p2pnet - rss feed: Britain’s Civil Serf offline
p2pnet news | Freedom:- http://civilserf.blog.co.uk/ is offline.
It used to be run by someone Sirona describes as Whitehall’s answer to Belle de Jour of Secret Diary of a Call Girl fame.
But now it’s gone.
“The Civil Serf blog claimed to detail life inside a government department crippled by inept ministers, seven-hour meetings and political infighting,” says Metro.co.uk.
“The online journal, which was shut yesterday, purported to be the work of an anonymous 33-year-old civil servant, who described herself as ‘a faceless bureaucrat type … just senior enough to really know what is going on’.”
Although the blog hasn’t been “authenticated,” Whitehall insiders, “believe it to be credible and have started an inquiry to establish her identity,” says Times Online.
“The blog reports on rows in the run up to this week’s budget, claiming that the Treasury accused her departmental bosses of trying to ‘diddle them out of money while delivering less’.”
Adds the story >>>
Over the past four months her increasingly indiscreet posts may have provided enough clues for her to be tracked down.
References to Peter Hain, the former work and pensions secretary, and to incapacity benefit policy and child poverty, suggest that she might work at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). She also discloses dates and venues of specific meetings she has attended. (’I was trapped in a conference in Brighton being chased about by some bloke from the Foreign Office who wouldn’t listen to me saying I’m engaged - yuk!’) A DWP source said that while no one had yet been disciplined there were ’suspicions’ about the blogger’s identity. A spokesman said: ‘Civil servants are expected to abide by the civil service code of conduct.’
In a profession which still prides itself on its discretion, the Civil Serf, if caught, will be lucky to keep her job. Her most recent post last week suggests that she knows her blog’s days may numbered. ‘Knowing my luck it’ll get me fired,’ she wrote.
Stay tuned.
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Also See:
Sirona - Writing the Civil Serf Blog WILL lose you your job!, March 10, 2008
Metro.co.uk - Blog closed after mocking civil service, March 9, 2008
Times Online - Hunt is on for the “Civil Serf” demon blogger of Whitehall, March 9, 2008
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March 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Why doesn’t it surprise me that they’re more concerned with the fact that she exposed the government’s dirty secrets than in doing anything about the problems she wrote about?
March 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
That is what happens when a single political party has absolute power. They don’t care what the public thinks; they are only interested in securing elections. Once that is accomplished, they don’t have to answer to anybody but their financial supporters (big business).
This is why the current form of democracy is doomed to failure. As long as a single group of individuals are given complete power over the country, there will always be opportunistic reprobates abusing their position.
A way to counter this would be to eliminate political parties entirely. Instead, the public should vote on each critical issue, thereby returning the power of the vote to the people. Without corporate sponsored parties / politicians, corruption and abuse of power can be eradicated.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
This government are responsible for one of the most henious crimes against democracy by politicising the civil service. This lady has the courage of her convictions and should be rewarded not punished for her efforts to expose malpractice and abuse of power.
Tony Burton