There has been discussion of the state of things in Britain;

recently a gentleman there sent me some information, I'm just going to quote him:
Most of us have wondered if Govt employees are actually capable of organising a F**K up in a brothel. Looks like some British ones have been caught doing the next best thing...

A little background first.
Blair's hatred of all things rural is well known, his combined agriculture environment and whatever else department was set up during the foot & mouth outbreak in 2002. its acronym DEFRA is said to stand for Department For the Eradication of Rural Activity.

When Europe went from a system of production based agricultural support to one of area based payments for conservation, England set up a "Rural Payments Agency" within DEFRA. This was to have a fantastic computer system and was to calculate claims for the new, "much simpler" agricultural support.

Through most of the rest of Europe (probably all of Europe) claims had been submitted processed and payed by January or February. In England, many claims are still unpaid while banks, the tax man and all other creditors are still looking to have their bills paid on time.

You would think that there would be some sense of urgency?

Far from it:

There is a network of spotty faced young inspectors, making arbitary deductions from the payment(with no means of apeal or redress)for mud in field gateways and the like.

And in the Newcastle Upon Tyne office (A new office overlooking the river Tyne)in Northeast England, hidden cameras have caught the staff taking drugs, having sex accross the desks, jumping naked over filing cabinets, and the big pile of vomit in the corner of the office has never been cleaned up.

Meanwhile hidden microphones have recorded them passing derogetory remarks about the people whose payments they were supposed to be processing (echoes of Stalins comissioners who were charged with collectivising agriculture).

I think we all suspected this level of professionalism from our state employees, but it's nice to see them getting caught.

Like a lot of DMV offices on steroids, isn't it?

He also provided this link to a news story on the Newcastle Upon Tyne office.

Circling round the drain...