Thursday 2 September 2010

Oh, Woe, Woe and Thrice Woe!


...screams the headline, conjuring up ghastly images of the dead lying unburied in morgues, rubbish sacks lining the streets, the sick and elderly dropping like flies in unattended hospitals...

Oh, wait, they've got specific in the actual story:
Colchester is set to lose out on days of actions, PCSOs and vital community services after the Government demanded its money back.
Ah. So pointless grandstanding and publicity seeking for Righteous causes and uniformed powerless cretins are set to be cut. Well, that's not exactly the biblical disaster promised by the headline, is it?

But what about those 'vital community services'?
Much of the money, including £56,000 aimed at boosting recycling in Colchester, has already been spent.
Ah. More of the same, then...
Mrs Dopson (councillor responsible for communities) said cutting funding would badly damage the Government’s “Big Society” dream because charities would no longer be able to afford to help people in need.
Far be it from me to suggest that charities that rely on government giving them the money because no public donations are forthcoming should go to the wall anyway...

6 comments:

Roger Thornhill said...

Care for the mentally ill, the infirm (inc elderly), light maintain and clean the streets and other public spaces (e.g. parks).

After that, it is all WIBNI.

PJH said...

Far be it from me to suggest that charities that rely on government giving them the money....

If something is funded from money extracted under penalty of prison, then it's not something that I'd consider could reasonably be called a 'charity' to begin with.

What happened to fakecharities.org anyway? It's been down for a while.

microdave said...

According to DK "Fake Charities" is resting (must be a Norwegian Blue....)


http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/2010/08/fake-charity-of-week-1.html

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

Didn't you realise that the main objective of public spending is to safeguard Dopson's empire? Silly old you thinking that stuff like street lights and parks counted.

JuliaM said...

"After that, it is all WIBNI."

I had to Google that! :)

"What happened to fakecharities.org anyway? It's been down for a while."

As microdave says, it's had server problems. Now the Devil is back on form, I expect it'll be up and running in no time.

"...the main objective of public spending is to safeguard Dopson's empire..."

We can tell from where the cuts are falling that the notion of public 'service' is a hollow one, can't we?

PJH said...

As microdave says, it's had server problems. Now the Devil is back on form, I expect it'll be up and running in no time.

Possibly as soon as next week if the reply to my email is to be believed.