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Council Rant
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath... |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Had some craters in our road, alloys bending stuff! They were huge!
Got onto the council via Facebook since its 2016 and they couldn't locate the postcode saying it's invalid 
So I sent the fuckers the coordinates for it 
To be fair it was repaired pretty quick. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah "
It's the culture though, their attitude is just that there are rules and no exceptions. Ok if that's the case we can fire 90% of your admin people and get computers to do then can't we? Computers don't take 4 weeks to process a parking permit ffs |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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You think that's bad, our council takes the hundred quid for your parking permit then takes three weeks to issue it.... Meanwhile your not covered in those three weeks  |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"You think that's bad, our council takes the hundred quid for your parking permit then takes three weeks to issue it.... Meanwhile your not covered in those three weeks "
I think ours is £120 but I wasn't even moaning about that. Then the expect a thank you at the end of it like they are doing you a fucking favour. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah
It's the culture though, their attitude is just that there are rules and no exceptions. Ok if that's the case we can fire 90% of your admin people and get computers to do then can't we? Computers don't take 4 weeks to process a parking permit ffs "
It's not generally those on the front line who make the decisions re time scales. Attitude should be professional whether you work in the public or private sector.,
The parking permit - is it for a year ? Do they tell you when it will expire ? I don't know as we don't have them where I live.
Sarah |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah
It's the culture though, their attitude is just that there are rules and no exceptions. Ok if that's the case we can fire 90% of your admin people and get computers to do then can't we? Computers don't take 4 weeks to process a parking permit ffs
It's not generally those on the front line who make the decisions re time scales. Attitude should be professional whether you work in the public or private sector.,
The parking permit - is it for a year ? Do they tell you when it will expire ? I don't know as we don't have them where I live.
Sarah "
.
Yes a year, they don't issue reminders and bizarrely you can't reapply ours until they run out!.
Then they take three weeks to issue and during those three weeks your not covered!.
Legally speaking I don't know how they stand on that, but that's the council policy |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Oh you also have to show your v45, mot and certificate of insurance, as well as your council tax bill!.
.
.
It's easier to get a Panamanian shell company set up!  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain. "
The Govt are just about to remove all their central funding to local govt and devolve power to multi-council consortiums run by unelected groups of sometimes elected councillors and give them health powers too.
Try getting you voice heard then.
And the useless police commissioners are taking over fire services to asset strip thrm so dont start a fire or be in a crash as turnout times will drop.
So who voted Tory? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
I can't go into an apple shop and tell them I want a new iPhone, but I can't actually afford to pay for it, and have them give me the phone anyway.
People want to cut "bureaucratic" "back office" "pen pushing" council staff, and then they're surprised that the thing they want is going to take a bit longer because 80% of the staff in that section have been made redundant over the past 4 years.
I've had about 5 colleagues in the past few years who came over from private sector roles because they thought it would be a cushy little number (flexi time! Job for life! Gold plated pension!) and left within 6 months because it wasn't anything like what they expected at all.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
The Govt are just about to remove all their central funding to local govt and devolve power to multi-council consortiums run by unelected groups of sometimes elected councillors and give them health powers too.
Try getting you voice heard then.
And the useless police commissioners are taking over fire services to asset strip thrm so dont start a fire or be in a crash as turnout times will drop.
So who voted Tory?"
Multi consortium councils?  Do you mean combined authorities? It's not quite as you describe.... |
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"My council is really good 
Do they pay you to say that?
No, it's called Stockholm syndrome"
I think I'm more Danish than Swedish....  cheers for the lovely remark I'll be sure to thank my capturers... |
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to para-phrse yourself ... If you don't like your councils policy then lobby your councillor instead of proposing something that takes it out on ordinary admin people that aren't involved in politics. |
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People have voted in a national government that has drastically cut the income from most councils. This has meant that their ability to plan their services is shot and managing service delivery even harder.
The private sector equivalent would be a corporation like Virgin media almost going down the pan for several successive years - their income £billions lower each year. With a private business they'd be able to adjust strategy and operations to improve income levels and product investment. Councils are reliant on central government for a huge part of their income but can't do much to influence it. It's Cameron and Osborne's call that this happens. It makes the council the equivalent of a business that's about to die. Some voters voted for this in the general election.
I don't work in local government and grateful that I don't as they are the target of criticism that should generally be put elsewhere. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
The Govt are just about to remove all their central funding to local govt and devolve power to multi-council consortiums run by unelected groups of sometimes elected councillors and give them health powers too.
Try getting you voice heard then.
And the useless police commissioners are taking over fire services to asset strip thrm so dont start a fire or be in a crash as turnout times will drop.
So who voted Tory?
Multi consortium councils? Do you mean combined authorities? It's not quite as you describe.... "
Well from what I read in Local Govt Chronicle theyllbe beyond our ordinary control. Obce youve voted for the Manchester nayor how do you gokd then to account until the next election FOUR YEARS later? Bigger councils care less about services than small ones. |
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"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath... "
It's not Thursday
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"People have voted in a national government that has drastically cut the income from most councils. This has meant that their ability to plan their services is shot and managing service delivery even harder.
The private sector equivalent would be a corporation like Virgin media almost going down the pan for several successive years - their income £billions lower each year. With a private business they'd be able to adjust strategy and operations to improve income levels and product investment. Councils are reliant on central government for a huge part of their income but can't do much to influence it. It's Cameron and Osborne's call that this happens. It makes the council the equivalent of a business that's about to die. Some voters voted for this in the general election.
I don't work in local government and grateful that I don't as they are the target of criticism that should generally be put elsewhere. "
this  |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
"
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"to para-phrse yourself ... If you don't like your councils policy then lobby your councillor instead of proposing something that takes it out on ordinary admin people that aren't involved in politics."
We do have a local election coming up and I will certainly not vote for the incumbents... |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"I'm sure the problems of the world could be sorted out if we all just buckled down and accepted how right you are about everything.
