Where is Geoff?
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Where is Geoff?
I heard on the 'Today' programme this morning that Geoff Hoon is away skiing. Apparently the MOD official line is that he is out of the office but taking calls every day.
Bet that makes you feel better if you are up to your knees in sand!
Bet that makes you feel better if you are up to your knees in sand!
flygunz,
Geoff is an important servant of the public, who is most deserving of a holiday (in line with other MPs). You're making the common mistake of believing that being in receipt of c. £100K p.a means that when a crisis blows up at the office said valuable servant must return. I mean, really - you wouldn't want to deny him valuable time with his family by insisting that he respond instantly to a crisis and have to miss seeing them for a few days, would you? You'll be suggesting that he should be sent round the world at the drop of a hat next! I wonder if the SoS went skiing during the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the Falklands, or....
Nothing like leadership by example, is there?
Geoff is an important servant of the public, who is most deserving of a holiday (in line with other MPs). You're making the common mistake of believing that being in receipt of c. £100K p.a means that when a crisis blows up at the office said valuable servant must return. I mean, really - you wouldn't want to deny him valuable time with his family by insisting that he respond instantly to a crisis and have to miss seeing them for a few days, would you? You'll be suggesting that he should be sent round the world at the drop of a hat next!
I wonder if the SoS went skiing during the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the Falklands, or....Nothing like leadership by example, is there?
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since last year we (plural) haven't had a break, or been able to plan such a mythical thing as a holiday. Her indoors is getting proper grumpy ....
How do I get to be an MP again?? But as the good man from handbreak house said "if u don't like it pvr"
How do I get to be an MP again?? But as the good man from handbreak house said "if u don't like it pvr"
Of course it's outrageous....he ought to be presiding 24 hours a day at crucial meetings in a secret and dramatically lit Hollywood situation room 250ft below Whitehall. Just like John Nott did in ...er....missing the Falklands invasion....or should he perhaps be in Kuwait "taking personal command in the field"? Does anybody really think a Def Sec has any other role in the event of war than to stand in the corner and look like furniture, leaving the PJHQ staff, Defence Staff and other people who may sometimes know what they are doing to get on with it, and then taking the results of their deliberations to read out in cabinet? NO.
A defence secretary's task is simple; to achieve in peacetime the least damaging balance between getting all he can from the Treasury and making it angry by asking for too much, thus leading to total cuts. It is the classic concept of the Economic Problem - unlimited wants versus scarce resources. You can usually assume that the Forces will demand an infinite amount of money and that the Treasury will attempt to set a defence budget of zero...somewhere the demand and supply curves meet, but this is determined for the MoD not by price as in normal economics but by the relative political importance of the SoSD! I should think the CDS (Peace and blessings upon him! as Muslims say of Mohammed) can imagine few better things than the Defence Secretary's disappearance at this time of crisis - one less idiot cluttering up your head.
A defence secretary's task is simple; to achieve in peacetime the least damaging balance between getting all he can from the Treasury and making it angry by asking for too much, thus leading to total cuts. It is the classic concept of the Economic Problem - unlimited wants versus scarce resources. You can usually assume that the Forces will demand an infinite amount of money and that the Treasury will attempt to set a defence budget of zero...somewhere the demand and supply curves meet, but this is determined for the MoD not by price as in normal economics but by the relative political importance of the SoSD! I should think the CDS (Peace and blessings upon him! as Muslims say of Mohammed) can imagine few better things than the Defence Secretary's disappearance at this time of crisis - one less idiot cluttering up your head.
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The Beeb quotes him as saying (with respect to the opinion of the troops in the field) "I believe that they would understand the importance of all ministers... having some private life and having some private time with their children and with their families and that is all that I did."
I guess that's OK then.
I guess that's OK then.
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Chortle, chortle:
The Times February 25, 2003
Hoon finds troops in no mood for compromise
From Daniel McGrory in Camp Gibraltar, Kuwait
IF GEOFF HOON had hoped that yesterday’s flying trip to the Kuwaiti desert would spare him further mention of his skiing holiday, he was soon disappointed.
With a biting wind cutting across the camp, the Defence Secretary was asked by one group of Royal Marines if he had gone to the French Alps to acclimatise himself for the cold snap they were experiencing. He laughed nervously, hitched up his trousers and moved swiftly on.
The Times February 25, 2003
Hoon finds troops in no mood for compromise
From Daniel McGrory in Camp Gibraltar, Kuwait
IF GEOFF HOON had hoped that yesterday’s flying trip to the Kuwaiti desert would spare him further mention of his skiing holiday, he was soon disappointed.
With a biting wind cutting across the camp, the Defence Secretary was asked by one group of Royal Marines if he had gone to the French Alps to acclimatise himself for the cold snap they were experiencing. He laughed nervously, hitched up his trousers and moved swiftly on.
