. The issue is simply how best to reflect this in law."

Quite right, Liam. If the government decides to give our hard earned money away to a load of bone idle Johnny foreigners then that's one thing. But the government is the government. It does not need to legislate for itself to do anything - it just does it!

It seems a shame to me that we don't have this guy running the country...

Disappointed...

OK, I'm a mug. I admit it. I fell for it.

I was stupid enough to belief that when we got rid of the dreaded Broon and his crowd of incompetent wastrels that things could only get better. I suppose I should have remembered that Blair used that line as his campaign song, and look how that turned out!

Now I know that the Conservative Party did not win the election and that a coalition has to make compromises, but I really did expect better of Cameron.

I expected him to deal with the excesses of the bankers, not just let then carry on paying themselves obscene bonuses. At the very least not in the banks that we actually own...

I expected him to honour his manifesto promiss for an Eu referendum. I did not expect him to do a complete 180 degree U-turn on the issue after being presented with a petition with over 350,000 signatures on it. I expected better reasoning than that he thought it was 'inappropriate'...

I expected him to stand his ground on NHS reforms not to start faffing about pretending to 'listen and reconsider' when the decisions have already been made...

I expected him to make tough decisions about the public finances, not give away our money to foreign countries who don't need it just to suck up to them to support us in a war we shouldn't be involved in in the first place...

I expected him to start making plans to brings the troops home like he said he would...

Instead, I am forced to use the most powerful word in the English language to judge his performance so far. I am disappointed.

I thought better of you, Cameron. I thought you were a statesman. I thought you had backbone. I thought you would make a good Prime Minister.

I was wrong.

Disappointed...

OK, I'm a mug. I admit it. I fell for it.

I was stupid enough to belief that when we got rid of the dreaded Broon and his crowd of incompetent wastrels that things could only get better. I suppose I should have remembered that Blair used that line as his campaign song, and look how that turned out!

Now I know that the Conservative Party did not win the election and that a coalition has to make compromises, but I really did expect better of Cameron.

I expected him to deal with the excesses of the bankers, not just let then carry on paying themselves obscene bonuses. At the very least not in the banks that we actually own...

I expected him to honour his manifesto promiss for an Eu referendum. I did not expect him to do a complete 180 degree U-turn on the issue after being presented with a petition with over 350,000 signatures on it. I expected better reasoning than that he thought it was 'inappropriate'...

I expected him to stand his ground on NHS reforms not to start faffing about pretending to 'listen and reconsider' when the decisions have already been made...

I expected him to make tough decisions about the public finances, not give away our money to foreign countries who don't need it just to suck up to them to support us in a war we shouldn't be involved in in the first place...

I expected him to start making plans to brings the troops home like he said he would...

Instead, I am forced to use the most powerful word in the English language to judge his performance so far. I am disappointed.

I thought better of you, Cameron. I thought you were a statesman. I thought you had backbone. I thought you would make a good Prime Minister.

I was wrong.

Rotten Boroughs : Suffolk County Council

Yes, they're at it again in Suffolk - and you guessed it! The centre of attention is none other than their much respected (sic) chief executive Andrea Hill.

It seems that the grossly overpaid Andrea has now pissed off the councillors so much that a couple of them have decided to openly criticise her in the national press.

Kathy Pollard and Caroline Page have expressed their opinions in a full page article in a national Sunday newspaper, specifically about recent revelations over money spent for a photoshoot for Mrs Hill and senior councillors and lifestyle coaching sessions for the chief executive and others. Priceless...

This shameless £218,000 a year trougher has even attracted the attantion of David Cameron - and frankly about time too! Whether he has the balls to do anything about it remains to be seen, but we live in hope...

Mrs Pollard states: “All heads of local authorities have had unpleasant decisions to make during the past 25 years as successive national governments have cut their spending. Yet the average person would be hard pressed to name those chief executives. Not so in Suffolk. Mention Suffolk County Council to anybody and the subject of THAT WOMAN and her salary will arise. It’s an issue that just won’t go away.”

She later claims that Mrs Hill has become “confused” with being responsible for a lot of public money “with being worth a lot of public money”.

Nicely put!

(You can read more about it in the Daily Mail by clicking here)

Rotten Boroughs : Suffolk County Council

Yes, they're at it again in Suffolk - and you guessed it! The centre of attention is none other than their much respected (sic) chief executive Andrea Hill.

