It didn't take much research (via WHOIS) to establish that "Mike" is in fact Mike Raddie, the owner of the Democracy Village website. He is listed as "Network and Desktop Systems Manager" at ... wait for it ... the University of East London. When you ring his extension number it just rings and rings and rings. When I eventually managed to speak to someone they didn't know when he would be back. I'd have thought it doubtful that a Network Systems Manager would be allowed a holiday during term time, especially when finals are taking place.
So perhaps "Mike" might like to drop by again and explain his absence from his public sector workplace. His Democracy Village website indicates that he is taking part in a peace strike. Surely he doesn't expect this to wash with his employer?
I've just rung the University of East London for a comment. They're getting back to me.
UPDATE 4pm: The UEL have just emailed...
We note your concerns and want to assure you that UEL take personnel matters very seriously. Staff are entitled to pursue lawful activities of their choice outside of work hours. However, we expect all of our employees to fulfil work obligations during contracted hours. We are currently looking into this matter."
159 comments:
The Militia on their website is worth a read for a wonderful example of wacky madness.
Interesting stuff. But one point of clarification re some of ytour earlier posts on this topic - Parliamen Square is NOT part of the Westminster world heritage site.
Oh Iain, we'll have to call you Sherlock shortly. Well done.
Remind me not to tell you lies. :)
"Network and Desktop Systems Manager" On leave during finals??
My god, do you think they'll have trouble networking their pens with their answer booklets or something.
Perhaps the tops of their desks might fall off?
Oh Iain, we'll have to call you Sherlock shortly. Well done.
Silly man thinking he could get away with going awol at public expense.
With a bit of effort you might even be able to get him sacked.
The nasty party is back!
Ha ha, well done! Well Mike's likely to have a lot more time on his hands now Becta's closing down, and his employer will know where to make extra savings...
Iain, I normally enjoy your blog, witty and insightful. But I find this one-man crusade to remove a peaceful and non-violent protest from a public space (coincidentally outside Westminster, but that should be immaterial) utterly contemptable, and even worse now that you've involved his employers. What gives you the right to involve the employers of a private individual in a private concern?
If your views, and the views of the Met Police with the arrest of Brian Haw, in any way represents the views of the tory party on the right to protest, then we could be in for a re-run of the 1980s protests.
All in all, a small victory for you, but a bigger loss for society?
Ha ha, well done! Well Mike's likely to have a lot more time on his hands now Becta's closing down, and his employer will know where to make extra savings...
A job for Osborne and Little (as they are nicknamed in the treasury). Wallpapering should be the new euphamism for losing public sector jobs....
Well done, it did not take you long to act on my suggestion in a previous post. Oh the power of investigative journalism.I doff my cap to you for this grand effort.
Deeply, deeply unpleasant.
Seriously. That's really nasty, and completely unnecessary.
"University of East London"?
you kid us? is their one? really?
You sure its not some sort of glorified Poly or 6th form college?
Well anyway, Mikey's a very naughty boy, and he's certainly not on official leave to be a demonstrator in Parly Sq.
Methinks that Boris and his wee empire should get this brainless laddie off the streets, out of the campus and frogmarched to the nearest Jobcentre.
Toddle pip
Who needs the surveillance state when you've got Iain Dale tipping off employers and authorities?
It is bad enough that the new Government is trying to sack people, let alone having Tory activists participate.
Is this what Cameron means by what you can do for your country (helping get someone the sack)?
If I was his employer I'd sack him.
But here's a question - under current rules and regulations would I be allowed to?
In reality I suspect we'll find out that his current employer is just to namby pamby and lefty to sack someone for not doing their job.
Shame.
Me, I'd wager a small sum he does get away with it.
He is clearly the victim ...
To all those bleeding hearts who are moaning about how unpleasant it is to track this character down. May I remind you that WE TAXPAYERS are paying his bloody wages, to do his job, not to ponce about in Parliament Square indulging his inner hippy.
How long until the right-wing newspaper websites pick this one up?
"Shouldn't you be less of a hypocrite, Iain?"
It's all fine and dandy in your books for there to be freedom of speech, action and protest, er, so long as it's not untidy and you don't object to it at all.
I'm sure you're feeling proud of yourself at the moment but you should feel embarrassed.
So long for the Tories little charade of playing the valiant defenders of freedom and liberty - didn't last long, did it?
If the gentleman is protesting when he is supposed to be working, his employer needs to sack him. And then after that, HIS boss needs sacking for allowing this to happen for so long. Being the public sector, he is probably signing off his flexi-time sheet as working his full 7.24 hour shift every day when he is infact desecrating one of our main tourist attractions.
If I am incorrect about his status then I apologise and retract my statement.
Iain, don't allow apologists to smear you for reporting someone who is seemingly wasting taxpayer money.
@TheGrimReaper: "How long until the right-wing newspaper websites pick this one up?"
Ben Brogan's already linked to Iain's post.
The feckless idle waster should be sectioned, never mind sacked. Would he steal a car and then cheerfully contact a website crowing about it and asking for tuning tips? The silly sod.
I am writing to demand that Boris also clean up the filth and mess at the Gay Pride carnival every year by simply canceling it.
Sauce for the goose
Mizter T - I think you'll find that the number one Tory goal is to reduce the deficit. Well, it looks like we'll be able to reduce it by about £35,000 per year right away if Iain's allegations are correct.
There is nothing nasty about cutting waste.
Ha ha ha Iain - well done! I am sick and tired of having my taxes pay for the likes of him and his hippie pals. Bring on the water canyons!
@jimmy
We're talking about an academic at a third rate institution not being present at work. That's not sackable, it's mandatory.
I'd love to know what people think is wrong about pointing out that a Public Service employee ( I won't call him a worker as he clearly isn't)is not attending his workplace.
All the cries of police state, nasty party is utter crap. As for the whining about "what right to involve yourself with employers?" Well it's quite simple this individual is a public employee paid from the public purse.
If you are going to work in a Public Sector job at a time when every bit of fat (and perhaps some lean meat) is going to have to be excised then I would have thought that common sense would dictate that you make damned sure that you are some of the leanest meat around and not some flabby burden on the payroll.
Yes everyone has the right to protest but not on my coin.
What most of the commentators here have missed is that Iain isn't challenging his right to protest, he's challenging his right to protest whilst the taxpayer pays him to do something else on our behalf.
That's the thing with Socialists/Hippies.
They feel entitled to our money, and when they don't get it they feel cheated, like we're the bad guys.