"
You mean like a dictatorship? So that's your preferred form of government then... makes sense |
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By *errygTV/TS
over a year ago
denton |
my local council has always been labour, if you put a donkey up at election time with a labour rossette it would be voted in, councils as in large companies seem to be a rule unto themselves, i wrote to council 6 weeks ago and still no reply, but if you go over a month with council tax they soon write to threatening court action |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Hmmm council well im a landscape gardener and started back end of February but thus far they haven't started brown bin collection in my area or green waste as its called .. nice council .... not !!! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up. "
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up.
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course. "
But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up.
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course.
But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders."
Councils do far more complicated stuff than "bin collection" though. Most people think that's all they really do because that's their only real interaction with them if they're not on benefits with children or elderly relatives.
In back office functions, in a number of councils near me who outsourced over recent years, the contractors have pulled back from the contracts because they weren't able to make the savings they needed to in order to get the profits they needed.
The light rail system in this area is going back to public sector operation because the private operator has been making a loss on the contract and doesn't want to renew it.
There are swathes of council services companies would bid for given the chance, there are others they wouldn't touch with a barge pole, for good reasons (like no control over demand factors, no potential for income generation and legal liability for people's lives - again, looked after children is the prime example here).
And I'm not sure I'd hold the MoD up as a shining beacon of how they manage services either, their accounts have been qualified for 7 years in a row precisely because they don't have a good handle on all that complicated stuff they're buying. |
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up.
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course.
But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders."
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up.
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course.
But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA"
And say what to them? Their job is to deliver the contract. The contract must specify the standard of customer service. If I asked them why they don't leave a note on the bin to say why it wasn't collected then they'd just say "it's not in our contract" |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
Factually incorrect i'm afriad. If a private company is contracted to run government services then it must deliver the whole contract or face the penalties of contract default, which would be set by the government before the contract is made. Therefore, they can't cherry pick services without defaulting on the whole contract, and it's easy to make that very undesirable. If it's a fixed price contract they can't increase the price just because their costs went up.
But if a private company is contracted to deliver a government service it's because THEY put in a tender to win said contract for that government service. They WANTED that contract. They're not forced to do it. If they cocked up their contract, that's the reason they'll get default penalties. And if it all goes tits up and they end up failing, or going into administration or whatever, who do you think has to pick up the pieces of delivering that service? Oh look, the council. Because it's the council with the legal obligation to deliver statutory functions, which is why it's a bullshit misleading comparison to suggest they're crap because if they were a private company they'd go under.
They may be crap for other reasons, of course.
But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
Councils do far more complicated stuff than "bin collection" though. Most people think that's all they really do because that's their only real interaction with them if they're not on benefits with children or elderly relatives.
In back office functions, in a number of councils near me who outsourced over recent years, the contractors have pulled back from the contracts because they weren't able to make the savings they needed to in order to get the profits they needed.
The light rail system in this area is going back to public sector operation because the private operator has been making a loss on the contract and doesn't want to renew it.
There are swathes of council services companies would bid for given the chance, there are others they wouldn't touch with a barge pole, for good reasons (like no control over demand factors, no potential for income generation and legal liability for people's lives - again, looked after children is the prime example here).
And I'm not sure I'd hold the MoD up as a shining beacon of how they manage services either, their accounts have been qualified for 7 years in a row precisely because they don't have a good handle on all that complicated stuff they're buying. "
The easy solution is to put it out to tender, allow the council as one of the bidders and then if nobody cab beat them or nobody wants to bid then I'll shut my pie hole. But I bet the competition alone would change their stinking attitude.
It's easy to criticise the MOD because things go wrong when you are buying unproven technology that people shoot at. But by international standards they are actually very good and have improved a lot under Sir Bernard Gray, as much as they hated him for it. |
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"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath... "
Find the name of your local councillor and send them an email. So long as you stay calm and reasonable they regularly sort things faster than council staff. Especially if you have local elections next month. We're lucky in that we have pairs of councillors in each ward, usually different parties, so they fall over themselves trying to resolve the problem before the other one does
Oh, and never, NEVER, fall for the 'send a message to the government' mantra. In a local election vote for the person you want to run local services based on local issues. Otherwise they learn they never actually have to do anything in order to get elected.
Good luck
Mr ddc |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It's also very easy to slag off a council when you don't know very much about it, so why is what's good for the MoD not good for local government? Because you've had to wait a few weeks for your little permit thing?
I have no idea where you live. Your council might be shit. I've worked with shit ones. I've also worked with excellent ones. But I don't think you understand what they actually do. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"It's also very easy to slag off a council when you don't know very much about it, so why is what's good for the MoD not good for local government? Because you've had to wait a few weeks for your little permit thing?
I have no idea where you live. Your council might be shit. I've worked with shit ones. I've also worked with excellent ones. But I don't think you understand what they actually do. "
Well in terms of issuing a parking permit I can hazard a guess at the process and I could probably write an algorithm to do it automatically too so it wouldn't take 4 weeks. It's mainly their stinking attitude that I have to risk getting parking tickets for the next 3 days because they couldn't possibly extend my temporary permit while the new one arrives in the post, second class of course. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Ours is pretty good and being a small community you only have to collar a village counsellor or the MP Mark Lancaster who is always walking about if you have a gripe.
Having a Lord living in the village also helps for some reason to get things done.
Should not be that way but as the song goes That's just the way it is. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Ours it shit too, quick cheap fixes for the roads, they recently closed down some toilets that haven't been used(closed sept-april) decided back in December, near a main park lots of kids go to(me normally with a 2, 3 and a 4 year old! and to top things off they recommend taking your young child aged 2+ back up into the high street(10-15minute walk from said playpark) to use the toilets there! Yeah cause a preschooler who needs the toilet can hold in their pee or whatever else in that long. Irritated is not the word! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"It's also very easy to slag off a council when you don't know very much about it, so why is what's good for the MoD not good for local government? Because you've had to wait a few weeks for your little permit thing?
I have no idea where you live. Your council might be shit. I've worked with shit ones. I've also worked with excellent ones. But I don't think you understand what they actually do.
