Almost enough to make you cry...

The Tories in the UK are onto a good thing by cutting public wastage. Everybody knows that the public services are bloated and inefficient. Heads need to roll, people need to learn how to be frugal.... everybody needs to be part of this if the taxpayers are to get value for money. John Key should pay attention!

However, you have to read this story about public wastage in the UK. It's painful and extremely bad on all levels. This nightmare was started by Labour and continued by militant unions and lazy staff....

Councils love their workshops, training courses and seminars. This week alone I've been invited to attend: A cycle hire and efficiency course; a traffic and pollution briefing; and a training course on offsite health and safety.

Next week there is a two-day course on 'letter writing skills' - I dearly hope that Jackie, our departmental PA, will attend this one. I've given up using her and now type my own correspondence and reports.

The last time she typed a letter for me (to an architect) she misspelt 'accommodation' and 'environment' throughout.

I gently pointed this out to her and asked her to redo the document. But she went sick for two weeks with stress, complaining that she was being bullied.

When my boss called me in to discuss this I, jokingly, said: 'Well I'll just let her misspell everything in future, shall I?' To which he replied: 'Yes, I think that's best for now.'

I'm not sure what workshop I was asked to attend for that particular misdemeanour, but I do recall the 'cultural awareness and sensitivity' one following an incident where I outrageously asked a black colleague if I could open a window behind her desk.

It was 88 degrees outside and our offices have no air conditioning. This lady was born and bred in North London but claimed her Caribbean heritage meant she felt the cold and opening a window by six inches would cause her to suffer.

I did the workshop and wrote her a letter of apology as recommended. I actually began to question whether I was racist or insensitive.

Painful... Read the rest of it here.