Their delusion runs deep.
They don't understand how the economy got this way, nor do they care, they just want THEIR money. i.e. like children.
Manx Matt:" What gives you the right to involve the employers of a private individual..."
Well, as a taxpayer, Iain is theoretically paying this jobshirking little idiots wages. Come to think of it, so am I.
Hopefully, not for much longer..
To be fair he might just be on annual leave for a couple of weeks.
Some people take two weeks in the Algarve, others sit in a tent and plot the downfall of capitalism.
In which case I can't see there's a problem.
Well done Iain, put this on your CV for your next PPC application.
It is a significant contribution to reducing public sector employment.
Only 999,999 more to go. It should be easy to achieve because I think you will find that this man's job was far more useful than that of any "outreach coordinator".
PS. Why is MY Word Verification "unbum"? No answers required.
Sir,
Having held a similar job in the private sector, it's likely that he can do his job anywhere he has Internet access. The only time they would need him on-site is if there were a wide-spread outage or an IT initiative being implemented; neither are likely during exam time.
I'm completely with you about the squatters on Parliament Square. They are more than an eye-sore; they are a menace. They suffer from the brown-shirt affliction that since their cause is so right they have the duty to inflict their opinions on others.
But I get a feeling of disquiet about this personal attack. Targeting "Mike" because he replied discourages civil dialog. I can easily see the University dismissing him, not because of job performance, but because of his politics. Very dangerous territory indeed.
My slogan would be "Eject them from Parliament Square - Not from their jobs!"
The website was only created last Weds, 19 May, so Mr Reddie has been there less than two weeks. The first posts on the site are from yesterday, so it's not like he's been there for months and months?
Its obvious. The Labour Government being chucked out has caused him such stress that he's off sick
He will probably sue the electorate for politically induced stress
UEL - a fine institution, where one of my ex-girlfriends (from 25 years ago) is now a senior lecturer. Hi Merl!
I'd wager that 'Mike' will keep his job, and probably get a teaching post to boot. It's that kind of place...
He also uses his work email as contact for this (personal/political) activity.
I do hope this workshy socialist loses his job, and is then made to work on tidying up the mess he and his fellow travellers leave behind after their eviction.
Presumably Mr Reddie wouldn't just absent himself from work; he must have taken leave and arranged for cover while he's away. Though it's an unhelpful thing to do during full term at a university.
A sneaky spiteful Tory grass. Should we be surprised?
fantastic work.
he even registered the domain with his work phone number!
How can someone who cannot do simple arithmetic hold down a job as Deputy Network and Desktops Systems Manager?
He says "I know for instance that 97% of the UK money supply is in the form of debt." Credit action says total UK personal debt stands at £1460 bn; I just happen to have a couple of bank balance sheets on my desk (because I haven't got round to filing them). In one case £627bn of loans to customers are mostly financed by £407bn of deposits from other customers, in the other £0.8bn of deposits from customers more than cover £0.1bn of loans to other customers, with some of the surplus lent to bank A to fund its excess lending. If you divide 40.7 by 1460 you get 3%, but not if you use 407, and the total of customer deposits at all banks must be more than £407bn.
Secondly if 97% *was* in the form of debt then the average bank would be an intolerable 33 times geared
I should hope he has not been there for months and months.
Is he on sabbatical? On his regular holiday? Or is he not here at all and just pretending to be? Or is he a political activist operating from a public paid sinecure?
It is legitimate to ask if he is operating on public time.
As for protests being legitimate - well protest is indeed legitimate, but causing a nuisance and digging up/ blocking public space is not. Whether it is in or merely adjacent to a world heritage site hardly matters..
This is just plain nasty. The guy may be an annoying hippy but so what?
You have no evidence that he is cheating his employer – don’t you think you should have checked with his employer BEFORE suggesting that instead of afterwards?
It’s quite possible he has taken his annual leave. As others have said your employer can’t dictate to you what you do in your own time.
And you really don’t need to be on site all the time if you are a systems manager. I have worked in a company where the IT manager was based in another country. It’s increasingly common these days.
As for the suggestion that because taxpayers help pay his wages you somehow have the right to get him sacked for being a namby pamby leftie – no you don’t!
As a customer of Tesco I help pay for their employees wages but that wouldn’t give me the right to try and get someone sacked if I don’t agree with their political opinions or how they express them.
Never had you down as a grass Iain
Here is proof that Mike is using his employer's time/resources for the "peace" camp.
From the democracy village facebook discussion board http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113998618637971#!/topic.php?uid=113998618637971&topic=152
>Mike Raddie Hi Ben, some great ideas. I'm going to try and get a solar powered wireless webcam built at work - not sure if this is possible but will let you know.
Your taxes at work.
If he is on authorised and notified holiday and acting in an entirely private capacity, funded by his own money, then I cannot find anything wrong with him pursuing his private and "free" choice to exercise his right and freedom to demonstrate against things which he disagrees with.
I though that was all part and parcel of the new "freedom and liberty loving" coalition government?
The freedom to protest is a central freedom within any functioning democracy and must be protected.
However, IF he is skiving off work and doing any of this at tax-payers expense, then that is another matter.
Indy: Yes you do help to pay for Employee wages at Tesco but you are free not to shop there. Just stop paying all of your taxes and see if HMRC let it rest there.
He should not be in Parliament Square whilst he should be at work. If he is on a holiday then fine. But if not his line manager should be looking very strongly at disciplinary action. The fact of this matter is a public employee should not be using his work phone/e-mail for political purposes.
If anyone who feels he has a right to skive off work at the public expense would care to also pay for me not to work I will gratefully accept donations towards my "sitting on my fat ass doing nothing at someone else's expense fund."
The guy clearly respects you enough to post a long message explaining his point of view and trying to engage you, a political opponent, in reasoned debate, and your response is to try to 'get him', to claim a scalp, because he disagrees with you?
"The voters outside looked from blogger to journalist, and from journalist to blogger, and from blogger to journalist again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
A lot of lefties on here are revealing their true attitude to crime. Somebody is found out effective stealing from their employer, taking pay whilst not delivering the agreed labour.
Deep down in the leftie delusion is the idea that even if it doesn't grow on trees that where money comes from isn't important; that it's infinite. They don't seem to understand that every pound you spend on Mike is a pound less spent developing new medicine or heating a pensioner's home or even, Heaven forbid, creating the wealth to pay taxes in the first place.