It seems that the grossly overpaid Andrea has now pissed off the councillors so much that a couple of them have decided to openly criticise her in the national press.

Kathy Pollard and Caroline Page have expressed their opinions in a full page article in a national Sunday newspaper, specifically about recent revelations over money spent for a photoshoot for Mrs Hill and senior councillors and lifestyle coaching sessions for the chief executive and others. Priceless...

This shameless £218,000 a year trougher has even attracted the attantion of David Cameron - and frankly about time too! Whether he has the balls to do anything about it remains to be seen, but we live in hope...

Mrs Pollard states: “All heads of local authorities have had unpleasant decisions to make during the past 25 years as successive national governments have cut their spending. Yet the average person would be hard pressed to name those chief executives. Not so in Suffolk. Mention Suffolk County Council to anybody and the subject of THAT WOMAN and her salary will arise. It’s an issue that just won’t go away.”

She later claims that Mrs Hill has become “confused” with being responsible for a lot of public money “with being worth a lot of public money”.

Nicely put!

(You can read more about it in the Daily Mail by clicking here)

Those Miliband policies in full...

Following his address to the recent assembled cuts protestors in London, here's a list of the Mighty Milipede's policies in full...

1. Slag off the Tories
2. Slag off the LibDems
3. Slag off the Tory led Coalition
4. Complain about cuts
5. er...........
6. ........................that's it.

Those Miliband policies in full...

Following his address to the recent assembled cuts protestors in London, here's a list of the Mighty Milipede's policies in full...

1. Slag off the Tories
2. Slag off the LibDems
3. Slag off the Tory led Coalition
4. Complain about cuts
5. er...........
6. ........................that's it.

International Climate Week

Did you know that this week was International Climate Week? No.? Well, until I saw it on the BBC breakfast programme yesterday morning, nor did I.

Apparently, Monday 21 March 2011, marked the start of the UK’s first ever Climate Week. It is a new national occasion, backed by the Prime Minister, has-been eco knobhead Al Gore and celebrities such as Paul McCartney, as well as "a huge number of people and organisations from every part of society".

Climate Week apparently provides an opportunity to raise awareness and highlight and inspire innovative ideas which will help protect our planet and the people who live on it. As far as I can see it has failed spectacularly!

Basically, it's a bit of touchy feely bullshit thought up by the Department for International Development. You can read about it by clicking here. I especially like the flash at the head of the site where it thanks 'British Taxpayers' which I found particularly offensive. No bugger asked me if they could give my money away at a time when I need it myself.

Apparently this amazingly inconspicuous set of events is sponsored by Tesco, Kelloggs, French energy supplier EDF (Hmmmm...is this appropriate?) and RBS which you will remember is also funded by the taxpayer. Still, it did get an award for "Best Initiative for a Government or Statutory body (see here) as did HM Revenue and Customs for "making environmental targets a departmental priority.

I am tempted to say that collecting tax from loads of people who haven't paid up might be a better priority for HMRC because, after all, they haven't contributed to this piece of pathetic self aggrandisement - it's just us mugs...

International Climate Week

Did you know that this week was International Climate Week? No.? Well, until I saw it on the BBC breakfast programme yesterday morning, nor did I.

Apparently, Monday 21 March 2011, marked the start of the UK’s first ever Climate Week. It is a new national occasion, backed by the Prime Minister, has-been eco knobhead Al Gore and celebrities such as Paul McCartney, as well as "a huge number of people and organisations from every part of society".

Climate Week apparently provides an opportunity to raise awareness and highlight and inspire innovative ideas which will help protect our planet and the people who live on it. As far as I can see it has failed spectacularly!

Basically, it's a bit of touchy feely bullshit thought up by the Department for International Development. You can read about it by clicking here. I especially like the flash at the head of the site where it thanks 'British Taxpayers' which I found particularly offensive. No bugger asked me if they could give my money away at a time when I need it myself.

Apparently this amazingly inconspicuous set of events is sponsored by Tesco, Kelloggs, French energy supplier EDF (Hmmmm...is this appropriate?) and RBS which you will remember is also funded by the taxpayer. Still, it did get an award for "Best Initiative for a Government or Statutory body (see here) as did HM Revenue and Customs for "making environmental targets a departmental priority.

I am tempted to say that collecting tax from loads of people who haven't paid up might be a better priority for HMRC because, after all, they haven't contributed to this piece of pathetic self aggrandisement - it's just us mugs...