Many of the places I’ve worked in have had a tradition of a Friday Funny – an email sent round to get people in the mood for the weekend. In the spirit of openness, transparency, and all that, here is this Friday’s email to my fellow LibDems on the County Council:
You’ve all been very helpful getting me up to speed in how the Council operates. I now understand that each new Council selects the best Decision Makers from its ranks, and these form The Cabinet, who selflessly undertake the highly stressful task of making Decisions for us. This delegation of a stressful task is a very humane solution, given the advanced age of many members, and the need to avoid stress and consequent dangers of high blood pressure, heart failure, by-elections, etc.
I’ve also learned that members are given full warning of pending Decisions, so they can support the Cabinet through the offering of prayers, the ritual slaughter of goats, or whatever else is necessary to help them through this traumatic time. I have also seen that members are not allowed to vote in advance of Decisions, as misusing democracy like that would constitute unacceptable interference in the Decision making process. We are however told of the time and place of the meetings when the Decisions are made, and written records are kept and published for all to see, so we can fully appreciate the traumas being undergone by the Decision makers on our behalf. We are also formally notified of Decisions so we can if necessary “Call them in” to further admire the quality of the Decisions through Scrutiny.
So, you will see that in my five months I have learned something, and have been privileged to see the process working with regard to MRWS, the biggest Decision to be made in Cumbria for many a year.
However, I am now baffled by what happened this week with MRWS, where I read in the news that an Indecision had been made some time last week. How does this Indecision making process work? Do we receive notice of pending Indecisions? do we know who the Indecision Makers are? are minutes published of the meeting where Indecisions are made? can we call in an Indecision for Scrutiny?
In the case of MRWS, it strikes me that the making of an Indecision is as big a public concern as a Decision…
Have a good weekend
Those of you following the MRWS saga may detect a serious side to this, but let’s not spoil your weekend!
[...] Council’s Cabinet (who alone can make the decision) had one go at reaching a decision, and failed. It really could not be put off any [...]