No, Steve. I have taken him to task for apparently being employed at public expense while pursuing a private interest. He's welcome to clarify his status at any time.
Iain
this is much more fun
http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=2980
Stephen Pound MP
“He called out to Sol Campbell saying ‘You are a big f***ing fairy.’ I was so shocked that I wrote what he said down in my programme. It was the language of the gutter. He went on to shout abuse at the ref saying ‘What game are you at — you f***ing w****r.’ Then I saw him leaning over the box to make an offensive gesture. A steward went up to him to remonstrate.”
Unless you know for sure that this man doesn't have permission to protest from his employer (i.e. authorised leave; flexible working etc), I'd suggest you shut up Iain.
By all means, investigate and then treat us to one of your "delicious" "EXCLUSIVES", but until then, you could well be smearing an innocent man for no good reason.
Investigative journalism? More like gutter press. Destroy someone's reputation, ask questions later. Does Murdock have a stake in this website by any chance?
@jimmy: “With a bit of effort you might even be able to get him sacked.”
You might save your compassion for Fabianism's victims.
Remember: every Labour government in history left office with unemployment higher than when it came to power. Every single one – from 1924 to 2010.
And guess which party Parasite Mike voted for.
Iain, this is a really nasty and vindictive thing to have done. Shame.
Considering we now have quite large tuition fees, which are due to increase soon, is there not a level of doubt as to whether Iain, the conscientious taxpayer, does in fact pay his wages?
Normally I agree with Lady Finchley but water canyons seem a bit grand for the alleged offence.
Perhaps a small stream into his tent?
The so-called protest camp is yet another act by those who think they are so damn right and so any means are justified by the ends they want (but can never achieve).
Turn up and protest is one thing. Camp out, damage property? Not on.
What I found amusing was a very reasonable chap who was pushing "skipping", which is fine as far as it goes - taking rubbish or discarded food - yet wanted to grow all his own food.
I think he was sincere, but misguided. Firstly, I do not believe he knows just how much back-breaking work it will need for him just to feed himself. I would suspect he will fail at the attempt (and I say it needs 5 years continuous work to prove he can). I also think, sadly for he seemed genuine, he is one of an army of "useful idiots" who are being used to push the anti-industrial agenda. Of course those doing the pushing see themselves in "vital work on the committee" and so will not have to work themselves into an early grave...
Iain,
Why not follow this to its logical conclusion and report everyone who is posting here from work?
You are edging into Guido territory. I honestly had you down as one of the few good apples in your party and I am genuinely shocked that would you do something this spiteful.
@Jimmy. Your post is pathetic. What can we expect from a Labour Tribal. Your Party made us into the league of Greece, Spain and Portugal- " The Govt has no money"-13 words as PM Cameron said, to declare us bankrupt.
Shame on Labour and their supporters.
@Steve. This fellow is breaking his contract. I am very surprised that he as "Network and Desktop Systems Manager", a managerial position is allowed to get away.
This is the last week of exams in universities and Netwroks are busy with marking-related activities.
The reality is these so called new universities are heavily overmanned. They are without focus after they were rebranded as universities rather than polytechnics in which capacity they were doing good work.
What on earth?! Why are you harassing him in this manner? From what information you've given in your posts it appears as though you are in the wrong.
What makes you think you can contact his employers in this manner? You should just assume he's on leave and end it there. If he isn't, it really is not your business.
Scruffs and layabout sorts in Parliament Square? Whatever next.
Was Mike merely taking Dave at his word and getting in some community involvement to boost his CV? All part of the Big Society.
@Nick "Unless you know for sure that this man doesn't have permission to protest from his employer (i.e. authorised leave; flexible working etc), I'd suggest you shut up Iain"
I know these new universities well.
The ""Network and Desktop Systems Manager" is some one assocaited with the IT system infrastructure, who at this time of the year is very busy and every staff including admin, academic and systems are denied leave at this of the year-the exam and results months- May and June. These are full-time positions m and not for flexy working. As I said before in another posting, the UEL is a disfunctional institution overstaffed and absenteeism is high.
Do you get the feeling that one of those silly Twitter campaigns is afoot here. ("Save Mike" "Iain Dale's a grass" "Here come the nasty party", etc.)
Iain Dale should be proud to expose a malingerer on the public purse - if that's what he is, and there's the perfect opportunity to put the record straight if that's what it needs. We're listening, Mike.
The degree of surly resentment shown when people are - politely - asked to do that which they are paid for is downright disgraceful amongst many council workers and the rot is spreading as our young are encouraged to feel that money is their right but work is a blight.
Is Mike a union man, by any chance?
Way to go Iain.
Quite apart from posting an accusation which may or may not be true - the email from his employers that they are 'investigating' is a stock response to such an enquiry, as I'm sure you are aware - as if it were proven, you have also used your access to your respondents details to 'out' someone who has chosen not to post their full identity on your blog.
Anyone who is concerned about their privacy should certainly think twice about posting here.
Have you seen how many people work in his IT department?
Here is the org chart: http://www.uel.ac.uk/it/documents/organisation-chart.pdf
Here is a money saving idea: why not teach the students about IT and let them administer the network? Practical on the job training.
If the guy should be at work then maybe he no longer has a job. If he has taken time off to protest then that his prerogative. I don’t think that they should have a camp permanently set up and that it should be moved ASAP. The law against protest in the area should be repealed; I mean attested for reading out a list of the name of people killed in action is not on. For me the link to the following cartoon sums up what’s wrong with socialism. I keep a copy in my pocket for those important pub arguments.
http://commonsenselogic.blogspot.com/2008/11/cartoon-of-day-socialism-illustrated.html
Daedalus
Have always enjoyed your blog Iain. Never commented before but feel i have to on this one as i am so disappointed.
I think what you have done is vindictive and out of spite. Fair enough, you're not a fan of the Democracy protests on parliament square. I also think something should be done to ensure the area is maintained so that everyone can enjoy and access it.
You were going along the right lines with the open letter to Boris.
I really think going behind the man's back and calling his employer is low. To disguise it as some sort of moral crusade for the taxpayer is doubly disappointing.
Iain, you do realise that you've posted a link to what appears to be this guy's home address? That is not cool.
@Martin Wellbourne grassing is what this is, whether you agree with iain or not.
would he have done the same if someone he knew was running a campaign he agreed with?
