Civil Servants Rarely Get The Blame

If you want to avoid the chop and being blamed for poor performance then it looks like working as a Civil Servant is the line of work to get into.

This should come as no suprise because as their alternative name Bureaucrat suggests they are the sort of person more interested in 'the process' rather than people.

This means that 'success' for them is a creating and managing systems rather than ensuring that the process delivers solutions for the users.

What you measure is what you get, what gets rewarded gets measured first.

Civil servants don't fear the sack because by their self invented, self referential measures they succeed in everything they do.

Who Is To Blame For Edlington Violence?

image credit The Sun

Nurture or nature? Nurture and Nature? Person or Situation? Where can the blame be placed for the appalling behaviour of the so called Devil Brothers?

The radio phone ins are full of people offering their explanations and advice, ranging from 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' to 'we need to understand their brains were influenced in the womb by bad vibes of their imminent home life'.

Let's be clear there is no singular cause for blame. Like a psychosis we are looking at a constellation of causes.

If we have to find a primary cause it must the lack of parental care and attention provided their mother and father.

Let's get her on television to explain herself.

Is Propofol To Blame For Michael Jackson's Death?

So will Dr Conrad Murray get the blame for Michael Jackson's death?

It's interesting how we seek a single definitive subject for blame. Life however is more complex than that.

It might well have been the administering of Propofol that caused cessation of breathing. But what can be blamed for Michael Jackson's untimely death is surely far more complicated.

Can we blame a surreal life as the result of hyper talent?

Can we blame untrustworthy advisors?

Can we blame the suppliers of his earlier presciptions?

Can we blame Michael Jackson himself for making some poor life choices?

Blame Hooligans For Carling Cup Riot

So West Ham and Millwall hooligans can take the blame for taking us back to the 1960s and 1970s.

Tonights Carling Cup match is like a time warp. The irrational behaviour written about by Richard Allen over 25 years ago:





Only explicable by some perverse inner logic, the rationalisation of this event will be tribal. It will involve blame. One tribe will blame the other for it 'kicking off'. Who could blame these types for not joining up and going to Afghanistan for some real 'aggro'. Now that would be much too dangerous wouldn't it!

Let's here it then. Who is to blame? See for yourself:
Football Violence

Toxic Waste Council Gets The Blame

image credit Mirror.co.uk


So Corby Council are at last found to be negligent over the cavalier dismantling of the Dark Satanic Steel Mills.

This landmark ruling means that Councils much show far greater foresight when it comes to major de-commissioning and reclamation projects. These people or at least the contractors they employ are meant to be 'the experts'

The residents of Corby, ordinary Mums and Dads can never be in a position to understand the biological risks, therefore they should always have been protected.

The rear guard action of the Council is typical of the bureaucratic mind-set. Obsessed with 'doing things right' (in this case they didn't!) rather than 'doing the right thing'

Their lack of moral leadership is reprehensible.

Don't Blame Me If You Break Your Leg Cheese Rolling!

image credit Daily Mail








It might cost you an arm and a leg if you enter into the annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Contest The UK Bank Holiday event is one of the Strange Customs whose earliest recorded event was in the the early 19th century.

There is serious risk of injury. 200 Competitors are taking part in this years event. If you are going to take part in the Cooper's Hill Cheese rolling event then Doctor Danger has these tips for minimising the risk of injury.

Read more:
Cooper Hill Cheese Rolling

Michael Martin Takes The Blame

image credit
Daily Mail












So The Speaker of the British House of Commons takes the blame and is the first Speaker in 300 years to get forced out.

I suppose someone had to take the blame, and, of course I'm sure there were errors of judgement. Its also clear he annoyed alot of powerful individuals too.

What I find really interesting is the human compulsion to blame. To single someone out to be the public sacrifice for the combined blameworthy activities of a greater numbers.

30 years Michael Martin has been in politics, 30 seconds to announce his resignation and 300 years since this last happened. Spooky. Well they say things come in threes.

