The Night Mail

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, br2975 said:

More and more 'modellers' (term used loosely) are adopting the 'post a question on line - and get some other mug to find and upload the information for me' 

My wife notices lots of these on local Facebook Groups, e.g. "Does anyone know when Tesco opens?".  Apparently Google or the Tesco website would be too difficult to check.......  I think some of these people are just craving attention, they get people to reply to THEIR message and for a few seconds, feel slightly less worthless.

 

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

A great friend of ours was Dutch but had lived in England for over 40 years, was married to an Englishman and had adopted two children. When Brexit happened some civil servant wrote to her to say that she would have to apply for a resident's visa or some such to stay here; when her husband wrote back to say that she was being given end of life care with inoperable cancer guess what the reply was? "Sorry for disturbing you" or "Apologies, we offer our sympathies" or suchlike? Not exactly, just an acknowledgement stating that the matter was 'deferred'. Makes you weep sometimes.

The Windrush scandal makes me furious for so many reasons; some ministers were sacked/resigned but many lives were destroyed.  I would love to know if the senior civil servant who signed off on disposing of thousands of LIVING people's documents, to save the Home Office some storage charges, was dismissed and lost their pension.  I hope their spend their retirement living in abject poverty.

 

57 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

A degree is a wonderful thing but it does not automatically bestow the holder with common sense or the ability to shoot, drive, be an underwater search team leader, a mounted (horse) officer or a dog handler.

I was very pleased to go to Uni (Poly when I arrived) and made some life-long friends, but I've often said that at no point in my life have I met a higher proportion of genuinely stupid people, as I did in Higher Education.  I was far from a top student - many found study easier than I did - but I could never believe how little so many students knew about how the world worked.  There were a lot who seemed to be getting a degree in something - Business Studies was a typical "It'll be useful" course - but seemed unaware of news and current affairs, didn't know where anywhere in Britain other than Liverpool and their home town/city was, etc.  They were interested in completing their course and socialising, nothing else.  That was three decades ago but I suspect it is even more the case now, that many thousands go to Uni because it allows them to put off making a decision about their lives and taking true responsibility for themselves, for at least three years.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

In fact the only thing that most graduates would probably be any good, at is being on NICKED BY the drugs squad.

There, corrected the error for you…

[The Johnster]

Cheaper dead, me.  Haven't been a productive participant in the economy other than as a consumer since 1997, during which time I have been a consistent burden on the NHS and the DWP.  I am a biological machine for converting state benefits to landlord and brewer profits.  My financial support of the The Squeeze is probably more valuable to her than my burial insurance, but she would have to know my exact date of death to be able to make that call, and I haven't mentioned this to her; I trust her absolutely, but I'm not completely stupid, I don't trust anybody that much...

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

No need to get branded.  We only have to look at you...

 

No. I've given this some thought. I do not think approaching a farting dinosaur, however crusty, with a hot branding iron, is an operation lightly to be undertaken.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Allow me to share your soapbox. I have had several queries along the lines of, "I have seen your book on the XXX Class and would like to make a model/modify a RTR model of one. Could you supply me with a copy of the drawings that you used in the book?" I have usually replied saying that the drawings I used were borrowed from various sources (for a consideration) and have been returned to the owners but were the reproductions in the book not sufficient for model making purposes (great pains having been taken by the publishers to make them as clear as possible, even going to the extent of putting some in fold out sections) ? Some of the responses to this have actually been, "No, I don't have the book, I just want the drawings," which generally merit a reply along the lines of, "Sorry, I can't help you further." One tw person had the cheek to respond with, "I don't want to have to buy the book, I just want you to let me have some copies of the drawings." Don't get me wrong, the majority of queries are similar to those that br2975 quote above but the brass neck of some beggars belief.  

 

Dave

 

PS Bob Essery once showed me a query he had received saying (I paraphrase) "Can you tell me which locomotives, carriages and wagons would have passed through Water Orton on January 15th 1935?"

 

41 minutes ago, pH said:

Only a very quick and simple answer required to that - “No.”