And if he gets sacked he get sfull benefits, so Iain will cost the country money through dint of his post. Maybe even as much as 2k a month.
mitzer t et al -
i am all for freedom of speech -
but not when i am paying for some lazy so and so who is happily collecting his salary whilst protesting
let 'mike' save up his holidays and go protesting if he wants - but not go AWOL and still take the money.
i love the idea that leeching off society is equivalent with freedom of speech.
Look, regardless of the rights or wrongs of the matter, I am pretty sure we can all agree that posting a link to the poor man's postal and work email address goes beyond what would be considered reasonable in Iain's Cartman-esque loathing of the hippy protesters.
Let's get one thing straight. I posted a link to Mike Raddie's WHOIS entry for his website. He chose to put his personal details on that and thereby chose to make them publicly available. You have a choice to keep your address hidden. He chose not to.
To make out that I have somehow outed him from anonymity is a joke.
Iain, nobody (as far as I'm aware) is making out that you have outed Mike Raddie from anonymity. But you have deliberately publicised personal information about him simply because you happen to disagree with his apparently legal protest.
This is a coward's tactic.
There appears to be a serious breach of trust with this Bozo and his employers who are paying him PUBLIC money and in such situations all bets are off.
At the very least the circumstances need to be investigated by his employers asap...As I say its public money and you Iain are quite right to take the course of action you have.
If the lefties dont like it....tough they`ll get over it
I can't help wondering if you'd be completely happy with your personal details being listed on blogs like this, as part of a politically-motivated attack.
I also can't help wondering why you are so venomously determined to do down the protesters - is this something personal?
DL, I haven't listed his personal details apart from where he works. He's listed his personal details on the registration for the website. He didn't have to.
People know where I work. My personal stuff is more or less an open book.
As to your last comment, I have explained why I don't think these protesters should be on Parl Sq.
What the hell do you mean by it being personal? Clearly it is with you.
Iain, this 'Mike' did not have to allow his personal details on Whois, but neither did you have to publicise them.
If you think this is perfectly fine, you should ask yourself whether a Newspaper would be similarly cavalier about publishing such personal details.
There may not be any ethical code for bloggers, but we should expect them to exercise judgement when pursuing individuals.
It wouldn't take much to edit your article to omit the link to the whois entry.
Amusing that an IT worker is proud, (" I'm very proud of the work put into them"), of a ineptly made little Wordpress website that would have taken about 10 minutes to bosh together.
You have to wonder if the Uni is better off with him playing Radical Hippy and not geboogering the network.
I'm not sure why this bloke should be required to pop along and answer allegations on a blog. If this were, you know, a newspaper or something, the writer would go to the trouble of finding out the facts first, rather than insinuating (or, in the case of the nuttier commenters, asserting) that he is in some way ripping off his employers.
How spiteful of you. Do you feel better now? What an ugly thing to do. Remember what goes around comes around.
Iain,
You've left yourself open to any Tom, Dick or Harry - but def not Calum - to trawl for publicly available info about you and then to make it known more widely.
Is it legal - yes!
Is it ethical - no!
Should it happen - definitely not!
But you have shown all of us your standards and others might to choose to work to these standards.
Don't complain if you're unhappy about what, if anything, is made public.
I do not agree with anyone doing this, I'm not encouraging anyone to do this, I would counsel against it but ... you've made your bed, Iain.
Let's hope it remains comfortable.
btw > libel/slander laws... worried?
A valuable lesson as to why you should never use your real identity when commenting on someone's blog, especially if the blogger is one who does not share your politics.
OhI love the smell of faux indignation in the morning.
To be fair, this "Mike" has not moaned about any intrusion on his privacy. For those poor souls who "Thought Iain might be one of the good guys " and are now weeping buckets in disappointment I say this:- if he's coy about who and what he is, then perhaps being camped out in the heart of one of the worlds most prominent cities, with a load of eye-catching banners might not be the most obvious of tactics.
These people are attempting to shut down our society. The fact that they are a long way from succeeding is not due to a lack of dedication on their part. To treat them as a minor irritant is a big mistake. Try asking the next octagenerian you meet how it was doing the washing by hand every week, (when it wasn't some cute lifestyle choice but a total necessity) and doing all those other little jobs made so easy by modern technology. Not so idyllic, huh. Those people in the camp want us back there and they will do it given the opportunity.
Little windmills like that shown in films of the camp - and, of course, like those which Huhne and Cameron have on their houses, would barely power your remote control for your telly. Very handy.
Ploughing the fields is a bitch of a job - if the greenies want to do it, I'll stand there and laugh at them. When they want to force me to do it, by removing the alternatives, then outing some berk on the internet is a very acceptable price.
Not even the British tabloid press would publicise this man's personal details in this way Iain. I didn't think it possible, but you've sunk lower than rags like the News of the World and the Sun. Congratulations.
Ahhhh...the fluffy bunny left...they really are exceptionally peeved about the exposure of this irksome oaf, aren't they.
Shall we make it a law:-
"Leftists should be able to exert enormous influence on society, with or without a democratic mandate, but should not be required to identify themselves so that their motives can be judged by those who suffer their influence."
Sound OK? Oh, hang on, forgot to add that a nice little earner, courtesy on anyone they deem of inferior intellect should be their birthright.
Look, most people agree that Haw is a pain and an imbecile and the current camp is an eyesore.
The issue is not about that - it's about how things are done. Removing by force without due legal process for example, something that I believe the right would normally condemn China for doing?
The blogging equivalent of that is for powerful people (like Iain Dale) to treat less powerful people (like this chap Mike) with at least some token respect, at least as far as his posting a perfectly reasonable contribution to the debate here goes. He wasn't rude to you Iain. He wasn't underhand and he wasn't malicious. To me (and many others here) it looks like that is exactly what you have been back.
You can call it personal if you want - but you are an important national blogger and what you say and do matters to us. Mean-minded, spiteful real-world attacks on a man for just posting his thoughts here pretty signally qualify as unBritish and, to my mind, unConservative.
I think you should apologise to him for the University contact thing and reproduce your apology here. Then we can move on.
I wonder if he setup those two websites for the peace camp using university computers and on university time?
My God, what a bunch of crying Jaysuses - boo hoo, big bad Iain crucifying 'ickle Mike who by the way put himself in the public spotlight. Grow up, Despairing Liberal, will ya?
Despairing Liberal,
Oh do please grow up. All this pathetic snivelling about 'powerful' people. How utterly crass. You start from the position that a blogger's views directly influence those of his/her readers. Any real evidence for cause/effect here?