Anthony John Docherty - Evil Inside

Let's hope that Anthony John Docherty is found guilty of his alleged animal cruelty charges.

The barbarity of the claims against him are staggering. It is likely that the psychiatric reports will judge him to be completely without empathy for other living things. Abducting, binding and decapitating cats? What is going off in this man's head?

Not only has he allegedly stolen cats, causing great anguish to their owners, he has bound tortured, maimed and killed them. Who is to say that this behaviour wouldn't escalate into something involving people?

Let's not try and understand...he should take the blame and we should just lock him up and throw away the key.

Will Hazel Blears Get Hung Out To Dry?

Labour has set the Blame Cycle to spin. Hazel Blears has blamed amateurish use of social media for contributing to Labours troubles and by inference blamed her Prime Minister.

Hazel Blears is indirectly being blamed by Harriet Harman for washing Labours dirty linen in public. What was Ms Blears thinking of? Every organisation is capable of making mistakes in communication, and she has just modelled what she dislikes, inappropriate and ill-judged communication! This can only mean one of two things. Utter naivite, which is rather disconcerting for a government minister, or skullduggery, for which she can only be blamed for adding to rather than taking away from Labours woes.

The thing with washing dirty linen is that once its done it needs hanging out to dry. Whilst Hazel Blears has said she hasn't pegged herself as a leadership contender and can't be blamed for simply 'telling it how it is'. She can be blamed for failing to distinguish between 'immanent' criticism which is done behind closed doors and 'public' criticism.

Hazel's career might just be on the line.

Swine Flu Goes Viral

image credit Ezvane













We've tried in vain(sic) to prevent the spread of Swine Flu
So what's to blame for it going viral as fast as Susan Boyle's You Tube?

This article claims that the cause of the disease was contaminated water in a pig farm in Veracruz. Some claim they knew of its occurence many days before the rest of got to hear about it!

From a local incident The Pig Has Flown. Its gone global. How ironic. The last thing you want in the 'hogosphere' is for something thing to become really popular. Time to turn all the tips and tricks of social networking on their head! The last thing you should do is connect with loads of friends. Whatever you do don't Twitter the disease by 'sneezing'it out to anybody you come into contact with.

My top tips for avoiding Swine Flu popularity are based on the 6 Principles of Science of Social Influenza.(thanks Bob)

1. Reciprocity. Just because someone shakes your hand or gives you a kiss don't give one back
2. Social Proof. Wear a mask just like everyone else
3. Liking. If you see a stranger coming towards you to give you a hug....run!!!!
4. Authority. If your boss says come to work. Don't
5. Commitment and Consistency. If you're ill then say so and go to doctors don't just brave it out thinking you have Man Flu
6. Sacrcity. If you've got it then stay away from everyone.

Who Was To Blame For The Hillsborough Disaster?

image credit Daily Mirror








I was there. I still have the ticket in my wallet. I was with work colleagues sitting in the Hillsoborough South Stand with the Liverpool Fans on my left and the Forest Fans on my right. I was there to support my home team Nottingham Forest.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is considering opening the files on the disaster, many aspects of which remain vivid in my mind 20 years on. Even now it is uncomfortable watching the TV replays of the disaster. Being reminded of the victims being laid out beneath us on advertising hordings used as make shift stretchers is a grim memory.

In a situation like the Hillsborough football disaster it is very tempting to seek one single cause for blame. The truth is that the combination of fast moving, chaotic events and the way in which they were interpreted were inextricable aspects of the tragedy.

20 years on, and as I claimed immediately as events unfolded, I still maintain the things were visibly amiss 10 minutes prior to 3 o'clock. From my vantage point in the South Stand I had a clear view of the other stands and the pitch. My recollection is that a palpable sense of concern was being shown by the Liverpool fans before kick off and some fans as they were trying to climb out of the 'pen' they were shall we say 'encouraged' to stay where they were by some police officers.

I am sure the police officers from their perpsective believed the fans were attempting a pitch invasion and to possibly 'rush' the Forest fans at what is now called the Hallam FM Kop.