Well in terms of issuing a parking permit I can hazard a guess at the process and I could probably write an algorithm to do it automatically too so it wouldn't take 4 weeks. It's mainly their stinking attitude that I have to risk getting parking tickets for the next 3 days because they couldn't possibly extend my temporary permit while the new one arrives in the post, second class of course. "
I'm sure you could - and an algorithm to deal with all the narky buggers ringing up whinging about it? Who you can't tell to fuck off because they're your 'service users'? How about an algorithm to commission care services for the elderly, while demand is increasing hugely as a result of demographic pressures but the funding you have available to pay for it is getting reduced further and further - but you can't put council tax up by much because of the "localism" bill, and you can't increase business rates because the government has just announced that millions more small businesses won't have to pay them, and you can't put parking charges up to pay for non-transport services like care because it's illegal? And an algorithm to pay for the IT required to actually implement said algorithm, while justifying spending money on IT systems at the same time as you're making social workers redundant and closing libraries? And then you can write an algorithm to sit and reply to all the bullshit FOI requests which come in from firms pissed off that they didn't get the contract to implement your algorithm so are determined to make as much of a nuisance of themselves as possible. And all the members of the public endlessly whinging about councils spending money on IT. Or whinging about councils not spending money on IT. Or just whinging about anything and everything because that's what people love to do more than anything.
Or, crazy idea this one, you could write an algorithm to tell you when you need to apply for your replacement permit given the lead in time, and cut out all the angst and the need for them to even interact with you at all. |
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We were chatting with friends the other day about Council Tax. Now we want to admit we are totally against tax rises, but we are pro putting up Council Tax. It dawned on us that we pay as much in mobile phone bills as we do in Council Tax - wtf! We would support increases in Council Tax to boost local service. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"It's also very easy to slag off a council when you don't know very much about it, so why is what's good for the MoD not good for local government? Because you've had to wait a few weeks for your little permit thing?
I have no idea where you live. Your council might be shit. I've worked with shit ones. I've also worked with excellent ones. But I don't think you understand what they actually do.
Well in terms of issuing a parking permit I can hazard a guess at the process and I could probably write an algorithm to do it automatically too so it wouldn't take 4 weeks. It's mainly their stinking attitude that I have to risk getting parking tickets for the next 3 days because they couldn't possibly extend my temporary permit while the new one arrives in the post, second class of course.
I'm sure you could - and an algorithm to deal with all the narky buggers ringing up whinging about it? Who you can't tell to fuck off because they're your 'service users'? How about an algorithm to commission care services for the elderly, while demand is increasing hugely as a result of demographic pressures but the funding you have available to pay for it is getting reduced further and further - but you can't put council tax up by much because of the "localism" bill, and you can't increase business rates because the government has just announced that millions more small businesses won't have to pay them, and you can't put parking charges up to pay for non-transport services like care because it's illegal? And an algorithm to pay for the IT required to actually implement said algorithm, while justifying spending money on IT systems at the same time as you're making social workers redundant and closing libraries? And then you can write an algorithm to sit and reply to all the bullshit FOI requests which come in from firms pissed off that they didn't get the contract to implement your algorithm so are determined to make as much of a nuisance of themselves as possible. And all the members of the public endlessly whinging about councils spending money on IT. Or whinging about councils not spending money on IT. Or just whinging about anything and everything because that's what people love to do more than anything.
Or, crazy idea this one, you could write an algorithm to tell you when you need to apply for your replacement permit given the lead in time, and cut out all the angst and the need for them to even interact with you at all. "
And that ladies and gentlemen is what we call conflation. Interesting logic that because the council's do some complex services, the easy ones are allowed to be shite and slow. If I said an algorithm would replace the council then your arguement would make sense, but I didn't so it doesn't. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"We were chatting with friends the other day about Council Tax. Now we want to admit we are totally against tax rises, but we are pro putting up Council Tax. It dawned on us that we pay as much in mobile phone bills as we do in Council Tax - wtf! We would support increases in Council Tax to boost local service. "
Pft obviously you both have iphones then |
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"We were chatting with friends the other day about Council Tax. Now we want to admit we are totally against tax rises, but we are pro putting up Council Tax. It dawned on us that we pay as much in mobile phone bills as we do in Council Tax - wtf! We would support increases in Council Tax to boost local service.
Pft obviously you both have iphones then "
Yep! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
But you can't look at one service in isolation from another, and actually people don't think of their council that way. It's not "hey, the parking permit division at my council is shit, let's slag them off" it's "my council is shit, let's slag them off". Well the parking permit section is probably the section that's had its budget slashed and staff levels massively reduced to deal with the costs on the other sections where you can't do that because when Baby P incidents happen you get sued. It is all interconnected. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"But you can't look at one service in isolation from another, and actually people don't think of their council that way. It's not "hey, the parking permit division at my council is shit, let's slag them off" it's "my council is shit, let's slag them off". Well the parking permit section is probably the section that's had its budget slashed and staff levels massively reduced to deal with the costs on the other sections where you can't do that because when Baby P incidents happen you get sued. It is all interconnected. "
Thankfully I don't interact with the social services part of our council, maybe they are epic. But when you shop in sainsburys and get a shitty ready meal, you don't say "hey maybe the items I didn't buy were better".
I've used two services and they were both shit. I don't even know why they bother to answer phones since they won't lift a finger to help you. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own "
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"But you can't look at one service in isolation from another, and actually people don't think of their council that way. It's not "hey, the parking permit division at my council is shit, let's slag them off" it's "my council is shit, let's slag them off". Well the parking permit section is probably the section that's had its budget slashed and staff levels massively reduced to deal with the costs on the other sections where you can't do that because when Baby P incidents happen you get sued. It is all interconnected.
Thankfully I don't interact with the social services part of our council, maybe they are epic. But when you shop in sainsburys and get a shitty ready meal, you don't say "hey maybe the items I didn't buy were better".
I've used two services and they were both shit. I don't even know why they bother to answer phones since they won't lift a finger to help you. "
If you buy a shitty ready meal at Sainsburys, you don't immediately jump to the conclusion that all Sainsburys stores are useless.
Unless you have an agenda against Sainsburys. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"But you can't look at one service in isolation from another, and actually people don't think of their council that way. It's not "hey, the parking permit division at my council is shit, let's slag them off" it's "my council is shit, let's slag them off". Well the parking permit section is probably the section that's had its budget slashed and staff levels massively reduced to deal with the costs on the other sections where you can't do that because when Baby P incidents happen you get sued. It is all interconnected.
