Best Of

The end of Sure Start was in the name of less government.

80% of council spending being on children’s services is not unknown some 15 years later.

I’m hoping that may give us pause about the usefulness of small government.

Very interesting case - I had some involvement in the aftermath of the closures as financial and attendance records (and children's medical records) all had to be recovered and brought back by the local authority.

The Children's Centres came in a variety of flavours - in some instances, an area of an existing school was effectively partitioned off from the rest of the facility to provide secure and suitable accommodation (that came at a cost). However, other examples had the Council leasing accommodation from a third party and then sub-letting to a third party provider who would run the facility and provide the service.

The facilities in the existing schools have to an extent continued but those in leased buildings ended when the Council could or would no longer pay the rent so 1,300 of the 3,600 centres have gone.

The IFS claimed Sure Start provision had saved the NHS millions in terms of preventing admissions of children to hospital and had also started to have a positive impact on child obesity but the problem was the funding which, as we've seen with increasing pressure on care for vulnerable adults and children, has been squeezed.

I do agree sometimes proponents of "small" Government (whatever that actually means) fail to see the bigger picture.

Am I the only PBer who has never had to write a proper CV? Never done a job that required one. Never been asked to submit one

It would be quite colourful tho

1992: jail, mainly
1993: haven’t got a fucking clue
1994-2001: heroin
2002-2005: see 1993

Me. Every job I have ever got has been on the basis of personal recommendation. I do have a CV which I keep updated just in case but have never actually had to use it

It's not what you know, it's who you know, eh? 😉

Its what you know and who you know. Not many survive for long doing the job. When you screw up it tends to be big time. You don't recover from screwups as everyone knows.

I was joking, but it really does look like you ARE a professional hitman.

LOL. I was arrested for spying about 30 years ago in Tunisia. 3 days in a Tunisian Jail then deported.


They never found the bodies

I know some oil people who had similar experiences in Egypt a few decades ago.

It was partly my fault for screwing up permits and mostly the fault of the company I was working for who, when contacted by the Tunisian police, denied all knowledge of me. Thanks guys.

The Tunisians were pretty decent. I think they could see from the very start it was a cockup rather than a conspiracy. But I would rather not repeat the experience of Tunisian jail.

Sadly the company in question did the same thing to a good friend of mine, a Frenchman, in Nigeria. He spent 3 months in a Nigerian jail and never worked again.