5 Comments »

1. I found it amusing that Ballot Boxes are being sited in Libraries so that people can post their ballot papers on 10th June without having to use Royal Mail.
   If the boxes were placed in the former local polling stations they would be more accessible to the voters and people would know where to find them.
   Whatever happened to the concept of a ‘secret’ ballot? The postal system requires that a voter formally identifies them-self. I have to conclude that this saves manpower in MI5/6. The old system of ‘secret’ ballot required that the polling clerks make a note of the voter’s registered number on the stub of the ballot paper and this was very time consuming because having separated the ‘extreme’ votes the process of matching stubs and ballot papers was manual.
   With the new postal system all of the paperwork can be scanned intact before being separated for counting.
   Long live democracy 😉

   Comment by Roger Huffadine — 2 Jun 2004 on 1:05 pm | Link

2. How’s this for numbers: Only half of the people in our building who should have received their voting packs did.

   Thanks, Royal Mail.

   Comment by Gregory Block — 2 Jun 2004 on 5:13 pm | Link

3. its amazing that there were all these delays getting the forms printed and devivered. its not like the fact there was an election was suddenly sprung on people ! With all the different quangos and consultants the government employs maybe they should have an committee looking into organisation…….or lack of it

   Comment by Tony — 2 Jun 2004 on 10:11 pm | Link

4. This is what happens when government turns to industry, I guess. Government, historically overstaffed, can generally cover the need to do that kind of printing and delivery through long-term management; industry and the markets are about as short-term as short-term can be – next quarter’s financials.

   Some argue it’s why the industry isn’t good at delivering good quality public services; others say that it’s ‘inherited stupidity’, morons who can’t change to a private sector ethos in what was once their cushy public-sector job.

   I’m sure that there’s a bit of truth in both, but mostly, I think the problems in Royal Mail can be attributed more or less directly to Royal Mail. The watchdog is right – time to take the kid gloves off, and let the market rip Royal Mail to pieces. The very worst that could happen is that someone else ends up filling Royal Mail’s shoes, buys the name, and guts the company of its staff and customers to absorb into its own business.

   Sure, a bumpy ride, but at least at the end of it you get a postal service. It’s not like I want to dump millions of postal workers onto the street, but either they’re not being served well by their management and company – in which case, management and company need radical alterations – or they’re not doing their jobs, in which case they deserve to get turfed, and may their unions carry them on their shoulders straight to hell.

   If they’re doing their job well, any company replacing them in the market would be interested in taking them on; if they’re not, well, the problem with free lunches is that sooner or later, lunchtime is over.

   Comment by Gregory Block — 3 Jun 2004 on 8:26 am | Link

5. Sorry ’bout that; unions are a touchy subject for me at the moment. At this point, I’d like to throw the nearest RMT member under their own bloody train.

   Comment by Gregory Block — 3 Jun 2004 on 8:27 am | Link

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