Thankfully I don't interact with the social services part of our council, maybe they are epic. But when you shop in sainsburys and get a shitty ready meal, you don't say "hey maybe the items I didn't buy were better".
I've used two services and they were both shit. I don't even know why they bother to answer phones since they won't lift a finger to help you. "
Like I said, maybe your council *is* shit. But that doesn't mean "local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them". All because you couldn't get your parking permit quickly enough?
That, ladies and gentlemen is what we call conflation. Interesting logic that because one council has done something badly, everything all councils do is shite. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs. "
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
The one I pay for gives a dire service too. In fact I rang a local council I deal with through work and they couldn't have been more helpful so guess I'm living in the wrong area |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"But you can't look at one service in isolation from another, and actually people don't think of their council that way. It's not "hey, the parking permit division at my council is shit, let's slag them off" it's "my council is shit, let's slag them off". Well the parking permit section is probably the section that's had its budget slashed and staff levels massively reduced to deal with the costs on the other sections where you can't do that because when Baby P incidents happen you get sued. It is all interconnected.
Thankfully I don't interact with the social services part of our council, maybe they are epic. But when you shop in sainsburys and get a shitty ready meal, you don't say "hey maybe the items I didn't buy were better".
I've used two services and they were both shit. I don't even know why they bother to answer phones since they won't lift a finger to help you.
Like I said, maybe your council *is* shit. But that doesn't mean "local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them". All because you couldn't get your parking permit quickly enough?
That, ladies and gentlemen is what we call conflation. Interesting logic that because one council has done something badly, everything all councils do is shite."
Touche on that point, I should have clarified my wording as specific to my council. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and
stick words in people's thumbs. "
Of course, don't forget to add in a completely unrelated subject as an exception to somehow prove the rule |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post. "
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD. "
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD.
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms. "
OK, so take the world's 10 largest defence budgets and I challenge you to name 2 countries that spend their budget more wisely than the UK? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
But point taken, I shouldn't castigate the entire organisation because of that (although some inspection regimes have, because they're quite fundamental things...) |
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"But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA
And say what to them? Their job is to deliver the contract. The contract must specify the standard of customer service. If I asked them why they don't leave a note on the bin to say why it wasn't collected then they'd just say "it's not in our contract" "
that's just wild supposition now .... maybe you'd have been better off saving this rant for tomorrow |
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|
By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD.
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms.
OK, so take the world's 10 largest defence budgets and I challenge you to name 2 countries that spend their budget more wisely than the UK? "
I can't, I don't know enough about how other countries spend their defence budgets. I'm not sure I'm impressed by "but other countries are more shit" as a defence anyway.
What I know is that they've had their accounts qualified by the NAO every single year for 7 years. To me that's damning. |
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|
By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD.
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms.
OK, so take the world's 10 largest defence budgets and I challenge you to name 2 countries that spend their budget more wisely than the UK?
I can't, I don't know enough about how other countries spend their defence budgets. I'm not sure I'm impressed by "but other countries are more shit" as a defence anyway.
What I know is that they've had their accounts qualified by the NAO every single year for 7 years. To me that's damning. "
I don't really understand your logic. I'm not holding up a single example and saying "oh at least we're better than them" in the way NHS fans always claim "at least we're not America". I'm saying that I can't find a single country that has a remotely similar sized budget that does a better job. Maybe some of the smaller ones are more efficient (Sweden, New Zealand) but fuck me, look at the size of them. I don't know what benchmark you are comparing MOD against to say it's not well run, other than an accounting statement! |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA
And say what to them? Their job is to deliver the contract. The contract must specify the standard of customer service. If I asked them why they don't leave a note on the bin to say why it wasn't collected then they'd just say "it's not in our contract"
that's just wild supposition now .... maybe you'd have been better off saving this rant for tomorrow "
It's what I would say if I was them because it's half true |
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maybe berkshire council would be shit hot at arms procurement, better even than MOD ... but it's irrelevant because sidestepping from LGA to the MOD is a straw man argument now.
maybe the forces should collect bins when they aren't being deployed elsewhere... it would save millions |
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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago
Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound |
"Had some craters in our road, alloys bending stuff! They were huge!
Got onto the council via Facebook since its 2016 and they couldn't locate the postcode saying it's invalid
So I sent the fuckers the coordinates for it
To be fair it was repaired pretty quick. "
I like my council but they are all pressed on street repairs. I have found logging street repairs on Fix My Street to be the quickest way to get a repair done.
|
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"But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA
And say what to them? Their job is to deliver the contract. The contract must specify the standard of customer service. If I asked them why they don't leave a note on the bin to say why it wasn't collected then they'd just say "it's not in our contract"
that's just wild supposition now .... maybe you'd have been better off saving this rant for tomorrow
It's what I would say if I was them because it's half true"
just tell the truth .... you're too lazy to do anything about it other than rant on a sex site  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD.
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms.
OK, so take the world's 10 largest defence budgets and I challenge you to name 2 countries that spend their budget more wisely than the UK?
I can't, I don't know enough about how other countries spend their defence budgets. I'm not sure I'm impressed by "but other countries are more shit" as a defence anyway.
What I know is that they've had their accounts qualified by the NAO every single year for 7 years. To me that's damning.
I don't really understand your logic. I'm not holding up a single example and saying "oh at least we're better than them" in the way NHS fans always claim "at least we're not America". I'm saying that I can't find a single country that has a remotely similar sized budget that does a better job. Maybe some of the smaller ones are more efficient (Sweden, New Zealand) but fuck me, look at the size of them. I don't know what benchmark you are comparing MOD against to say it's not well run, other than an accounting statement! "
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously. |
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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago
Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound |
"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah "
The national government has pulled off a great trick by passing everything down to be being a local authority responsibility at the same time as cutting their funding. Moreover, they have told them to raise their own income (through rates and council tax) and become better at income generation at the same time as offering up rate relief to small businesses. I bet the final settlement on that front won't cover the loss of income.
