We sing from the diaphragm a lot
Entry posted by GhostOfClayton
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Hello fan(s) of the GhostOfClayton Twice Fortnightly Blog. The first bit is more of the usual, but the last part consists of me ranting like a Guardianista, so please feel to ignore it if you feel put off or offended by that kind of stuff.
I shall taunt you a second time
Some of you may remember that, a few blogs ago, it was announced at Mrs OfClayton's place of work that the overall personnel numbers in her office had to be reduced by 50%. After a bit of frantic work on complex excel spreadsheets to calculate the number of people affected, the figure was established as 1. So, we have had three months of worry whilst Mrs OfClayton went through the (frankly degrading) process of filling in an application, and being interviewed for her own job. We finally heard the other day that she was the successful candidate, and could keep her job. I thought that this would be a very joyous occasion, but to be honest it felt very hollow, mostly because it was set against her colleague losing her job. It's a strange feeling, and not pleasant. Are redundancies really necessary in any organisation? Could the aims not be met by natural staff turnover, voluntary redundancy, early retirement, and the positive encouragement of staff to go for jobs outside the organisation? Surely the saving in redundancy payments would help tip the balance. I think some bosses announce redundancies far too easily either to be seen to be making a tough decision, or because they just plain haven't thought it through. The human cost is never factored in!
Anyway to 'celebrate' (I use the word reluctantly), we ventured across the engineering marvel that is the Pons Fluvius, to see Phil Jupitus as King Arthur in 'Spamalot'. Anyone who has yet to see this production is very much encouraged to do so, even if . . . . no, especially if . . you're not a Monty Python fan. Yes, it is based on Monty Python & The Holy Grail, but the style is not what you'd called Pythonesque. It has a style all its own, one which suits a theatre audience, but will still please die hard Python fans. And needless to say, it is very, very funny. The Frenchman taunting King Arthur from the tower had me crying with laughter, and I've seen the film more times than I can remember.
Parking woes
I visited OfClayton Snr in his new Care Home yesterday afternoon (he lives in it, rather than owns it). I normally park in some marked parking bays on the road outside it (if one is free), as it saves me pulling into the small car park, and having to reverse out onto a busy road. Yesterday was no different, with the exception that, when I came back to the GhostMobile, a parking ticket had been stuck to the windscreen. Apparently, there are only certain times I should be using these bays. There was a sign on a nearby lamp-post alluding to this fact, but it hadn't even occurred to me to look for it! �35 fine.
And so it begins
Having assured us all that they were a new and vibrant party for a modern Britain, and not just a repeat performance of the Thatcher Government with new faces and names, the Conservative part of the UK's coalition Government have now announced a total 'review' of employment law. OK, so this is a review, and we can't say what will come out of it. However, it would be naive of us to think it could be anything other than the systematic stripping out of any employee protection law that has been put in place since the departure of the Iron Lady in 1990 (and probably a few more for good measure). This is pretty annoying on its own, because if you're a responsible employer with respect for your 'Human Resources', none of this would affect you . . it would just ensure all the other employers were working to your standards. But what annoys me most is the weasel words used to describe those employee protection mechanisms by both the CBI and the Government. They call it 'Red Tape' and 'Bureaucracy'. What they really mean is that if it wasn't there, they would not be required to support employees at the times when they were most vulnerable: Being made redundant, being on a low wage, having your job outsourced, being discriminated against by an employer, etc. Now, call me a raving socialist if you like, but I believed that business exists to serve the human race, not the other way round. Obviously, the balance must be struck, or else business could not fulfil its role of serving the human race, but I believe losing these protections has tipped the balance too far in the wrong direction.
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