 

Alternatively....

 

"Yes - but I'm not going to"

[br2975]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I had to give br2975's post above a heart rating as I couldn't find a WTF!!!! button.

 

.

Perhaps I ought not mention the female officer who calmly informed her Inspector that after 18 months service (probationary period is 2 years), she had come to realise she was afraid of the dark.

So, and with no medical evidence to support her claim,  the management team presented her with a specialist role, working 9-5 M-F.

.

Or the officers who actually refuse lawful orders, refuse to turn up for duty on their cancelled rest days, refuse to carry out duties 'because it's not in my remit'

.

Then there are the sick, lame and lazy - those who 'have to work from home'

.

I know of a Detective Sergeant who 'can't come in today, I'll work from home to care for my dog in this heatwave'

.

Or "I can't come in this morning, my twelve year old son refuises to  go to school"

.

"I won't be in today, my son has a dental appointment" - but he's 17 !!

.

Then there's the DC told to perform a task by her DS - who promptly replied "No, F**k Off" and stormed out of the building.

 

If you thought that following yesterday's report misogyny and racism were the two biggest issues facing the police today, then you were wrong.

.

Oh no ! - in " UK Police plc " - the tail wags the dog.

[skipepsi]

You don't have to ask if I am now very pleased that my daughter didn't get a job with the Met...

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, br2975 said:

.

Perhaps I ought not mention the female officer who calmly informed her Inspector that after 18 months service (probationary period is 2 years), she had come to realise she was afraid of the dark.

So, and with no medical evidence to support her claim,  the management team presented her with a specialist role, working 9-5 M-F.

.

Or the officers who actually refuse lawful orders, refuse to turn up for duty on their cancelled rest days, refuse to carry out duties 'because it's not in my remit'

.

Then there are the sick, lame and lazy - those who 'have to work from home'

.

I know of a Detective Sergeant who 'can't come in today, I'll work from home to care for my dog in this heatwave'

.

Or "I can't come in this morning, my twelve year old son refuises to  go to school"

.

"I won't be in today, my son has a dental appointment" - but he's 17 !!

.

Then there's the DC told to perform a task by her DS - who promptly replied "No, F**k Off" and stormed out of the building.

 

If you thought that following yesterday's report misogyny and racism were the two biggest issues facing the police today, then you were wrong.

.

Oh no ! - in " UK Police plc " - the tail wags the dog.

 

What's jaw-dropping in all this is the fact that the Top (and middle) Brass allow this to go on.  

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

I could never believe how little so many students knew about how the world worked.  There were a lot who seemed to be getting a degree in something - Business Studies was a typical "It'll be useful" course - but seemed unaware of news and current affairs, didn't know where anywhere in Britain other than Liverpool and their home town/city was, etc.  They were interested in completing their course and socialising, nothing else. 

 

My last job in the RAF, after finishing rushing around on fast jets, was 3 years teaching university students to fly on little piston engined aeroplanes as well as giving them a grounding in service knowledge and doing some leadership training on a University Air Squadron. During freshers week we used to invite students to apply to join and from the list of applicants that satisfied the medical requirements we would formally interview about 60-70 with a view to accepting 25-30, the expected drop-out in the first year being about 8-10. I found that a significant proportion of students were quite ignorant concerning what I thought would be general knowledge and their ability to spell and produce readable, understandable and unambiguous English was poor considering that they were obviously considered suitable for further education. Another notable lack of expertise was in mental arithmetic but more worrying was a complete lack of common sense when faced with problems. Obviously through the selection process we ended up with the better students but it was in some ways disturbing to realise that a fair proportion of our rejects would actually go on to obtain degrees that would maybe stand them in good stead to get jobs such as those which br2975 described, unless the selection process was robust enough.

 

Dave

 

   

Edited March 22, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

11 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

What's jaw-dropping in all this is the fact that the Top (and middle) Brass allow this to go on.  

