The Idiots

It's all very well and good to get stuck in to some serious thinking about current affairs  but where would we be without a bit of comedy? Thankfully the newspapers do provide us with a little every now and then. Today's gem has been provided by the South Wales Echo who cheered me up with this little beauty. 

CARDIFF council has cut the number of road sweeper vehicles operating through- out the city by more than a third. It recently made the cuts to its street cleaning department, reducing the number of road sweepers from 24 to 15 and cutting the number of fly-tipping vans in half to two. The reductions have led to route lengths for street sweepers being increased. Councillor for Trowbridge Ralph Cook said he first noticed the changes when he saw a road sweeper travelling down a road without appearing to sweep. When Coun Cook asked the driver why he was not sweeping, he said he had been told to skip roads that appeared clean if he was running short of time. Coun Cook said: “I asked him why this was the case and he said ‘we’ve had our routes doubled’. He showed me the route and there was no way he could do that route in the time allowed. “As a result of the reduction (in road sweepers), while they’re trying to keep the city centre up to scratch, they were having to reduce the efficiency in the suburbs. “We have a situation where drivers had their routes doubled, they’re under a lot of stress, they’re having to make judgements. What a person under pressure views as clean enough may not match other people’s view. I think it’s a recipe for increasing problems.”

 

I would have thought that skipping roads that appeared clean was a sensible policy to save some money in these austier times, however clearly Coun Cook disagrees. Clearly the cut throat world of private enterprise and the long arduous hours put in my nurses and policemen, does not compare to driving, what is essentially a large ride on lawnmower, around your local area.

 

To complete my enjoyment of this piece, a local council spokeswoman was asked to comment on this scandal and said:

 

"A new programme of street cleansing has been introduced deploying cleansing teams to cover a specific area each day"

 

Is it me? or does the idea of your local authority deploying cleansing teams conjure Orwellian nightmares for you too? 

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