Ramblings Warmly Received
I listened to some of the closing speeches at the TUC yesterday - one chap from the POA (Prison Officers Association) caught my attention.
He droned on for ages about the need for his downtrodden members to take determined strike action against their employer - without ever explaining why or what this would achieve.
Warming to his theme, he then said that the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King - should be thrown in jail for crimes against the economy - Mervyn King having addressed the TUC earlier in the week.
The thing is that this POA fruit loop was deadly serious - he was not making some subtle joke or trying to be funny - and his ramblings were warmly received.
No doubt the POA man was on paid release from his day job in the prison service - to share his crazy ideas on criminal justice with other union delegates - but is this a good use of public money?
He had no words of criticism - by the way - for the last Labour government and its role in the current economic mess, unsurprisingly.
What it does go to show is that much of the debate at the TUC conference - is completely inward looking, self-serving and partisan.
So it will be interesting to see how the unions now try to win support for their views - from a much wider, more sceptical public.
He droned on for ages about the need for his downtrodden members to take determined strike action against their employer - without ever explaining why or what this would achieve.
Warming to his theme, he then said that the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King - should be thrown in jail for crimes against the economy - Mervyn King having addressed the TUC earlier in the week.
The thing is that this POA fruit loop was deadly serious - he was not making some subtle joke or trying to be funny - and his ramblings were warmly received.
No doubt the POA man was on paid release from his day job in the prison service - to share his crazy ideas on criminal justice with other union delegates - but is this a good use of public money?
He had no words of criticism - by the way - for the last Labour government and its role in the current economic mess, unsurprisingly.
What it does go to show is that much of the debate at the TUC conference - is completely inward looking, self-serving and partisan.
So it will be interesting to see how the unions now try to win support for their views - from a much wider, more sceptical public.