 

I think that many are so concentrated on getting further up the greasy pole that fear of being held back by opposition from, for want of a better term but you know what I mean, the woke brigade means that satisfying the aim of the service gets forgotten. What then happens is that those whom they in turn drag up the greasy pole behind them are of the same ilk and so it goes on.

 

Dave

Edited March 22, 2023 by Dave Hunt
pore speling

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

There, corrected the error for you…

No error, the inference they would be in the drugs squad!

[Oldddudders]

Disappointment is putting your brand-new £175 loco on the track and finding it doesn't work. Deep disappointment is finding it actually causes a short, instead. Bafflement is taking out the blanking plate from the decoder socket, installing a decoder (Plux 16) and finding the loco now runs perfectly. As I think the little thing, HO scale standard gauge, is less than 2" long, it may not haul a lot, but at least it now runs!

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

I was very pleased to go to Uni (Poly when I arrived) and made some life-long friends, but I've often said that at no point in my life have I met a higher proportion of genuinely stupid people, as I did in Higher Education.  I was far from a top student - many found study easier than I did - but I could never believe how little so many students knew about how the world worked.  There were a lot who seemed to be getting a degree in something - Business Studies was a typical "It'll be useful" course - but seemed unaware of news and current affairs, didn't know where anywhere in Britain other than Liverpool and their home town/city was, etc.  They were interested in completing their course and socialising, nothing else.  That was three decades ago but I suspect it is even more the case now, that many thousands go to Uni because it allows them to put off making a decision about their lives and taking true responsibility for themselves, for at least three years.

 

I really do wonder just how many of them give serious thought to what they want to do after Uni - and what qualifications will be required to do that.  I suspect a good proportion pick a course "because it's easy" or because they're interested in it (which is a very good reason in one respect) but haven't thought thru' the job prospects afterwards - doing a Degree in Palaeontology cos' you're interested in it is fine, but don't expect vacancies to be growing on trees when you graduate....

[jamie92208]

1. My police pension is classed in France as a government pension so is 

 

[jamie92208]

We were always told that if you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined.

 

 

 

Safely in Orlens just north of the wasteland that used to be Les Aubrais depot 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[figworthy]

19 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

My last job in the RAF, after finishing rushing around on fast jets, was 3 years teaching university students to fly on little piston engined aeroplanes as well as giving them a grounding in service knowledge and doing some leadership training on a University Air Squadron. During freshers week we used to invite students to apply to join and from the list of applicants that satisfied the medical requirements we would formally interview about 60-70 with a view to accepting 25-30, the expected drop-out in the first year being about 8-10. I found that a significant proportion of students were quite ignorant concerning what I thought would be general knowledge and their ability to spell and produce readable, understandable and unambiguous English was poor considering that they were obviously considered suitable for further education. Another notable lack of expertise was in mental arithmetic but more worrying was a complete lack of common sense when faced with problems. Obviously through the selection process we ended up with the better students but it was in some ways disturbing to realise that a fair proportion of our rejects would actually go on to obtain degrees that would maybe stand them in good stead to get jobs such as those which br2975 described, unless the selection process was robust enough.

 

Dave

 

   

 

30 years ago, we had a kiddy wink join us straight from school.  Rather than doing a sandwich degree, he was going to work for us for a year, then do his degree in the usual 3 years.

 

Chatting to him when he started, he told us that he'd done 4 A levels, and if he got straight "A"s he was off to Cambridge, otherwise it would be Imperial College (for some form of IT degree).  So, on the face of it, a smart lad.  It didn't take us many days to discover that he had no general knowledge, it was virtually impossible to have a conversation with him about anything that hadn't been on the syllabus.

 

Perhaps we were odd, but when I was in the sixth form, a group of us used to start the day by going through the Yorkshire Post (a broadsheet which the school library took a copy of every day) and discussing the various news items.  We might not have gained an impressive list of exam results, but I can't help feeling that we had a much better idea of how the world worked, and hence education.  Oh, and we could do maffs and spill.