Like everyone else, Iain is entitled to his views, he can pick up a phone and call anyone, and he can publish his comments on the Internet. Now, what's to stop you or the lunatic 'Mike' doing the same? If your site proves to be interesting, attract a number of regulars, and so on it might even get to be as popular (powerful?) as this one.
As always, you portray the realities in an entirely leftist perspective. This is not a war between the powerful and the weak. These nutters have exerted their 'power' by occupying Parliament Square to the detriment of the 'weak' general public - but that's perfectly acceptable to you, isn't it?
How do you suggest that Parliament Square be rapidly restored to its original condition?
As to 'underhand' and 'malicious', WTF are you on about? This is the Internet, not some gentleman's club, it's rough and tumble. 'Mike' didn't have to stick his head above the parapet, did he?
Once again we see the Leftist desire to control debate and the views of others by controlling language. It's childish and doomed.
My word, isn't it *amazing* the number of posters who have always enjoyed Ian's blog up until today. From the number of posts disagreeing with him on this subject it looks rather like an organised campaign against Mr. Dale.
I'm with Martin Wellbourne's comments all the way on this story.
I'm retired with a small *TAXED* private pension and I begrudge every single penny I pay possibly going to the likes of the Parliament Square Mike and his cohorts. Clear them out!
Who remembers Nightjack and what happens on the blogosphere when he was unmasked by the Times.
Is this much different?
All you have done is ask a legitimate question about a person seeking media attention for a political cause. And like any good journalist you have made a simple phone call to get an answer.
Was your query wrong/argument wrong? No, nothing malign in it at all. It was genuinely legitimate. And if Mike wanted a right of reply you would give it to him. The problem with your detractors is that as you are mostly always mild mannered and polite to your opponents, when you show some real passion and anger, they can't handle it.
Is there any reason to suppose that the chap has been taking unauthorised time off? Is there any reason at all to suppose that his time spent involved with this 'protest' has not been entirely his own? If not then this whole discussion is a bit daft, at best. But I suppose Iain can say that he helped the man prove his honesty.
Iain.
Now you know why you never became an MP even after 5 attempts at being selected. At least I only tried once (and unlike you, actually stood) and yet all my policies are currently being implemented
Litigious workshy wasters are a dime-a-dozen in the public setor.
Some people have suggested that student fees mean that universities are no longer funded by the taxpayer.
The University of East London is to receive £45,600,758 of taxpayers' money from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2010/11. This can be confirmed at www.hefce.ac.uk.
I always post to blogs in the evening and at weekends, using my own time and computer - why can this gentleman not do likewise?
"I always post to blogs in the evening and at weekends, using my own time and computer"
Of course if you don't then this is certainly the wrong place to admit it.
If Mike truly believes in what he says and is fulfilling his obligations to his employers, what's he got to worry about?
Nothing.
On the other hand, were it to be the case that he was playing the system or simply that UEL was a badly run institution wasting tax payers money, this should be exposed - not least for the hard working people who have lost and will lose jobs in the 'deficit reduction programme' and for those who have no choice but to rely on the state and for whom assistance is limited because there is not enough money to go round.
Whichever is the case, I bet there will be a lot less sympathy for him a year from now when the real austerity measures start to bite.
Iain.
Even neck-bearded basement-dwellers on their trolling internet forums would draw the line at what you have done.
Using the Whois service (which by the way is designed to allow the web users to contact the users of sites when their are technical and legal difficulties) to trace a contributor to your own blog, in order to contact his employers to get him sacked reaches a brand new low.
To make things worse, you are now playing dumb about the huge impropriety that was allowing this man's personal email address and his home address being published.
The Europeans and ICANN are investigating the privacy issues surrounding WHOIS precisely because of acts like the one you have committed.
You apparently don't see the responsibility that comes with your public platform. You discredit yourself and your blog.
Having been a follower of your blog for some years, and having generally enjoyed it, I'm surprised by your lack of judgement on this.
Well done Iain, it is a PITY that we need to rely on you to find out about this public service chaos.
How many more?
How many more?
My principal objection is the way that you have set out to destroy someone's career. You are playing God. Only God is allowed to f*** up someone's life as much as you want to. It is the antithesis of every value Christians hold dear.
Now, you may argue that Mike has already done a pretty good job by himself. This may be so. But even so, man!
I have seen this before. You laugh at the misfortune of others. You think what you are doing is terribly clever. You never have to look Mike in the eye, and tell him that you want him on the dole. The typical bully or internet troll.
But you go a step further. Not content to troll him online, you have to troll him in real life too. He came to you freely to explain his point of view. His views were,, frankly, laughable. Yet you decide that your righteous anger cannot be satiated until he is brought down, unemployed.
Tell me, Iain, if you had evidence that someone on state benefits spent the money on sex toys, would you reveal it on your blog?
You have misjudged the situation.
You have exposed a member of the public to harassment. And the law is pretty clear: you harass someone at your peril.
You claim it is satisfactory to victimise someone on grounds of their beliefs.
Let me tell you a story.
There was once a man called K. He had a paraplegic girlfriend. So for sexual intercourse he purchased silicone, substitute women. To fund this he used his welfare checks.
The internet found out. They made fun of him. They followed him, they abused him online. They contacted his brother, who told them that K's actions made him ill.
But they never contacted K's employer to tell them of his extra curricular activities.
Example two: a man called L started placing obituaries on an online memorial site. He claimed that a new Zealand sheep farmer had been molested to death by his own sheep. The site shut down two days later. The bereaved were distraught. Yet it was still not in the same
league as what Iain did.
In essence, if all the gutterfilth and mucklarkers on the internets would not stoop to your belowerings, you must be on notice.
His status, Iain, is none of your business. There was nothing to suggest anything untoward. Your personal attack on a private, unelected citizen is a disgrace. You've brought out the worst in your readers who make the same baseless assumption as yourself.
Time was i held you in high esteem but this is reprehensible. Its quite clear your attack is because the man has an opinion which differs from yours.
Hang your head in shame.
Mike, if you read this, best of luck to you. Don't let the nasty behaviour of the likes of Dale prevent you from holding a view and expressing it.
@Sancho - "All you have done is ask a legitimate question about a person seeking media attention for a political cause..."
Nope. Iain was clearly trying to get them to sack him.
@Unsworth - you seem to be saying that anything goes in the blog wars and that all are Fair Game for attacks - is that right? If so, does the same thing now apply to all contributors to blogs and to blog authors, eg, that if they show any signs of human weakness, those should be ruthlessly attacked? Because that is what this amounts to.
