Roger Mexico

Except the Government claimed they didn't - it was all an accident caused by GTS, which the Tribunal accepted. Obviously if they now discover an e-mail saying "Kill the bitch's phone" they're going to be in even more trouble.

Not just the Isle of Man: EasyJet cancels hundreds of half-term flights from Gatwick as getaway begins Interesting that they're stating: "[...] Customers are being informed from today and provided with the option to rebook their flight or receive a refund and can apply for compensation in line with regulations.” (my bold) That's going to hurt.

Except of course that's the sort of solution we've tried time and time again for the DHSC for example. And it hasn't really worked has it? You just get someone who's very good at performing and rhetoric and blathering on about leadership and vision and sees themselves above such minor trivialities as fixing stuff. It's basically how DoI has operated as well and all that whole areas of the Cabinet Office do. Maybe it's the time for boring accountants who like to make things work.

While Hooper was on the PAC (though not Chair, that's Watterson), Malone doesn't really figure that much in Ranson's evidence, except that she seems to have been as lackadaisical as most of the rest of them about the coming Covid crisis. The stuff about her colluding with Magson and the 'catty' exchanges didn't come out till the Tribunal. Of course there may be even more damaging stuff to come out yet.

Alas no. I saw him at an event a few days after the Decision came out, beaming broadly, swanning about with the great and the good. As ever you don't know if the man has no sense of shame or if he's so stupid he doesn't know what is going on. I don't think he blames social media, just saying that some comments that have been unfair in condemning all public servants equally. Though why anyone should get upset about people making hyperbolic statement on social media is another issue. Some people do nothing else and everyone sensible ignores them.

No one has a speech defect that bad! It's the constant switching between zoomed in and out shots that makes it so bad. I was beginning to feel seasick. I suppose the idea is to add drama to the words being said, but it's just distracting. But to be fair it may be that Grenlight have snapped up everyone on the Island, who can operate any video equipment, over the age of ten. So the editor should just be sent to bed without any tea.

No they moved all the car parking that was previously on the site used for security etc over to Lord Street Car Park. Presumably the money followed and went to the new owners who had been sold it on the understanding that they were building that new entertainment complex. But continue to use it for car parking. If you look at the FoI request (Case ID: 2413781; Title: Covid border costs), the staffing cost analysis is quite interesting: Most of the work was actually done by existing civil servants.

No it needed to be done now. The Ranson case was about whistleblowing and the refusal of politicians and other senior civil servants to listen to those whistles. While Randall showing his face round the Departments is all very well, I would say they need to set something up quickly to act as a go-to place for those with concerns to get advice. Something completely confidential but fairly informal - people shouldn't need to think they have to make a formal complaint, just that they will be listened to and the information used to improve methods of working and communicating.

If Quayle was still CM, he'd be blustering away still and Greenhow and the rest would still be in place. Whether it would stay like that or the Keys would decide to throw him out I don't know, the old one probably wouldn't, the new one probably would (assuming only 13 votes needed).

Can we start with sacking whoever edited that video. If you're trying to make a serious set of points it. does. not. need. to. be. cut. every. other. second.

(. . . . and a massive Golden Parachute!) I wouldn't bet on either - at least not from here. Though she will have built up a big enough pension pot from previous jobs anyway. There was enough embarrassing and potentially worse in the Decision to make a retirement inevitable so as to avoid possible disciplinary action. Whether she had enough self-awareness to see this at first is another matter.

Not really. It's not normally expected that a Chief Constable of a small Force will come from within its ranks. Roberts is the only one there's ever been here. That Twitter thread says they tried to find a Deputy (not just from within the ranks) but came up with no suitable candidates. And that it's not really his responsibility anyway (nor should it be), but the DHAs. Mind you if he is surprised by the fact that some people can be unpleasant on Twitter, then maybe he's not doing enough research.

It's a question that doesn't make much sense, because the Tribunal always seems to publish their decisions if they can. The better question is whether it would have happened without the publicity about not just the actual tribunal, but also the pre-tribunal hearings and before that. Once that happened, blanket coverage of the result was guaranteed. What I do think is true is that this all wouldn't have happened without the General Election. Previously similar embarrassments would be shrugged off by the untouchable, assuming that their politician-shields would let them continue in return for an easy life. But four Ministers lost their seats (and Skelly and Quayle would have gone too if they stood) and similarly inclined MHKs such as Perkins also went. It meant a new CoMin who could no longer be relied on to do the bidding of the Chief Secretary. Cannan may have wanted to keep things as they were[1], but even if he did most of the rest of CoMin wouldn't let him - too many of them were infuriated by too many things that had happened with DHSC in the past and wanted change. I suspect Greenhow tried to block and slow down any action when discussions were taking place after the decision came out on Wednesday (Thursday's CoMin must have been interesting) and that is why he had to go and quickly. Moulton's rumour of him being presented with a 'sign-here' on Monday morning has plausibility. The wording of the Decision also meant that it was easy to get rid of both Malone and Conie and there was enough there to make Ashford's going inevitable[2] - and his behaviour since has only convinced nearly everyone it was the right thing. [1] The fact he didn't make Callister a Minister might suggest he had some leanings to reform, though there may have been other reasons that contributed to that, including Allinson wanting DfE and the farce over the scoreboard. [2] Also can you imagine having to sit in a meeting with Ashford every week when he droned on in his self-important way, not saying very much useful. It must have made his CoMin colleagues less supportive.

Yup: Full list here.

There are lots of queries over the finances and you wonder how much of the loses comes from things like the purchase of all those minibuses, sitting unused 99% of the time (at best). Other queries are over the various Connect services, the dining car operation, allocation of revenue and so on. I quoted earlier this week from an FoI that had received a response claiming that there weren't even any separate budgets for the different vintage services and you get the impression that there is either a complete lack of financial control or a lot of dodgy goings-on. Possibly both. Yes I wondered about that too. I don't think we'll see any moves against the DoI mafia till after TT for obvious reasons, but I don't think they're safe. Caldric Randall, the acting Chief Sec, first came into public service as Head of Internal Audit and you suspect he may know where quite a lot of bodies are buried.