Thursday's Glass Box
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in the Glass Box you see above. Add your comment here.
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The blog for the afternoon news and current affairs programme presented by Eddie Mair.
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Brilliant interrogation of Purnell. Made him sound arrogate and incompetent. His curious suggestion that "15 million fewer" people were going to the Post Office each week would mean that (assuming the whole population were involved) after four weeks no one would be visiting any Post Office anywhere!
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Eddie,
Perhaps you should have asked the minister whether there were any (difficult) questions he was prepared to answer...
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Purnell... "we created the Post Office card account to help..." NO. They created, and tried to stifle, the card account, when they stopped using benefit books, and millions either didn't want, or couldn't get, a bank account. In no way can the Card Account be taken as a govt policy or success.
I have a bank account, I don't want my family allowance to go in there... I use a card account, I'd rather still have a book mind. I'd also quite like the post office that used to be convenient still open.
Programme? Except the non-answering minister... very enjoyable. Especially with the car to myself.
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Sorry! "Arrogant and incompetent"
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Mr Purnell's avoidance (inability?) to answer a straightforward, pertinent and reasonable question, about the costs to which the taxpayer has been put as a result of the Post Office Card Account tendering process should be cause for his removal from public office. It is not true to say that this cost is "commercial in confidence": we're not talking about a commercial contract, but simply how much of taxpayers money has been shelled out on yet another pointless exercise.
Any MP, and ministers most of all, exists to serve the public, and should be accountable to them for all that they do, most especially when they are spending our money. Any who refuse to provide such information really do not deserve our trust or confidence.
When a person is elected to parliament, or even (from personal experience) to a local council, suddenly their opinions are given more weight than before their election. What should be remembered is that elected or not, these opinions are only as good as they ever were, and are worth no more than the next person's.
Long may you continue to challenge the mendacious and silver-tongued people who avoid difficult answers to straight questions.
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if 25% of those who change electric suppliers end up making a mistake and going to one that charges more, the concept established in marketing called 'confusion marketing' used by companies such as electric suppliers is working. This form of marketing is used in the USA often.
Marketing is the 'The Are of Deception'
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James Purnell did himself no favours, did he? Commerical confidentiality? I'm not sure the NAO would agree. Perhaps Eddie should give it a call and ask.
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It won't do anybody any good to have a PO card if they keep closing local Post Offices. Five are set to close around St Albans, including the one I use. It closes next week.
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Many people were advised to transfer their savings to the Post Office when the banks began to have problems. I was amongst them; advised by my accountant. Could the recent improvement in the Post Office as an investment vehicle be a part of the change in government policy. However the length of the queue in our Post Office reflects a serious lack of concern for customers.
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On the on-line gaming piece, anyone who can watch video podcasts should have a look at one called "The Guild" - search your favourite podcast directory. It's a short comedy series made by WoW gamers who happen to also be actors/actresses about some of the problems that can arise from getting too involved in that sort of game.
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Well done Eddie for keeping your cool vs the stonewall treatment from Purnell.
"Commercial confidentiality" my ***se.
(OOps that's me banned for 3 months....)
J.
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MARKETING is "The ART of DECEPTION"
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Pocketpoet is right: the government undermined the Post Office by removing all sorts of business from it, including TV licences, E111 forms and passports.
Suddenly the Minister understands the argument about Post Offices being an important source of social care... well that's good then. Perhaps he'll reverse all those undermining policies from the past, and make the old PO network viable again.
Quickly mind, before it's too late to re-open all the outlets that have closed already.
You made him squirm nicely, Eric. Nice job. Encore!
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The Council that says "sorry".
I can just see them, sitting in the staff room in their hand knitted jumpers, woolley tartan skirts and corduroy trousers, sipping Camomile tea agreeing they are "sorry".
I know you had a piece about saying sorry but, in a case of life and death for a poor little babe, "sorry" just doesn't cut it for me. WHO is responsible? I think at least a resignation is due.
Also:
Bomblets? Bomblets???
Oh come on! That makes them sound like Barbie Doll accessories!
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The Government knows full well they should never have put the Post Office Card Account out to tender. I do hope that the current economic conditions are bringing home that the Thatcherite mantra of the private sector being best to do everything, espoused by New Labour, is a fallacy. The private sector will only do what is profitable, and the Post Office Card Account is a social service - those in rural and semi-rural areas would never have been able to access their money, as the Paypoint network is urban only. The Government must (or should have) known this - and what a poor performance by the Minister concerned!
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L_S 14, Bomblets as in, "Let's drop a bomb."
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(16) David: like droplets? That explode? Oh, OK, that's alright then.
Oh, I get it... "Bomb? Let's!"
It can only get worse.
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L_S 17, Yes, like, "Let's drop drops."
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Lady Sue - I just had to respond on the hand-knitted jumpers comment! Not everyone who wears hand knitted jumpers and corduroy trousers is a social worker - I'm not! I like knitting and it is now a fashionable pursuit among celebrities!