The government appears to be exempt from the criticism by passing it all down to local authorities.
|
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"But you talk like nobody has tackled these problems! The DLR in London is run by Serco pretty well,the MOD buys far more complicated stuff than bin collection and manages well all things considered. I think if you put council services out for tender, there would be no shortage of bidders.
you mean like the private company by the the name of Veolia? you know .... the guys who had the winning bid for the contract to collect the bins in your area ..... maybe you should speak to them instaed of blaming the LGA
And say what to them? Their job is to deliver the contract. The contract must specify the standard of customer service. If I asked them why they don't leave a note on the bin to say why it wasn't collected then they'd just say "it's not in our contract"
that's just wild supposition now .... maybe you'd have been better off saving this rant for tomorrow
It's what I would say if I was them because it's half true
just tell the truth .... you're too lazy to do anything about it other than rant on a sex site "
I confess your honour, I'll get my permit when the royal mail can be arsed to deliver it and I'll stick my rubbish in the neighbours bin and then I'll go back to thinking about boobs. I did put rant in the title, not "let's start a revolt / new political party" |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah
The national government has pulled off a great trick by passing everything down to be being a local authority responsibility at the same time as cutting their funding. Moreover, they have told them to raise their own income (through rates and council tax) and become better at income generation at the same time as offering up rate relief to small businesses. I bet the final settlement on that front won't cover the loss of income.
The government appears to be exempt from the criticism by passing it all down to local authorities.
"
I have plenty of cricitism for our national government, don't you worry about that! |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Public Sector baaaaaaad
Private Sector goooood.
Repeat ad naseum on any thread possible, and if not just start your own
Right so the MOD is private sector now is it?
Read the thread before you try and stick words in people's thumbs.
It's not private sector, but it's not a particularly well managed organisation either. You just don't care because you aren't waiting for them to deliver you an aircraft carrier by second class post.
It's performance overall is actually very good by international standards. I'd say it's improved a lot since the aircraft carriers were contracted. You only see the things that go wrong in the press.
The aircraft carriers are probably it's worst performance but if you want to start a new thread on why that's such a clusterfuck then I'd be happy to fill in some blanks that divert the entire blame from MOD.
I wasn't basing it on the press, I was basing it on my experience of them as an organisation in financial, governance and procurement terms.
OK, so take the world's 10 largest defence budgets and I challenge you to name 2 countries that spend their budget more wisely than the UK?
I can't, I don't know enough about how other countries spend their defence budgets. I'm not sure I'm impressed by "but other countries are more shit" as a defence anyway.
What I know is that they've had their accounts qualified by the NAO every single year for 7 years. To me that's damning.
I don't really understand your logic. I'm not holding up a single example and saying "oh at least we're better than them" in the way NHS fans always claim "at least we're not America". I'm saying that I can't find a single country that has a remotely similar sized budget that does a better job. Maybe some of the smaller ones are more efficient (Sweden, New Zealand) but fuck me, look at the size of them. I don't know what benchmark you are comparing MOD against to say it's not well run, other than an accounting statement!
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously. "
Ever considered that it's deliberate? Cui Bono? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously.
Ever considered that it's deliberate? Cui Bono? "
What would be the advantage to a government department of making themselves look financially incompetent? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"The current Government are slashing the Local Authority's budgets massively in lots of areas. No wonder the service can sometimes be rubbish.
Our bin men are great though.
They should still have service standards though and if they fail those - complain.
Sarah
The national government has pulled off a great trick by passing everything down to be being a local authority responsibility at the same time as cutting their funding. Moreover, they have told them to raise their own income (through rates and council tax) and become better at income generation at the same time as offering up rate relief to small businesses. I bet the final settlement on that front won't cover the loss of income.
The government appears to be exempt from the criticism by passing it all down to local authorities.
"
And cutting Social Housing rents by 1% per annum for the next 4 years has cut another income stream for Council's who still run their own housing stock.
So it's all only going to get worse !
Sarah |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously.
Ever considered that it's deliberate? Cui Bono?
What would be the advantage to a government department of making themselves look financially incompetent?"
That ultimately central government will give them more money than they otherwise would, think of it like a periodic bailout. There's only so much I can say on a public forum about it but I assure you the overspend on the aircraft carriers was not a great surprise to the majority of civil servants in MOD. But would the government have built 2 if it was shown the real cost of them? Your guess is as good as mine on that question... |
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I reported a broken handle in a public toilet,it meant that it was very difficult to get out again. 2 years later still not fixed and during this time I have reported it many times, its in the countryside so I dont think they care. Three weeks ago I watched the council workers repair one pothole on the road outside my house, I counted 17 marked with spray paint for repair they have not returned since??? |
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I think this Tory government has cut the local government budgets so much that they are having to simply prioritise the statutory services at the expense of non statutory services and within those, prioritise again and again and again. It's not the local council at fault - it's central government. There gets to be a point where a device provider can't get any more efficient without it impacting on services. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously.
Ever considered that it's deliberate? Cui Bono?
What would be the advantage to a government department of making themselves look financially incompetent?
That ultimately central government will give them more money than they otherwise would, think of it like a periodic bailout. There's only so much I can say on a public forum about it but I assure you the overspend on the aircraft carriers was not a great surprise to the majority of civil servants in MOD. But would the government have built 2 if it was shown the real cost of them? Your guess is as good as mine on that question..."
That's not what having your accounts qualified suggests though. It's not about "have you overspent and therefore need more money" - it's about have you got systems, controls and processes in place to produce financial that present a true and fair view in accordance with accounting standards and statutory requirements. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"
An accounting statement that represents all their income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. That stuff is quite important in my world. You only get your accounts qualified 7 years in a row if you're fucking something up continuously.
Ever considered that it's deliberate? Cui Bono?
What would be the advantage to a government department of making themselves look financially incompetent?
That ultimately central government will give them more money than they otherwise would, think of it like a periodic bailout. There's only so much I can say on a public forum about it but I assure you the overspend on the aircraft carriers was not a great surprise to the majority of civil servants in MOD. But would the government have built 2 if it was shown the real cost of them? Your guess is as good as mine on that question...