Be careful what you wish for.
Iain, there are several things you've done wrong here but as you've been lambasted for a lot of them I'll not bother regurgitating the comments. I'd rather give Mike the benefit of the doubt and assume he is on annual leave but then I'm obviously not as cynical as you quite yet.
However, I have to ask, are you sure Mike was listed as the Manager? I'm reading the UEL website and it lists him as Deputy Network & Desktop Systems Manager.
An opportunity for this glorified community college to save the taxpayer a few grand, if need be.
@Half the Story - "Who remembers Nightjack and what happens on the blogosphere when he was unmasked by the Times."
Yes and at the time Iain took a moral stand against the behaviour of the Times. Yet here he is engaged in exactly the same conduct. According to the Tory Right Headbangers here it's OK provided your victim works for the public sector.
Lady Finchley, you aren't real, are you. I feel sure your statements are bot-generated from a master list of "typical tabloid rants".
Please delete yourself and reboot.
The Nazis killed millions! Stalin enslaved a nation!!! The Americans obliterated a noble culture!!!!!!!!!
The Turks slaughtered the Armenians, in a cruel fashion!!!!!!
Ghengis Khan laid waste to entire cities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But NONE OF THIS compares to Iain Dale's outing of Saint Mike of Poplar Poly!!!!!!!!! For this the name of Dale shall live forever in infamy, along those of Mao, of Pol Pot, of Castro... (Oh, 'ang on, not them...)... of Hitler, of Pinochet, of da evil Thatcher.
Oh Dale, dark lord of the net of lies and fabrication, ye have sinned lower than ye lowest crawling, slimiest snake, let no punishment be sufficient, no ignominy excessive, no deprivation too depraved.
Can I be a shop steward? Councillor? Leader of THE PARTY?
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/05/change-culture-newspapers
@ James
What I am saying is that if you choose to enter this or any forum you'd better fully understand what you are doing. And it seems that you (and 'Mike') don't.
It also seems that you need some remedial reading lessons. Where exactly did I say what you suggest?
If people such as 'Mike' choose to impose their views on others - in whatever variety of ways - then they ought to be able to support and defend those views - and their methods of imparting those views.
Let's be quite clear. The Internet, in the West at least, is not a forum chaired and policed by some unknown arbitrators. It's a relatively free debating chamber - and long may it be so. You don't like how some people speak and what they say? Well that's too bad, ain't it?
As to your implied threat - 'Be careful what you wish for.' - grow up, child. If 'Mike' or anyone else publishes his/her personal information on the Web he/she's in no position at all to determine how that information is used and to whom it may be available.
One man's view, of course.
go on Iain. Print his name and address in next months total Politics
Am I living in a parallel universe? What is with all the lefty & liberal eejats spoiling the party? All Iain did was a spot of pretty damn basic investigative journalism...he picked up the phone & tried to speak to 'Mike'...Mike wasn't in...no one knew why or when he'd be back...like any journo worth his salt he delved just a little further...and now all these sanctimonious bores are throwing their toys out of the pram and stomping their ickle feets...didums...Mummy please pop the dummy back in it's gob and shut it up!
And IF Iain was as petty, nasty, vindictive etc etc as you guys make him out to be, he could very easily just choose to not publish any of your comments.
Please get over yourselves.
Talk about pot calling the kettle black! I hope that all of you have checked your contract of employment and your guidelines on internet usage. Because in every office I've ever worked in, using the internet or email for non-work reasons in work time has been considered misconduct. In fact, in one place I worked in (third sector) it was considered gross misconduct and an instantly sackable offence. Do check it out, because you never know, Iain could be looking each and every one of you up right now and reporting you to your employers... oh no, hang on, he'll only do it to those of you who work in the public sector.
Those of you gleefully rubbing your hands together at the thought of all this "fat trimming" (cutting jobs from the public sector); you forget this is real people, with real families to support, who are about to go onto the dole (where they will of course become the "benefit scroungers" so beloved of the Tories). Oh, and most people in the public sector (including myself; eight grand a year with a young child to support by the way, I'm a real person too, not just some "fat" to trim) that I know are cutting all spending down to a bare minimum because of the threat hanging over our heads. Sadly this will have a knock-on effect in local economies, especially in small to medium towns where the Council is often the largest employer. I appreciate that cuts are needed but I wish you lot wouldn't go on about it so gleefully as though it isn't going to impact lives and communities in a huge way.
You're snitching to this man's employer? Is that how debate works?
Just a quick reminder to all those desperately hurt / angry / offended people - Iain Dale, and every one of us who pays tax, is the employer of people who work in the public sector. The third sector usually seems to manage to snuffle up a massive amount of tax wonga, albeit in a more sneaky and underhand way. We have no choice about giving you people money. We CAN choose to totally disassociate ourselves from private companies if the activities - social or professional - of their employees displeases us. Indeed, if we dislike the colour they've painted their shop we can boycott them.
This basic fact legitimises the scrutiny of those people employed in the public and third sectors but not that of people working in the private sector.
Basic but profound.
How cruel that someone dumped a child on Rosemary Cottage and expected her to support it on £8,000 p.a.
If I were you dear, I'd take it round to the nearest orphanage as from your note it does not quite seem to be your responsibility, no?
p.s. I have to fill in "mingr" as word verification. Shum mishtake shurely - plenty mingers posting here already.
Rosemary Cottage wrote:
"in small to medium towns where the Council is often the largest employer"
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere! Start oiling the tumbrils! Get your knitting needles sharpened!
Half the Story said: "Who remembers Nightjack and what happens on the blogosphere when he was unmasked by the Times."
Mememe!
I too remember the same misplaced outrage over a blogger who willingly courted the media and merrily posted information that enabled him to be identified and then tried to get a court of law to prohibit ANYONE (inc bloggers) from naming him in order to cover up for HIS mistake.
Until further notice I'll assume Mike was on unpaid leave with the permission of his immediate superior but it is a legitimate enquiry given that Mike volunteered his employment status.
Until further notice I will also assume that if you want to pimp your websites but didn't anonymise your webhosting you must shoulder some of the blame if your contact details get published.
@ Rosemary Cottage
Would you please explain why and how your position is any different from those in the Private Sector? A multitude of Private Sector jobs has disappeared over the past decade. What happened then? Where was the outcry or support from Public Service workers over these losses?
