Friday the 13th? Well it's a massacre at the Audit Commission

So today it was announced that Eric Pickles is scrapping the Audit Commission. The Audit Commission was flawed but this seems a bit much. Surely reform would be a better option? Well it would be but Eric Pickles is a man with a mission and that mission is revenge against an organisation he has long had a problem with.

What better way to deal with your personal issues than to abuse your position and ruin the lives of more than 2000 people? There really is nothing like someone letting his power and his own personal vendettas interfere with his professional judgement. This means that now there is yet another member of the cabinet I no longer have any professional respect for.

Laving all that aside this is still a worrying move. The Audit Commission worked as a national body to look at the efficiency and performance of local authorities particularly with regard to the rather thorough by Gershon Review.

The new plan appears to be for a range of private providers to run this efficiency review service at a time when we need to be more efficient in our public service provision.

EDIT: Since I wrote this I found out that the plan is for individual authorities to get in auditors. This is even worse than I thought. That means no unified benchmarking system, no follow through required on recommendations and additional costs as each time the provider used will have to do extensive research in order to do each piece of work (ploughing through old reports, looking at comparable authorities to get an idea of recent events and so on). This plan also means that authorities may be able to get away with not publishing the reports in full, at least not straight away, as though an FOI request can be processed some may choose to wait until one is received to publish. Of course that is not the only way a local authority can conceal and spin the report - if a local authority if commissioning someone to do their audit they can influence what is and is not reported and how the report is written. The local authority having this much control over the reporting cna mean that say closing many services for old people can be reported as a saving, even if the result is only a short term gain, for a long term rise in spending for emergency services.

This means the new system proposed is more expensive, less transparent and less accountable. Way to go Eric Pickles you have just created a great opportunity for Local Authorities to cut corners and spend too much money anyway. Its the stupidest short term cut with long term financial implications yet from the Con-Dems. Now we juts need to see if someone can trump it.

A sad day

I have never condemned the Israeli government for their actions in the Gaza strip. I think there is a lot wrong on both sides, with both sides acting in fear and I can't imagine how it would feel to be there. I take no sides in that and never will. I can never understand what it would be like and would never pretend that I could.

Today though I think there is no choice but to condemn the Israeli government (not Israelis) for their attack on a group of unarmed humanitarian aid workers. Unaffiliated journalist who were there, have reported that the Israeli military attacked before they even got to the boat. I cannot understand how a group of unarmed humanitarian aid workers could ever be described as a legitimate military target.

Those people have now been "arrested" by the Israeli government. I have no idea what crime these white flag carrying aid workers might have been arrested for. Maybe they were arrested for trying to get aid into an area that the Israeli military have blockaded? Maybe they were arrested for raising awareness and leading the UN to condemn the blockade?

I know people who are affiliated to the aid convoy, and, for the most part, they are not pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli, they just don't like to see people with insufficient food or medical supplies. These murdered aid workers just care about human life, in great contrast to the army who classed them as a military target.

This is a sad day. We don't know what has happened to those who survived the brutal attacks. We don't know if there will be a full investigation, or if anyone will be held to account for this awful act in international waters. We don't know if governments will stand up and say that this was truly unacceptable behaviour, and call for the release of those "arrested" and a full inquiry into how this decision was made.

I hoped the days when things like this were allowed to happen were over. The flotilla gave me hope. People who cared about human life were willing to take huge risks to help others. People who cared have been punished for caring in the most brutal way imaginable.

This is a sad day. There are no words left for it.

Con-dem Nation?

Today Cameron has become Prime Minister.

I'm staying optimistic but I still have one big problem with "Big Society".

I am very pro democracy. I believe that we vote for representatives to act for the good of society. I believe that they read the research, crunch the numbers and come to the best conclusions they can.

I know this is idealistic but it is what I believe.

I believe that big society goes against this. It is a return to the concept of "there is no such thing as society, only individuals and families" in disguise. It is saying people should all act in their own interest. And that to me is anti society, anti community and anti democracy.

I think Cameron's first speech was encouraging. I think Brown was dignified. But I am dispirited right now as I have no idea how this is going to work.

Interesting times. Yes. But big society? I want real society. I want real community. I want real democracy.

We'll have to wait and see if we get it.

Purdah

Now I'm not under purdah at the moment, but because I have worked in government and may do again, I'm reluctant to talk about the election. At least here. I love politics and the debate is on as I type but I feel like I can't comment, but not because I have no opinion.

In addition, I've set for myself my own kind of purdah. Huge topics are not being talked about at the moment, some because it would not be wise to mention them here, some because they are too raw to mention here and some because I have no clue what is going on.

The future is ... misty at best. I certainly can't say "The future's bright, the future's orange" least of all because it would suggest the future is a Labour/Lib Dem Coalition.

I'm optimistic though, but can't talk about it. And more importantly don't want to. So I'm not going to. It's nothing personal.