I sincerely believe it was this mistake in 'sense-makng' that contributed to the mayhem. Had it been realised that a crush rather than an pitch invasion was taking place then I'm sure the officers on the ground would have let people escape.

Had a police management team been in the position I was sitting, they would have almost certainly noticed and sensed the build up of trouble that was happening before 3 o'clock. 20 years on seems along time to chase blame, and it seems that singling out individuals might give satisfaction, but it doesn't really give and explanation.

Complex events got out of control. Human beings made sense of these events in a way that didn't help. I'm not sure that if I was a police officer on the ground I would have reacted differently. If I was a senior police officer with a more commanding picture of events I might have. If I was a senior police officer managing a big public event I would have insisted on being in a position to monitor events from a position of overview.

Read More:
Wikipedia Article
How The Disaster Happened by the BBC

Who's To Blame?

Developments
Probe Demand June 2009
Fans March

Phil Spector Takes The Blame

Quite a spectorcal. Harvey Phillip Spector looks like he's going to spend some time in a place with sound walls making chained melodies.

Not that there was ever a behavioural pattern of course. Discharging a gun in a studio with John Lennon, putting a loaded pistol at Leonard Cohen's head and threatening him with a crossbow and making Dee Dee Ramone play bass guitar at gunpoint.

Not that saying "I think I killed somebody." was slip of the tongue either...

Sir Fred Goodwin A Story Of Vandalism

Take The Credit




Take The Pension



Take The Blame


Read More:
Fred Goodwin's Home Vandalised
Bankers Vandalise Economy
Goodwin Vandalises RBS

Fritzl Takes Blame

It is unlikely that Joseph Frtizl would have been able to accept the blame for his evil behaviour if it wasn't for the strength of his daughter.

His lack of empathy is now well documented. It is unlikely that he would ever have had the psychological capacity to confront his behaviour through self reflection. He claims he is sorry form the bottom of his heart. Sorry for what I wonder? being caught?

Eric Fromm provides a chilling insight into the mind of the Sadist. They do not physically destroy the 'other', they need the 'other' to survive in order that they can repeatedly perpetrate their skewed solution to the problem of living.

His children were merely a resource for him to utilise, and like all of his type once the 'resource' became human and took a stand he caved in. Using the blue file to save his face as a metaphor for the underground hell he had created, he skulked back into a place where he believed he couldn't be seen and held accountable.

Irreparable damage, a waste of human potential. He is to blame.

Robin Hood Not Good

Robin Hood is blamed for being a bad guy according to new research by Dr Julian Luxford

Documents discovered by Dr Luxford contain genuine evidence that Robin wasn't liked by the good at all. Booooooooooooooooooooo! With a bit of luck The Merry Man's new 'bad rep' might get the tourist industry going in Nottinghamshire. After all nice guys don't win!

Starbucks Trys To Blame UK For Troubles

Bitter Coffee boss Howard Schultz tried to blame the UK for Starbuck's retail woes.

I think the simplest thing to do is the give Schultz 'grounds' for complaint and boycott his stores.

Blaming customers is NOT a good idea Mr Schultz...

Read more:
Schultz has been stirring this issue for a while
World News View
Coffee Has Bean

Should Carol Thatcher Be Shredded For Using The 'G' Word?

TV celebrity, and ex-British PM's daughter Carol Thatcher has been blamed for making a 'racist' remark about a tennis player on the One Show

Now I can understand that the meaning of communciation is the way its received, and that care should be taken to avoid giving offence, but did she really need to leave her job in the show over this? What did the target of her private remark make of it all?

Have the 'Utterance Police' gone a phrase too far? As you can see from the Marmalade advert, which famously used the Golliwog as a brand icon for years, it refers to a childrens rag doll. Yes, it was correct to point out that unthinkingly it might be construed as a derogatory stereotype. Surely in today's multi-cultural, self assured Britain we are way beyond that? Perhaps we should remove GI Joe/Action Man and Barbie as crude stereotypes of the Aggressive Red Neck white man and the Bimbo Blonde? as well by that logic.