For that matter, where is this 'glee'? I think that there are some who may feel that the Government of the past decade has been grossly unfair to those in the Private Sector - to the direct benefit of those in the Public Sector. It's quite possible that they see this exercise as a restoration of parity - a redressing of the balance. Certainly there is clear evidence that the Public Sector is grossly overstaffed by many in what amount to political jobs.
After all, the Public Sector is a net loss. We all pay for it, but it takes many Private Sector workers to pay for just one Public Sector employee's remuneration package - including pension etc.
This is yet another example of how "dissent" has been co-opted by the governmentstructure as a way of manufacturing lobbyists for ever more government interference & spending (& thus ever more people paid by government). Other examples are the numerous fakecharities, largely & or almost entirely funded by government (Terance Higgins Trust, WWF), or funded by the EU to lobby themselves (FoI) or by civil service organistations to beat people up while the police look the other way (UAF who attacked the BNP in Parliament square while the police did nothing) or to to lie to us & censor any mention of what is actually happening (state funded BBC & the Guardian & New Scientist whose advertising comes overwhelmingly from the state).
I would like to think the new government will crack down on this but not that hopeful.
Ed, James and Rosemary Cottage - boo hoo. Bleeding heart liberals like you make me sick. As for that joke university, oops I mean glorified polyechnic, I am sure they would applaud his idiocy, not sack him so dry your eyes.
You utter cock, you should be ashamed of yourself.
@Rosemary Cottage. I run my own business and do contract work, use my own internet time paid for by me. I commented on this person. Hence your "pot calling the kettle black" does not apply to me, as I use my own Interenet connection at a time when I take my break from my work. If this person was working for a private employer , he would be out by now. As for trimming, there is no fat in the private sector companies I know, but what I know about UEL, it is from personal knowledge, every department there is fattened to the full and that makes the employees to "wander off" for a few hours. As for academics there, the lectures are only 25% full , the rest the non-EU students who they recruited using agents in Asia, the students cease to attend lectures from November each other as they busily work in the take aways, and finally drop out. Many do not attend exams. This person a Networks and DeskTop Systems manager may have a light load after all, as the actual number of students is not what it is on paper. Cuts I am afraid is fact of life . Even in Cuba the socialist paradise, there are cuts but they do not call that. They use a flowery Spanish term!
I am baffled as to why you bothered to follow this up Iain. It is a mean-spirited, bitter and twisted thing to do.
A dirty little trick of which you should be entirely ashamed. Do you think there should be a dress code for protesters then?
This blog post will come back to haunt you when Tory\Lib Dem education spending policy crashes into Tory immigration policy and technology companies leave the UK because they can't find skilled people.
The tone reminds me of Osborne delightedly declaring cuts yesterday without a single word of regret. He's a liability. So are you.
Dear Rosemary
If they can afford to wile away day doing this then frankly I dont want to pay them for it.
I once managed a public sector organisation where because of their work staff did need internet access. We found that most of them used it responsibly. One did not - we found he was spending 6 hrs a day on-line browsing stiff about his hobbies. He stopped 'working' for a us a week later and we didn't notice the gap.
Perhaps he had dependents...I don't know. But I do know that he lost his job because he was stealing time from the Government and falsely claiming wages he didn't deserve. His problem, not mine.
Iain
Ignore all the nonsense here.
If he is doing this when he should be working and,as alleged in other posts, using resource that the public pay for for his own political and personal interests, that is a gross breach of trust and a theft of scarce resources that are intended to provide services to the public.
This is just another example of what goes on in the public sector.
Astonishing that a number of [people have had the chutzpah to come on here & tell Iain off for daring to question the propriety of somebody paid by the state not doing what they are officially paid for & instead going off to run political activity.
Iain did not object to him making a nuisance of himself in running this charade. He objected to him being paid to do so. The fact that so many others thing this is proper shows how deep the culture of state financing of pseudo-leftist state parasitism has rooted itself. We need to cut the size of governrment parasitism massively not just for economic reasons but for freedom's sake.
If he is truly doing this when he should be working then I think he's an idiot. However, I do know that I work in an open plan office fielding calls from customers and even there people can sometimes be heard saying "I'm sorry they're not here right now, I'm not sure where they are, no I'm afraid I don't know when they'll be back." to a customer about a fellow employee.
Also when we come in and someone isn't there we often ask where's so-and-so because we don't know if they're on annual leave, off sick, at a meeting, giving a presentation off site etc. Within a university department I would assume the same kind of thing could be possible. This is why simply phoning up and asking for Mike does not in my view prove anything, nor does it live up to the necessary proof I would like to believe goes into good investigative reporting. I don't think it does all the time but it's nice to think that the news is sometimes right ;oP
Iain is writing a blog not a newspaper article so I'll give him some leeway here. Still if I were to give out even one of those personal details during either my job or my work as a local borough councillor I would be pulled up for misconduct regarding data protection. He may have put the details out there but that doesn't mean you should point a big, red, flashing, arrow pointing straight at them from your blog.
I love they way people are "giving Iain Dale a bit of leeway", "allowing us to move on" etc. To those in question:- who the hell are you to make these allowances? I'll help out:- you're no-one. Got it. Nobodies with a leftish stance on life. So long as he's within the strictures of the law he can do what he likes - and even if he wasn't he would be due a properly constituted trial before ANYONE gets to say whether he does or doesn't need kind permission to move on, or a bit of leeway.
So, if you need someone to boss about, try your teddy bear. And if you want to keep secrets in this day and age, or any other really, you have to try a bit harder than Mike of The Stepney School of Sausage Studies. If he puts his details out there Iain Dale has a perfect right to highlight it in any way he chooses, so long as it's legal.
Just sayin'
Mikey Shotgun said...
Deeply, deeply unpleasant.
Seriously. That's really nasty, and completely unnecessary.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
@ the-mental-one
"Still if I were to give out even one of those personal details during either my job or my work as a local borough councillor I would be pulled up for misconduct regarding data protection."
Only if detected, and only if others chose to do anything about it. Let's see what happens in this case, eh?
Denny: "Couldn't have put it better myself"
Nobody is in the least bit surprised.
@Unsworth - yup, see what happens, could be fun, could be as boring as watching paint dry ;o)
@Martin Wellbourne - I take it you've never written anything but serious comment? No wonder your always so tedious :oP My giving leeway to anyone was not meant to be taken literally, after all I'm not in a boat. I could be, I know how to sail them, but alas I'm not right now. I am, in fact, sat at home feeling sorry for myself with a case of man flu turning into a chest infection.