Seriously, I have in the past worked with social workers and my perception is that the problems there stem from their 60s/70s hippy liberal attitude (peace, man) that every problem can be solved if you talk about it long enough - people are inherently good and want to do what's right. Those of us in the real world know differently but the unwillingness of some (not all) social workers to make judgments and decisions comes from this underlying assumption.
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As Mr Purnell declined to answer the nice friendly questions maybe you should make an FoI request for the Business Case of going out to tender on the Card Account and the Cost of the exercise (CIC ...as someone else my posterior).
You could then ask him back to explain why he couldn't have been open and honest about it instead of forcing you to use Licence Fee Payers Money to get Tax Payers Money spent on explaining why they wasted Tax Payers Money.
As for 4 million less visits a week ... well that's because they closed lots of Post Offices abd no one has the time to stand in the queues in one still open.. less shops less footfall that straight from the Ministry of the Very Obvious
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Great story on the recycling of cluster bombs - long overdue
Now lets turn our attention to depleted uranium munitions - radioactive nuclear waste turned into ammunition.
The use of depleted uranium munitions leaves a toxic and radioactive legacy that causes cancer and birth defects for countless generations to come. Not only does it affect civilians in target areas, it also can affect our own troops who are contaminated by depleted uranium dust
Further details on efforts to ban this probable war crime can be found at the website of the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium:-
http://www.cadu.org.uk/
I ask that you cover this important issue in a future programme
Best wishes
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So, the laugh's on me (amongst others)...
Maybe, I'll be asked to present the awards!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/13/russell-brand-jonathan-ross
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Hi Eddie,
I cannot believe James Parnell, what he should have said was," You have asked me in five different ways, and I am going to repeat my script, and not answer your reasonable question".
Holes in his argument.
1. He said that it was his government who set up the card account, giving the Post Office a revenue stream. Fact is that prior to the card account all payments were made using payment books which gave the PO 100% of transactions. Card accounts were set up for those whom the agency dealing with the transfer could not persuade, or on occasion bully, to transfer to a Bank account.
2. Visits to PO's are down each week, see above. Also giving TV Licence to Paypoint, allowing car tax online, and worst of all allowing Ebayers to pay for their postage online, but then they still have to come to the post office to post their goods, holding up other customers, for which the individual post office is paid nothing.
Giving the card account to Paypoint was never going to happen. Even a moderate sub PO can pay out in excess of £100,000 on a busy Monday. No Spar, Co-op or corner shop will have the security to deal with that kind of exposure, nor would they get insurance. Further, would you want your benefit entitlement known to a sixteen year old girl, who has not undergone the rigorous PO vetting procedure, and may well go to school with your daughter?
Add to this the disgusting incedent when Post Office Limited blackmailed Sub PMs not to disclose their imminent closure or otherwise, with the threat of losing their compensation. This was thankfully reversed after a whistleblower let the Dailys Mail and Express know, And you have a Government that neither values nor cares about our wonderful Post Office network and the often vulnerable people it serves.
Don't get me started
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Dear Eddie,
thoroughly enjoyed the interview with James purnell,pity he never actually answered your question what a surprise!!yet another gigantic cock up by the government but never mind because the tax payer thats you,me and twenty million others will be able to pick up the bill.i wonder what it is like to have unlimited funds in your bank account.
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(23) : Yay to all of that! What's more, a sub postmaster wanting to argue objectively that his PO was actually profitably requires to get a solicitor to obtain a Court Order to prize the business figures out of PO Ltd... and how many of them can afford that outlay?
I know of one who did, and his figures easily overturned the POL version. His PO is still open, despite being earmarked for closure. It was nothing to do with the local paper's public campaign, although POL is quite happy to say it 'listened to public opinion'.
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Purnell: others have ably made the points about this creep's performance, so my I add an expression of admiration for your excellent interview, Eddie? You allowed him to condemn himself - gave him all the rope he needed to hang himself. A masterly performance by a masterly interviewer.
Breathless excitement over, now to the serious stuff. Some suit or other may try to tick you off for not addressing Purnell as 'Sir' or something. What such people fail to recognise is that it is your job to represent us, the licence-payers, who are ignored by government and its lackeys. You put the Qs that we want answered, and they are ALWAYS the ones they want to avoid. Hold the swine to account - it's what we pay you for!
Now for a dare. Will you be the first interviewer to say to one of these speak-your-weight ministerial automata: 'You've twice failed to answer my question, Minister. I am therefore terminating the interview so that I can spend my time more productively'? That would soon bring them to heel as their drug of choice is the sound of their own voice. Anyway, ever since Michael Howard refused 14 times to answer Paxo's Q, I've been bored with evasive behaviour, so I'd rather listen to something else. Unless it is a repeat of The Clitheroe Kid, which wasn't funny the first time round.