A sense of context and intent needs to be taken into account, otherwise we will imascualte the language and be 'on the blame' at every opportunity. Our language depends on metaphor for its richness and of course we need to be intelligent and sophistcated enough to recognise the misuse of metpahor too.

Do I have an axe to grind? (Sorry for being Axist) You bet!! I had Ginger hair when I was younger. Who came to my defence when 'Copper knob' was yelled at me? (Teachers included), how did I feel when the first thing someone said to me was 'Oh, you must have a fiery temper?' Am I scarred? Do I pick up on every 'Gingist' comment. Of course not. 9 times out of 10 it was harmless banter drawing attention to a noticeable characteristic, and I gave as good as a got. Now I know 'Gingers' aren't a 'race' but we are an identifiable sub-group due to a physical feature.

I remember as a lad being in a school play written by Johnny Speight called If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them I was a blind man who became mortified at the possibility he might be a black man. It is a morality play, set in a cemetary. A young man is branded "black" or inferior. The play portrays bigotry, hypocrisy, self-interest, fear and indifference.

The thing I took from this play was that even if we all became very very alike in phsyical appearance, there would still be something that represented a difference between us and something we would draw attention to. (too many eyebrow hairs?, wrong size knee caps?, ugly elbows?) The malice in Speights play is not the only way of remarking on difference, and humour and banter (if accepted by both parties) is surely something that glues us together, rather than drives us apart!

Here are some other blogger reactions to this episode:
A Western Heart
ancestral energies
Royal Shop Removes Golliwog Toys Feb 2009

Can You Blame The BBC for Gaza Stance?

image credit Populist America

Fellow human beings like the woman in this picture cannot be blamed for the events that have brought destruction, fear, and unhappiness into their lives. The same is true for the innocent Israeli citizens. Both are caught up in the power plays of others.

The BBC claims to be 'impartial' by not publicising the Gaza relief charity. This cannot be the case as clearly a political judgement has been made that monies raised will find there way to terrorists. Whether or not this might happen, broadcasting a request for help should be the primary responsibility of the BBC NOT making political assessments.

In the interests of impartiality surely a similar request on behalf of Israeli victims could be broadcast too?.

The BBC can take the blame for hindering the humanitarian relief of ordinary Palestinians. It should also stick its to 'day job' of investigating and reporting any misdirection of funds and supplies to terrorists when they happen rather than taking a political stance on the affairs it reports.

BBC Resisting Gaza Aid Appeal

Boy George Really Did Want To Hurt Him

Boy George has got the blame for gratuitous violence and has been sentenced to 15 months for handcuffing and detaining Audun Carlsen.

Naturally its a brave man that tells Big Boy George that he's 'going down' mind you its what he might have expected given the prophetic lyrics...

Give me time
To realise my crime

Now 'he's a man, with a conviction'

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
He can't come and go
He can't come and go

May 2009 Boy George Released Early
Boy George Released Now he can come and go, come and go...

Crime Victims Blamed By The System

The report that says Victims of Crime Not Put First is clear evidence that some of our public services are manned by people who operate from some dubious philosophical assumptions.

The obsessive fixation with 'seeing things from everyone's point of view' has led the Probation service to be staffed by people lacking a true grasp of the reality of the impact of crime and the systemic solutions that are needed to deter criminals.

It is clear that the incumbents lack even the most rudimentary understanding of Social Influence. Criminals DO need to where attention grabbing jackets because it will tackle their self esteem and identity. They will not become targets but will be deterred in future from undertaking activities that undermine their ego. Further more if they 'feel' they might be targets it might give them some sense of the emotional distress they have caused others. These people are not 'intelligentsia' who can be persuaded with logical argument. They act on emotion and that is where hey should be tackled.

These people will only be influenced by a WIIFM approach not some post modernist clap trap that values their point of view as much as their victims