 

Adrian

[Compound2632]

29 minutes ago, polybear said:

doing a Degree in Palaeontology cos' you're interested in it is fine, but don't expect vacancies to be growing on trees when you graduate....

 

Well no, that would be singularly unexpected. Should have done Agricultural Science.

[br2975]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

What's jaw-dropping in all this is the fact that the Top (and middle) Brass allow this to go on.  

.

Yes, the SMT (Senior Management Teams) all know it goes on - and there are many first line supervisors (sergeants) and Inspectors who would love to get to grips with the wasters; because everyone knows who they are.

BUT

'Police UK plc' is run by the HR Departments, who are sh*t scared of litigation and employment tribunals -so they advise/force the managers to take the line of least resistance; cave in to the sick, lame and lazy.

.

The genuine rank and file workers are so demoralised, because they carry their own workload (which is constantly burgeoning) but also carry the workload of a malingerer as well.

.

Morale within the police service is lower than a snakes belly, and has been for years.

.

I was an elected Police Federation representative for almost half my service, and the Fed gave me basic training in representing officers subject to Poor Performance or Attendance Regulations.

I once had a 'face to face' with the then Chief Constable (probably the best senior officer my force had during my service - and  well known to Hippo the Younger),

Our Chief was presenting a 'State of The Union Address' and touched upon Performance and Attendance issues.

He saw me smirking, and knowing me well, pulled me up

"Well Sir, the Fed has trained me in the basics when it comes to representing my members who become to subject  performance, attendance and discipline investigations - whereas the force gives no such training, or support to their first line supervisors or managers - so, in first and second stage meetings I invariably run rings around your sergeants and inspectors"

He agreed, and I followed up with;

"As my subscription paying members expect a robust representation, they get one, in fact all too easily due to the failings of the force - and by default I know that I have kept officers in the force whose services should have been dispensed with; not because I'm good, but because the force is weak."

He agreed.

And years later, both retired, we are still on good  and first name terms.

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by br2975

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

What's jaw-dropping in all this is the fact that the Top (and middle) Brass allow this to go on.  

You have to suspect that like every other walk of life, the Police Service is now led by graduates of the MBA school.  They know how to manage everything but lead nothing.  

[Winslow Boy]

As me old mum used to say further education teaches you only one thing and that is how to do something to a professional standard. It is experience that teaches you whether you are doing it correctly and whether it can be improved upon.

 

Unfortunately nowadays students are taught to the answer and not taught to the question. This means that once the answer is known there is no further need to learn so if you don't want to learn what use is experience.

[br2975]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I think that many are so concentrated on getting further up the greasy pole that fear of being held back by opposition from, for want of a better term but you know what I mean, the woke brigade means that satisfying the aim of the service gets forgotten. What then happens is that those whom they in turn drag up the greasy pole behind them are of the same ilk and so it goes on.

 

.

Actually, no.

.

At retirement I was working with a PC who was qualified to Sergeant - and also bore an uncanny resemblance to one Marlon Dingle.

Chris was a good, all round copper, great knowledge, great aptitude, great demeanour and would make an excellent Sergeant.

But

He refused to pursue his promotion, because

"I want to be a copper, and do police work - I'm not going to write worthless essays about irrelevant subjects, just to get some stripes"

.

Promotion within 'Police UK plc' is based solely upon the ability to "talk the talk" there is absolutely no emphasisi on being able to "walk the walk".

[br2975]

10 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

You have to suspect that like every other walk of life, the Police Service is now led by graduates of the MBA school.  They know how to manage everything but lead nothing.  

.

We had a saying on our shift

.

"Managers only manage, whereas leaders inspire !"

[Tony_S]

36 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Unfortunately nowadays students are taught to the answer and not taught to the question.

That is absolutely false. In fact, education is criticised for not filling students up with facts as in the old days but showing them how to analyse and research.

 

[Happy Hippo]

40 minutes ago, br2975 said:

.

We had a saying on our shift

.

"Managers only manage, whereas leaders inspire !"

I never had a problem leading soldiers.

 

They followed me, wherever I went, through idle curiosity.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.