That's not what having your accounts qualified suggests though. It's not about "have you overspent and therefore need more money" - it's about have you got systems, controls and processes in place to produce financial that present a true and fair view in accordance with accounting standards and statutory requirements. "
Most NHS trusts are being bailed out left right and centre, but they still produce unqualified accounts. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"I reported a broken handle in a public toilet,it meant that it was very difficult to get out again. 2 years later still not fixed and during this time I have reported it many times, its in the countryside so I dont think they care. Three weeks ago I watched the council workers repair one pothole on the road outside my house, I counted 17 marked with spray paint for repair they have not returned since???"
Complain and complain again then.
Pot holes may be because end of financial year budget and I expect waiting for new financial year to start. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you "
I love a story with a happy ending |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you "
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council  |
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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago
Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound |
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you "
Is the refuse operative on Fab and desperate to get in your knickers/pants?
 |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Is the refuse operative on Fab and desperate to get in your knickers/pants?
"
Definitely, in fact it was probably just a fab member who did it as a good deed... and er the rest of the street for good measure |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council "
We like your new pictures... |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We like your new pictures... "
Thanks |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We like your new pictures...
Thanks "
Very distracting though. You come on here just looking for a sensible debate about the problems of the world and then people keep distracting you with provocative pictures. Anyone would think this was a sex site. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath... "
Yep . they're all c@#*s |
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By *andS66Couple
over a year ago
Derby |
"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
"
Or, indeed, like food manufacturers, you'd cut the size of the product but charge the same price.
Oh, wait a minute, my bins used to be collected every week, now they're every two weeks, and they're talking about every 3 weeks in the next year or so.... so we pay the same, but for 50% less 'product'.
And then they also add on an 'extra service' of adult social care, because the govt has withdrawn that part of funding. This extra cost is additional to the 2% increase, but the council will not ring-fence it to be used only for adult social care.... in effect another stealth rise.
I also fail to see how councils are loss making, when most of them manage to squirrel money away every year..
. Icelandic banking crisis, anyone? Our council alone confessed to having millions invested in them. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
Councils having investments isn't a sign that they're rolling in it. They're not allowed to set a deficit budget like other parts of the public sector, it's illegal. They must by law hold reserves otherwise when an incident like the floods comes along they'd have no way to fund it - they can't exactly go back to people mid-year and say "oh actually, give us a bit more money; the council tax we set wasn't quite enough".
What do you think they should do with those reserves, keep them in a box? Under the mattress? Or would you rather they placed investments which generate income returns which, in turn, are used to help fund services? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you "
I do like a happy ending.
Sarah |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Our council alone confessed to having millions invested in them.
And yet they plead poverty and say they might have to turn off the waterfall in the market place permanently amongst other cuts  "
What water fall ? A fountain you mean?
The difficulty is - if there's a choice between - let's fund a wet room for that 92 year old who is struggling in her property or something that is pretty to look at. It gets difficult to weigh up which is more worthy to everyone.
|
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
Some councils are wealthier than others.
When you see the figures of just how deep the cuts are, the risings costs of running services, and then project that 10 years or so the numbers are pretty scary.
There are a lot of hard times ahead for local government. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council "
We have to put up with fortnightly yet the bin for the blocks of flats near me get emptied weekly, guess sponging on benefits gets you a better service than paying does  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We have to put up with fortnightly yet the bin for the blocks of flats near me get emptied weekly, guess sponging on benefits gets you a better service than paying does "
Nothing like tarring everyone with a brush. Is that a private arrangement ? So they pay a service charge for it? Was it implemented because there was an issue with the rubbish over flowing?
I guess they could have more bins? You could ask your local authority that.
|
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"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We have to put up with fortnightly yet the bin for the blocks of flats near me get emptied weekly, guess sponging on benefits gets you a better service than paying does "
How do you know that all the tenants in the block of flats are sponging off benefits? Possibly they take the bins away weekly because it's a block of flats so more rubbish would build up on a weekly basis rather than just one house...you would soon be moaning if your house or area had a vermin issue because the rubbish was building up at the block of flats because they were not taking it away enough... |
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"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We have to put up with fortnightly yet the bin for the blocks of flats near me get emptied weekly, guess sponging on benefits gets you a better service than paying does
Nothing like tarring everyone with a brush. Is that a private arrangement ? So they pay a service charge for it? Was it implemented because there was an issue with the rubbish over flowing?
I guess they could have more bins? You could ask your local authority that.
"
Most are a LA agreement due to the nature of the building and how many tenants there are...it's too stop the pile up of rubbish in order to reduce the risk of infestation of vermin and health and safety.... |
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"Our council alone confessed to having millions invested in them.
And yet they plead poverty and say they might have to turn off the waterfall in the market place permanently amongst other cuts
What water fall ? A fountain you mean?
The difficulty is - if there's a choice between - let's fund a wet room for that 92 year old who is struggling in her property or something that is pretty to look at. It gets difficult to weigh up which is more worthy to everyone.
"
Nah, it's a waterfall. They did away with a couple of fountains on a couple of roundabouts many yrs ago. I mean the waterfall is already there, how much can it cost to power the pump to keep it operational ffs |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
After 4 weeks of waiting we finally received ... a letter saying the precious tenants hasn't cancelled their permit so ours is denied until we can prove there aren't 4 people living in the house together.
Great customer service. |
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"If a council was a private business and their costs increased, they'd have the ability to increase prices or branch out into new markets.
You'd also have the freedom not to provide certain services to certain customers. If you have a loss making division (children's social care, anyone?) then you'd stop it or cut it off. You wouldn't continue that product or service until it sucked all the funding out of the rest of the organisation.
I can't go into an apple shop and tell them I want a new iPhone, but I can't actually afford to pay for it, and have them give me the phone anyway.
People want to cut "bureaucratic" "back office" "pen pushing" council staff, and then they're surprised that the thing they want is going to take a bit longer because 80% of the staff in that section have been made redundant over the past 4 years.
I've had about 5 colleagues in the past few years who came over from private sector roles because they thought it would be a cushy little number (flexi time! Job for life! Gold plated pension!) and left within 6 months because it wasn't anything like what they expected at all.
"
|
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"After 4 weeks of waiting we finally received ... a letter saying the precious tenants hasn't cancelled their permit so ours is denied until we can prove there aren't 4 people living in the house together.