What I was trying to allude to is that as a large part of this blog and the comments are people's opinions I don't believe that Iain is required to write to the same standards of an investigative reporter. The fact he (and his commentators) writes better (or more entertainingly) on his blog than some people who claim to be professional reporters for a national daily is a reason I come back and read this blog. I may not agree with what his opinions are a lot of the time but if everyone were the same it'd be a boring world.
It appears you are trying to portray that you care less than a gnat's whiskers about my opinion but by commenting on it you show just how much you do care. Awwww and you were my first ever respondent to something I wrote in a comment, that's so sweet *blows a kiss*
@Martin Wellbourne - and others - it isn't just to do with acting according to the strictures of the law. This is a blog that up to now has taken a strong line in defence of the liberties of bloggers and that includes people posting to blogs. How can people now feel confident to post their opinions here, if, in disagreeing (or who knows - perhaps even agreeing!) with Iain - they run the risk of being attacked in their personal lives by him. Not just a rebuttal but a full-on physical attack on, in this case, their employment.
I see that Iain Dale is trying to move on from this by posting lots of other stuff. I don't think some of your readers will be easily assuaged on this one.
Your stance as an independent political thinker/publisher is severely undermined by this kind of street-fighting Tory backstreet thuggery. Perhaps you did it because it plays well with some of your more knuckle-dragging readers but you lost part of the respect of myself and lots of others, not least by your failure to honestly respond to this critique.
@James. There's nothing quite so nauseating as the sytnthetc outpourings of the left wing "conscience". You've conceded that your objection is not legal, so that means it can only be moral. In which case the best thing you can do is (a) vote with your feet (we'll get over it) and (b) set up your own blog with your own censorship criteria. After all, there can't be that many left wing blogs which forbid dissent from leftist orthodoxy can there? Oh hang on....
@Cynic
"If he is doing this when he should be working"
As opposed to posting comments on a blog when he should be working?
Or perhaps you finish work before 4.50? Nice work if you can get it.
@Moriarty
"There's nothing quite so nauseating as the sytnthetc outpourings of the left wing "conscience".
There is. The oily gush of smug, right-wing arrogance. Thank you for negating the need to post an example.
@Moriarty - Dale doesn't seem to just act as a Tory blogger - if he was just another heavy-rightist like Guido, you would be correct. Instead, via Total Politics and numerous postings here and elsewhere, he has (up to now anyway) claime a more moderatist role, as a sort of right-leaning poltical commentator who discusses other views and extends himself into other political parties and debates. That's why you this blog has been worth participating in for non-rightists like myself. Up to now.
I can't take Total Politics seriously any more either, given what's going on here. I would urge anyone not in the Tory Hard Right to avoid it like the plague from now on.
I hope other pundits on those many programmes Iain Dale appears on posing as a Liberal-minded chap will raise his conduct over this to the public.
Iain Dale, you are a monstrous tit and have shown, once again, how badly you deal with dissent.
EPIC DALE
@ James
Well if you don't like it you should be able to work out what to do - all by yourself.
"street-fighting Tory backstreet thuggery"? So what about the behaviour, morals and scruples of such people as McBride, Brown, Campbell etc (and don't get me started on some of the LibDem cretins)? You think the attacks on David Kelly were warranted? Where were you then? How about 'bigoted'?
Absolutely useless comment, and a totally pathetic attempt to gain the moral high ground. Grow up. As I have said here before, this is the Internet, not some chi-chi girly club.
'Mike' stuck his/her head above the parapet. He/she and we should not be surprised if some people choose to investigate him and comment further. If 'Mike' didn't want his/her details to be known he/she should not have been so crass as to publish them. Why is that so incredibly difficult for you to understand?
Would you be happy to publish your personal details on the Net for the whole world to read and maybe use? Clearly you don't.
@ James
WTF do 'heavy-rightist', 'moderatist' and 'non-rightist' actually mean? What are all these 'ists'? You're being a bit of 'titist' with these meaningless pieces of undefined jargon. What's wrong with Plain English?
@Dazzla
I'm sure you are an example to us all.
Huffington Post not hiring at the moment?
Well done Dale. You have made yourself look vindictive and stupid.
It's very impressive you must admit. The tories who for years wept crocodile tears about civil liberties now within a week of taking power without even breaking stride want all the hippies strung up. Of course we always knew this would happen but even I'm surprised at how quick and how blatant it's been.
OK, Iain, it's now two days later. How about an update on the actual facts? Any further contact with/from the UEL or Mike?
So - what chance it's gone like this:- friendly word with Mike from a senior colleague. No black mark. No financial penalty. Just a quiet suggestion that it might be a good idea to keep his head down for a while.
Move along! Move along! Nothing to see here!
Martin Wellbourne is probably right in his latest comment: no disciplinary action at all for Mike the Protester whatever he has done. (I will be very pleased if someone can prove this wrong and tells me Mike has been punished in some real form. Dismissal would be nice if the circumstances warrant it.)
The protesting comments in support of Mike the Protester suggest there is a long, hard battle ahead when the *real* cuts eventually have to be imposed. I suspect the Thatcher/Scargill "battle" will look like a skirmish in comparison.
I do hope the Coalition has the stomach for the fight. Which Lib Dem will resign first?
I love how anybody who thinks Iain is being unreasonable is being characterised as a lefty.
Its utter nonsense.
@ Tom
"Its utter nonsense"
As is your comment.
As is your comment.
Do you see where this is going?
You can only laugh.
@ Tom.
If you were an employer would you be happy for one of your employees to use their work email address as a contact for their own, personal, website?
Are you happy for an employee, employed by the state, to use their work email as a contact for their own website, whatever the content of that website might be?
@ Mrs Rigby
Nail/head interface = 100%.
Just because it's 'public money' doesn't mean that it isn't fraud and/or theft.
But so many 'public servants' lose sight of the fact that they are our employees, and have duties and responsibilities to the public which preclude spending our money on themselves and their little ventures and entertainments.
These people are hardly in a position to complain about MPs 'expenses' if they themselves are at it. After all, it's just a question of scale and opportunity, isn't it?
Mr Lain
I think that Mike Raddie's systems are working fine, it is maybe you who needs to get on the same page and do your duty, this is people's lives we are talking about, thousands of them.
so please be, respectful, kind and supportive of Mike and his actions along with all the other UK citizens who are against the wars, well over 2 million people.
Maybe you could give him a hand to bring what he and many others are asking for, an end to the illegal wars, and the beginning of a true democracy with transpareny and accountability
What if just took a day off?
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