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July 4, 2010
What a waste
For ten years I have been arguing here and elsewhere that within the public llibrary service there is a huge amount of needless public expenditure. The result of this has not only been waste of money but also that the service is only half as good as it ought to be.
Because the service has no clear focus on what it is trying to do, almost any activity can claim that it needs to be funded. On top of that, management of local and national government departments concentrate so much on finding more and more funding streams, that they applaud themselves for higher spending rather than lower spending. The "culture" - which means the way they instinctively respond to any subject - is always and fundamentally - to waste money.
It will be terribly hard for these same people now to turn in their path and behave in a different way. They have thrown away so much public money and created operations that cost so much more than they need to, it is just not fair or honest to give them the responsbility of putting things right.
We are rather in the situation of the Eastern European governments in 1990, who, having removed the political leaders who had caused so many problems were left with the same state officials and administrators, who were steeped in the methods of the old regime.
It may be harsh, but in my book, all these people should be removed from their posts. Every single one.
This is the real political issue that faces us... it is no longer about left versus right, it is about those who have been in the citadel behaving outrageously and unfairly to those who are outside. These awful state officials must all be identified and removed from their posts.
I have a list.
Posted by Perkins at July 4, 2010 9:25 AM
Comments
Well, if you want me to name them publicly or do something else career-suicidal, I'm all for it. I'm sick to death of trying to sit at these peoples' table and beg for a piece of dry bread (which, incidentally, is never-delivered) while thin-lipped morons demand ever more meaningless pieces of paper (or rather pap), and I'd rather tell them what I think of them.
There has, incidentally, been no word from CILIP and my patience is at an end. F*** you, you bunch of paper weasels. F*** your chartership and f*** your stupid, pretentious arguments. I feel like Jimmy Boyle, with s sense of freedom now I've stopped paying my dues to a useless "organisation" which did nothing except destroy my self-respect for my 15 years, and didn't even have the guts/wherewithal/common decency to get back to me when I said, here and in public, that I was willing to speak on their behalf. This is Britain - refuse to face up to things, talk round the subject, then go silent when the awful truth can finally no longer be dodged - that the "profession" is f***** and there's no future in it, and that our "leaders" are nothing but a bunch of paper prigs not even worth the paper they're printed on!
Posted by: James Christie at July 5, 2010 7:40 AM
C'mon then Perkins. Put your money where your mouth is and publish the list. After all a cat can't be sued for libel!
Posted by: David Lords at July 5, 2010 10:04 PM
Let's start with the big things. In London I can't understand why we need a mayor and 33 councils. Why don't we just have a mayor? or just local councils? The same in Scotland. Why have a parliament and 30 councils? Let's save some money and rent out these ridiculous office buiildings and get some decent hotels instead (James- you have surpassed your previous heights. In the book of this blog you will be James Christie-Bond, no less)
Posted by: perkins at July 6, 2010 1:19 PM
Dear Perkins,
Thank you. I am very pleased and honoured to get my licence to kill back, and I am utterly willing to stand up in public and recite the list. Yes, there is no need for all those tiers of government, and after what South Lanarkshire Council did to me I'm quite happy to deliver some payback...
Believe it or not, this is actually my second licence! I am associated with the National Autistic Society Scotland [I have Asperger Syndrome] and had to talk on their behalf to members of the Scottish Parliament early last year. It went very well, I rediscovered my knack for public speaking, and afterwards quipped that I was the NAS' "blunt instrument" [M's description of 007]. I thought I was putting it a bit strongly at the time and tried to take it back, but was assured they saw the joke. Ever since then, I occasionally quip that I have a licence to kill from the NAS...
Now from the good library blog, too!
In the early 1990s, I was also a private librarian for a stately home and had to balance conflict between four trustees, one of whom was basically an Italian Fascist [she had known Mussolini personally]. It genuinely was like being a double agent, complete with Bond villain [which is why I really do feel like I've been relicensed], and it is a genuine tragedy that the library profession has so utterly failed to make use of the rare book cataloguing skills I honed there while outwitting "Blofeld," or to make good PR out of what was an extraordinary tale.
Not only that, I've just been "on operations" for the NAS, blogging across America on a Greyhound bus and meeting a Hollywood star. I'm perfectly happy to go "on operations" for the good library blog as well.
Got a mission? My preferred callsign is Dog Easy Fox and I'd look forward to some gratuitous sex and violence.
Posted by: James Christie at July 6, 2010 8:30 PM
James. This blog is very happy to express support in any way for the NAS (The National Autistic Society). Please tell them.
Posted by: perkins at July 7, 2010 9:49 AM
I've notified the NAS and I think it's very important to stress that I really am very much against fascism (Eastern European or otherwise). Having actually tangled with a real, unreconstructed fascist from the WW2 era (it's possible she met Hitler as well), I seriously do not subscribe to the "mustn't grumble" or "anything for a quiet life" philosophy. Yes, I'll recite the list in public and to hell with the consequences! Incidentally, I may be in London somewhere between 20th-25th July if you want to give me the list and stick me in front of a camera crew; and I'm curious to know how many people are reading the blog nowadays.
Posted by: James Christie at July 7, 2010 11:19 AM
From the Times:
Dame Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, spent £70,000 in two years, with 12 trips abroad including a stay in the five-star Hilton hotel in Durban, South Africa. Brindley is paid £175,000 a year. A spokesman said the claims also covered office expenses.
Posted by: Pro Bono Publico at July 7, 2010 12:43 PM
I see the MLA have had their chips: http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/7280.aspx. First blood to Perkins!
Posted by: Young Werther at July 26, 2010 2:39 PM