Great customer service. "
This seems a reasonable policy in my opinion and nothing to do with poor customer service. If every dwelling had permits in use by former tenants ( or people they gave them to! ) no current tenant would find a space. Perhaps the landlord could have mentioned this to you when you accepted the tenancy? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"After 4 weeks of waiting we finally received ... a letter saying the precious tenants hasn't cancelled their permit so ours is denied until we can prove there aren't 4 people living in the house together.
Great customer service.
This seems a reasonable policy in my opinion and nothing to do with poor customer service. If every dwelling had permits in use by former tenants ( or people they gave them to! ) no current tenant would find a space. Perhaps the landlord could have mentioned this to you when you accepted the tenancy?"
Or perhaps they could have mentioned it on the phone during one of the 5 telephone conversations we've had on the subject. Perhaps they could save everyone 4 weeks and have a website where you can check for existing permits or at the very fucking least they could extend our temporary permit whilst we chase the landlord for the details... |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"For the record, our bin was emptied tonight at about 8pm...
No reason given.
That's the power of fab and social media for you
Mine is emptied every week. When it's supposed to be.
I like our council
We have to put up with fortnightly yet the bin for the blocks of flats near me get emptied weekly, guess sponging on benefits gets you a better service than paying does
Nothing like tarring everyone with a brush. Is that a private arrangement ? So they pay a service charge for it? Was it implemented because there was an issue with the rubbish over flowing?
I guess they could have more bins? You could ask your local authority that.
"
Nope it's what the council decided that those in houses get fortnightly collections. And no there isn't a service charge for it just council tax |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"The truth is the public expect better services more of them year on tear and yet budgets have reduced by getting on 50%.
People need to get real.
"
Council tax hasn't reduced 50% and government spending hasn't reduced 50% either so where has the money gone then? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath... "
Pay more council tax and get the service. They are run by budgets and the staff would much rather keep you happy than try to piss you off. How charitable is the company you work for. Do they have budgets. Do they bend over backwards to make sure your happy?? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath...
Pay more council tax and get the service. They are run by budgets and the staff would much rather keep you happy than try to piss you off. How charitable is the company you work for. Do they have budgets. Do they bend over backwards to make sure your happy??"
If you read the thread then youd see that i assert that issuing a parking permit is not a job we need humans to do and an algorithm could do it easily. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath...
Pay more council tax and get the service. They are run by budgets and the staff would much rather keep you happy than try to piss you off. How charitable is the company you work for. Do they have budgets. Do they bend over backwards to make sure your happy??
If you read the thread then youd see that i assert that issuing a parking permit is not a job we need humans to do and an algorithm could do it easily. "
Like I say. Pay more CT and they can afford such obviously needed expensive machinery for such an urgent cause |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Sorry but have to vent, local councils are terrible organisations that seem designed to deliver shit customer service. Any private business run that way would be bankrupt within a year but they stay afloat because you don't have a choice whether to use or pay them.
Need a parking permit - that'll be 4 weeks sir, why the fuck does it take 4 weeks?
Got a parking fine because you haven't got a permit, best go back in time to 4 weeks ago so you can apply for one.
Your bin doesn't get emptied - no reason given, no note, just sit there festering outside your house for another 2 weeks until you can figure out why.
And breath...
Pay more council tax and get the service. They are run by budgets and the staff would much rather keep you happy than try to piss you off. How charitable is the company you work for. Do they have budgets. Do they bend over backwards to make sure your happy??
If you read the thread then youd see that i assert that issuing a parking permit is not a job we need humans to do and an algorithm could do it easily. Like I say. Pay more CT and they can afford such obviously needed expensive machinery for such an urgent cause"
Again read the thread and you'd see that it would cost less than the salary of one work to automate the entire process for every application and then those people could go do something useful with their lives. |
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They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit. "
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike. |
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"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit.
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike. "
Nah.
Buy cheap, pay twice |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit.
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike.
Nah.
Buy cheap, pay twice"
Do you believe in the Peter Principle Joe? |
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"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit.
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike.
Nah.
Buy cheap, pay twice
Do you believe in the Peter Principle Joe? "
I believe in the Joe Principle |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit.
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike.
Nah.
Buy cheap, pay twice
Do you believe in the Peter Principle Joe?
I believe in the Joe Principle "
Come on Joe, you could at least Google terms you don't know. Based on your comments about your career you'd probably agree with it. I've followed enough fudging YouTube links for you! |
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"They have been and will continue to be decimated, making their planning of delivering a substandard service (due to inadequate funding) very difficult. Money being used to pay redundancy payment instead of delivering services. Staff in fear of them being cut next or the public taking it out on them because of the same causes.
This government wants you to dislike public services and instead use private commercial services for someone's profit. If you fall for the propaganda and are easily manipulated to believe that being screwed further by people whose only care is to bleed you of your money, then fine. Some things are inherently better when run in the national interest and not for profit.
Agent-principle problem applies to public and private alike.
Nah.
Buy cheap, pay twice
Do you believe in the Peter Principle Joe?
I believe in the Joe Principle
Come on Joe, you could at least Google terms you don't know. Based on your comments about your career you'd probably agree with it. I've followed enough fudging YouTube links for you! "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmtpau8sOU
What's your point?
|
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Theories may hold some general reflection of their time but it's all about context. And we're not in a context where just one theory may have relevance.
As we strip councils down then we also create other forces, relevant to other theories.
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applying idealistic economic and business theories to your refuse collection is over complicating things ..... try consuming less and you won't have to throw away so much crap would be a simpler solution |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"applying idealistic economic and business theories to your refuse collection is over complicating things ..... try consuming less and you won't have to throw away so much crap would be a simpler solution "
It was my recycling bin they didn't take! |
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"applying idealistic economic and business theories to your refuse collection is over complicating things ..... try consuming less and you won't have to throw away so much crap would be a simpler solution
It was my recycling bin they didn't take! "
well i think the fact that someone is successfully making a stand and refusing to take any crap from you should be applauded |
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"applying idealistic economic and business theories to your refuse collection is over complicating things ..... try consuming less and you won't have to throw away so much crap would be a simpler solution
It was my recycling bin they didn't take!
well i think the fact that someone is successfully making a stand and refusing to take any crap from you should be applauded "
You've been thinking about that
|
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"applying idealistic economic and business theories to your refuse collection is over complicating things ..... try consuming less and you won't have to throw away so much crap would be a simpler solution
It was my recycling bin they didn't take!
well i think the fact that someone is successfully making a stand and refusing to take any crap from you should be applauded
You've been thinking about that
"
the less i think about mixedb's bin horrors the sounder i think i will sleep tonight  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
Ours is awful
Bin is always missed and have to phone them up to get it emptied.
