The Voice of Reason

Despite the fact that negotiations with the Government are still going nowhere, the civil service union has voted to join teachers in a strike on the thirtieth of this month, resulting in such disruption to the Minister for Administrative Ministeriality, Francis Maude, that he appears to have become a convert to the cause of proportional representation. The turnout for the strike ballot was just over thirty per cent, sixty-one per cent of whom voted in favour of strikes, and eighty-three and a half per cent of whom voted in favour of other industrial action. "What today's ballot result shows is that, among PCS members, there is extremely limited support for the kind of strike action their leaders want," gibbered Maude, whose party has a mandate to govern because it failed to win the last general election under its own preferred system. "There was a very low turnout for this ballot, and less than 20% of their members are supporting this unnecessary industrial action," gibbered Maude; well, if the Conservatives start gaining thumping majorities on New Labour-sized turnouts once Nick Clegg helps Daveybloke's little gerrymander thingy through Parliament, no doubt Francis Maude will be a prominent voice of dissent. "Public sector pensions will remain among the very best, providing a guaranteed pension level for all employees," gibbered Maude. "Today, very few private sector employers still offer guaranteed pension levels", perhaps for the same reason that boardroom bonuses are so low these days.

I wonder when Daveybloke will attempt his first reshuffle. With Hague, Fox and Gove off playing with the fairies; Osborne, Pickles and Clegg radioactive; Clarke, Huhne and May embarrassed; Spelman, Hunt and Lansley better nailed under the floorboards; Cable one of the walking dead; and Maude one of the barking mad, the Government is rapidly running out of presentational resources. Since neither of them seems to have much to do at the moment, perhaps one of the Milibands would be willing to oblige.