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I've just posted a comment on the Purnell interview, strongly supporting Eddie. For fun I looked up the house rules and found this gem:-
"We reserve the right to fail messages which
Are considered likely to disrupt, provoke, attack or offend others"
Well, I attacked Purnell and I hope I offended him - he deserves it. Whether or not he is provoked depends on the thickness of his hide. Quite how one is to 'disrupt' someone I fail to see.
Does this mean my post will be suppressed? If so, I shall not bother you with my attentions again. Whatever the case, that does seem to be a milk-and-water condition. Contrary to NuLab doctrine, some of us are still able to stand on our own feet and should like to blog robustly on a site that we own.
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Most politicians can get annoying at times, but those with a brief to repeat the same message ad infinitum until they run out of time, however hard the interviewer pushes them, are particularly bad.
If only interviewers were allowed to keep a cattle prod in the corner of the studio... :)
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Mervyn (21): You may be interested in this article from The Register...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/nuke_plant_data_center/
"1&1 Internet...will build its next European data center inside an abandoned nuclear fuel facility...thanks to local protests, it was never turned on, and in 1995, it was abandoned...Then, more than a decade later, after it escaped from nuclear control legislation, 1&1 came calling."
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ro1953 24, Just because a politician agrees to being interviewed, it doesn't mean he/she has to answer any inane questions being thrown at them. They are not responsible to the BBC.
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You should have asked Purnell a sixth time just for the fun of it ;-) Excellent interview. Can't you get the info with the Freedom of Information Act?
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Next time a Politico does a 'Purnell' and only gives name, rank and serial number why can't the Ed'master just stay silent or play music (Upshares Downshares?) or close the interview immediately and pass swiftly on..
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Ah c'mon now Lady Sue - they did say they were TRULY sorry..........ah well that's ok then isn't it!!!! I have to confess I had to wimp out and turn the radio over the previous night when this story was covered. I find it had to drive when I am in floods of tears and I found this story too distressing for words. There should be resignations galore and a complete overhaul of the "so called" child protection services.
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6: This is what Scott Adams (Dilbert) calls a confusopoly.
Perhaps we should all write to Mr.Purnell, as he probably doesn't read this blog.
As more POs close, the queues in the remaining ones will get longer, with the result of even more people giving up on the PO and using alternatives. This will lead to further closures... The PO in Tewkesbury has resorted to selling count lines, soft drinks etc.
30: David, I didn't think Eddie's questions were inane, and Mr. P. could have claimed inanity (did I accidentally omit an "s" there?) on any particular question. I wish I could have watched the interview.
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FluffyFi: But 'sorry' is at least an improvement on 'not sorry', which was the message I got from the Head of Social Services. As I've observed elsewhere, the HoSS is paid a salary in excess of £100K, the councillor who made the apology is paid zilch. I'd have thought that at least some of that inflated salary covered the area of 'responsibility', wouldn't you agree?
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Absolutely agree BigSis (35). Who will ultimately take responsibility for this hideous and criminal failing, and what will be done to ensure it never happens again? That is what we have a right to know.
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Couldn't agree more, Fi. I'm still stunned at the apparent arrogance of the person in charge. I know Social Services are always resource-poor, but this child was visited so regularly that it is a disgrace (and scarcely believable) that nothing was done to prevent this crime.
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What about the doctor who didn't notice the fractures? That's not Social Services' fault.
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Eddie, when you try to catch a slippery eel, don't use your hands. Use a net.
I agree with the person who suggested you terminate future interviews like this, when the interviewee stubbornly refuses to answer questions. You could have a period of silence, punctuated from time to time with the message "This time was set aside for a government minister/ council spokesperson to answer our questions but they declined to do so." Or you could give extra time to someone from the opposition who had already been lined up to state her point of view.
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Oh my goodness. I am a social worker who neither wears home knitted jumpers/cords or minds those who do. I cried about this story too because all of us have cases where we are managing risk, where the parents are known to SSD, and we probably knew their parents too. Parents who kill their children are often in agony, the baby was supposed to meet their needs, but instead it has overwhelming needs of its own. The injuries should have been spotted but the parents were clever and dangerous; a lethal combination. Before we start blaming SW who probably raised their concerns, start with the Children Act 1989 (which I have renamed the Parent Act) because all the research which informed this Act directs us to keep children with their families whenever possible. The state makes a terrible parent; children in care are more likely to enter the CJS, misuse substances, and to have poor mental health. Then get to the government which has raised the cost of court proceedings causing Local Authorities to think at least twice before going into proceedings... Sharon Shoesmith will be sorry, as will everyone involved in the case, they are just avoiding the lynch mob by keeping their heads down. They will all be accountable but perhaps you need to wonder about a society where mothers fail to protect their children and what their parenting was like, pretty dire, I would hazard a guess. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/15/child-protection-social-care-babyp
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