Years ago we decorated our downstairs toilet and spent a lot of money doing it. We had a new front door fitted a couple of weeks later and they managed to drill straight through the wall in to our down stairs toilet destroying the wall paper. They offered us £20. It was £30 a roll wallpaper and it took over 4 rolls to do it.
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"Ours is awful
Bin is always missed and have to phone them up to get it emptied.
Years ago we decorated our downstairs toilet and spent a lot of money doing it. We had a new front door fitted a couple of weeks later and they managed to drill straight through the wall in to our down stairs toilet destroying the wall paper. They offered us £20. It was £30 a roll wallpaper and it took over 4 rolls to do it.
"
why are your bin men drilling through your toilet wall? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Ours is awful
Bin is always missed and have to phone them up to get it emptied.
Years ago we decorated our downstairs toilet and spent a lot of money doing it. We had a new front door fitted a couple of weeks later and they managed to drill straight through the wall in to our down stairs toilet destroying the wall paper. They offered us £20. It was £30 a roll wallpaper and it took over 4 rolls to do it.
why are your bin men drilling through your toilet wall?"
Lol the bin men obviously aren't it was a council house where we had a new front door fitted after years of complaints of water coming through. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Ours is awful
Bin is always missed and have to phone them up to get it emptied.
Years ago we decorated our downstairs toilet and spent a lot of money doing it. We had a new front door fitted a couple of weeks later and they managed to drill straight through the wall in to our down stairs toilet destroying the wall paper. They offered us £20. It was £30 a roll wallpaper and it took over 4 rolls to do it.
why are your bin men drilling through your toilet wall?
Lol the bin men obviously aren't it was a council house where we had a new front door fitted after years of complaints of water coming through. "
Well did you specify you wanted a waterproof house before you moved in?
There's just no pleasing some people. Better ramp up the council tax if people can't stand walking around in a couple of inches of water. |
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So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) and then proceeded to do a magnificent clean up job on all the jobbies.
The patio is sparkling, and all that annoying gravel down the pathway has been removed, saving me a job.
Did I start a thread about that?
No.
I spared you all the horror.
|
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"So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) "
just remember not force an unfeasibly large log round your u-bend before going to bed after 15 pints of guiness in the riflemans arms
|
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"just remember not force an unfeasibly large log round your u-bend before going to bed after 15 pints of guiness in the riflemans arms "
Good god.
I had my first underage pint in that pub. *That* was quite a summer.
.
No, a block of wood about 6x3x3in. Not another turd. |
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By *andS66Couple
over a year ago
Derby |
"So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) and then proceeded to do a magnificent clean up job on all the jobbies.
The patio is sparkling, and all that annoying gravel down the pathway has been removed, saving me a job.
Did I start a thread about that?
No.
I spared you all the horror.
"
No, and yet here you are, waiting for an opportune moment to thread hijack, telling us your story, and subjecting us to the horror all the same.
I am now checking our patio, and considering installing some kind of sewer blockage early warning system. It will work on a timer, and let me know that everything is OK in sewer land.
It's the 'Sewer Has In The Past 1 Period Emptied' system.
Or SHITP1PE for short. |
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"So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) and then proceeded to do a magnificent clean up job on all the jobbies.
The patio is sparkling, and all that annoying gravel down the pathway has been removed, saving me a job.
Did I start a thread about that?
No.
I spared you all the horror.
No, and yet here you are, waiting for an opportune moment to thread hijack, telling us your story, and subjecting us to the horror all the same.
I am now checking our patio, and considering installing some kind of sewer blockage early warning system. It will work on a timer, and let me know that everything is OK in sewer land.
It's the 'Sewer Has In The Past 1 Period Emptied' system.
Or SHITP1PE for short. "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcAYMb5uk4 |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) and then proceeded to do a magnificent clean up job on all the jobbies.
The patio is sparkling, and all that annoying gravel down the pathway has been removed, saving me a job.
Did I start a thread about that?
No.
I spared you all the horror.
No, and yet here you are, waiting for an opportune moment to thread hijack, telling us your story, and subjecting us to the horror all the same.
I am now checking our patio, and considering installing some kind of sewer blockage early warning system. It will work on a timer, and let me know that everything is OK in sewer land.
It's the 'Sewer Has In The Past 1 Period Emptied' system.
Or SHITP1PE for short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcAYMb5uk4"
You are needed on the "is it bad talking to hubby brother on here" (sic) thread |
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"So, last Monday - bank holiday Monday - I woke up at 2pm or so, fed the starving cat (sorry cat) and went to have a cigarette outside.
There was something odd covering the patio - looked like dirty slushy snow or something without my glasses?
When I opened the French windows and smelt shit I knew exactly what it was and that the storm that woke me up had caused a surge and somehow the sewer had exploded all over my patio, back garden and down the side of the house.
It was vile.
On the plus side, Wessex Water were excellent, and I commended all three guys who came out, unblocked the drain (there was a large lump of wood, after all that) and then proceeded to do a magnificent clean up job on all the jobbies.
The patio is sparkling, and all that annoying gravel down the pathway has been removed, saving me a job.
Did I start a thread about that?
No.
I spared you all the horror.
No, and yet here you are, waiting for an opportune moment to thread hijack, telling us your story, and subjecting us to the horror all the same.
I am now checking our patio, and considering installing some kind of sewer blockage early warning system. It will work on a timer, and let me know that everything is OK in sewer land.
It's the 'Sewer Has In The Past 1 Period Emptied' system.
Or SHITP1PE for short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcAYMb5uk4
You are needed on the "is it bad talking to hubby brother on here" (sic) thread "
Definitely (sic) |
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