Part 6:
A Burmese blogger has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon of the military leader Than Shwe.
Assistant to the Chief Executive and Clerk
The salary range is £25,000 to £32,100 (Band D)
*Please note that recruitment will be at the minimum of the range.
Primarily to support the Chief Executive in her functions and to act as first point of contact in relation to all aspects of her duties, working with Directorates to organise briefing and resolve issues as appropriate, to manage the interface with Assembly Members, external stakeholders and staff. To provide secretariat support to the Assembly Commission on all aspects of its work, and to manage the work and diary of the Deputy Presiding Officer as required.
The successful applicant will be a part of the Corporate Unit and work most closely with:
The Chief Executive, Head of Corporate Unit and Deputy Presiding Officer.
Members of the Presiding Office Team
Directors, Service Heads and managers from across the organisation
Please quote reference number AC/028/08
Closing date: November 14 2008
So sure that this job will go to an insider that I will give up blogging if it doesn't.
The Welsh Assembly Goverment and National Assembly, promoting from within since the dawn of devolution.
[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging break]
Two reports have concluded that no individual member of staff was to blame for last year's child benefit data loss.
Reports by the Independent Police Complaints Commission on the original data loss, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (the 'Poynter' review) on the wider question of data protection, revealed systematic and institutionalised failings within the HMRC department.
The Poynter review identified low morale in HMRC; said there needs to be a better focus on engaging with staff; and recommended HMRC should consider redeploying staff to improve services and increase tax yield rather than continuing with job cuts.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling announced at the time that £155m will be needed over three years to implement the Poynter recommendations. But, unfortunately, no new money is being provided by the Treasury.
Government data loss
[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging break]
Industrial action has been the talk for some time and civil servant members of the PCS union voted by a majority to take industrial action to defend pay. Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS union has this to say:
For years we have heard ministers and business leaders urging us to be restrained over pay claims. We were told that low pay rises are the key to low inflation and a stable economy. But now we have rising inflation, rising unemployment and a serious economic crisis.
Surprise, surprise, the Chancellor's answer is still pay restraint, or more accurately, pay cuts. Sir Gus O'Donnell, head of the civil service, and the permanent secretaries, tell us that there is no money for fair pay rises because of the current problems in the economy.
What angers me about this argument is how one-sided it is. In the first place, it clearly doesn't apply to the five figure bonuses* some senior civil servants have received.
In a one-liner, "Gossip mag Opik loses presidential bid".
A Malaysian court has ordered the release of a prominent government critic free from detention on grounds that his arrest under a colonial-era security law was unlawful, local media and his lawyer have said.
Raja Petra Kamarudin, a high-profile political blogger, was detained in September for allegedly stoking racial tensions by publishing articles that the government said insulted Islam, inflamed racial tensions and tarnished the country's leadership.
But the high court in the state of Selangor ruled on Friday that the Malaysian home minister had acted beyond his powers in having the blogger arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Raja Petra's lawyer, said.
He quoted Judge Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad as saying that the grounds given for Raja Petra's detention were insufficient and that his arrest under the ISA was unlawful.
"It's a historic ruling and definitely a wonderful step in terms of civil liberties in Malaysia," the lawyer said.
Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer stinging anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or closely linked to them.
According to government estimates, there are more than 700 Malaysians who blog on social and political issues.
[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging break]
With the combined excitement of Bonfire Night and a sweeping change in American politics, we seem to have forgotten the probable done deal by-election in Scotland - Voters are going to the polls in Glenrothes to choose a new MP.
Labour is defending a majority of 10,664 in the Fife constituency which was made vacant by the death of John MacDougall in August.
The polls opened at 0700 GMT and will close at 2200 GMT. The result should be known by the early hours of Friday.
The turnout at the last election in 2005 was 56.1%. The seat borders Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.
Candidates:
Update (10:04 November, 7 2008):
Labour has won the Glenrothes by-election, comfortably holding off a challenge from the SNP. Lindsay Roy was elected the new MP with a majority of 6,737 over the SNP's Peter Grant, although the Nationalists increased their vote by almost 4,500.
"This is a substantial setback for Alex Salmond", Brian Taylor BBC Scotland political editor
No blog posts are guaranteed to be expected today from Mr Fawkes as he's been up to his old tricks again.
Not a safe time of the year to be walking through Westminster and its always good to have a day off after your anniversary.
At the risk of upsetting the sensitive souls of those in power [in Wales anyway], I wondered what I could do next. Shall I talk further about a well-known catchphrase of all talk and little action or failures that have left Wales firms 'poor cousins'? The economy in crisis seems to be a popular topic for the foreseeable future and has been for some time. Not today.
Standing up for a blogging brother. This will do for now.
Following the original article in the Western Mail by Martin Shipton, 9th July 2008 there clearly has a lot more mileage to go in the story of Christopher Glamorganshire, with the latest from the real journalists being that of the BBC, Political Editor Betsan Powys on 18th September 2008.
Betsan clearly has the insider's view looking at the detail of information provided, but we still haven't heard from the Glamorganshire blogger despite numerous attempts from the media to get a message to him. Both Matt Wardman and I have been contacted over the last few months to see if we can get a message across [mediums in the blogging world], and I can only imagine that other bloggers have also been contacted this way. We both are unsure as to whether we are doing this former blogger the power of good by documenting his case in this way, nevertheless we support you, and the best of luck to you Christopher.
My sources in the Welsh power-hub tell me that the tribunal is set for January 2009 [not confirmed].
The following is a list of blog posts to date that cover discussion [those I can find] on the "neutral" blogger that was sacked by the Welsh Assembly Government:
Team Supports (North Wales) - Ref:1083092
Team Band £15,500 - £19,000
Division: DE&T, CISD, DCELLS, Rural Affairs & Heritage
North Wales various - Majority will be relocating to Llandudno Junction 2010
Actual starting salary : £15,500
Work Pattern:
Applications from candidates who wish to work full-time, part-time or on a job-share basis will be considered.
Purpose of post:
Individuals recruited will have a flexible approach and a willingness to contribute to the business of the Welsh Assembly Government. The postholder will provide administrative support to the team. This may include dealing with clients, liaising with partner organisations and professional advisors, and carrying out the administrative functions such as maintaining databases, managing enquiries, producing reports and raising the required Purchase Orders and processing invoices. The Welsh Assembly Government values diversity highly within the workplace and welcomes applications from individuals of all genders, ages, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, disabilities, faiths and religions so that it can be more representative of the people whom it serves. The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to the employment of disabled people and is fully committed to the ‘positive about disabled people’ two-tick scheme it employs. Applications from Welsh speakers and under-represented groups are particularly encouraged.
Key tasks:
The key tasks will depend on the post to which the successful candidate will eventually be appointed. Jobs could be available in any of our North Wales offices based in and around St Asaph Business Park, Colwyn Bay or Caernarfon initially with the post and postholder required to relocate to the new Llandudno Junction Office in 2010. Most team supports working in the Welsh Assembly Government undertake the following tasks: Undertake general administrative activities such as drafting emails; letters; filing etc; Use a variety of Microsoft Office packages such as Word, Outlook and Excel; Respond and offer solutions to customer queries quickly and effectively; Undertake projects as delegated by their line manager; Arrange meetings and undertake the role of minute taker;
Don't rush to apply as the deadline was 31 October 2008. The jobs were previously advertised here.
Pippa Wagstaff is taking a short break to deal with a family issue. Posts have been drafted and will be published at set intervals until she returns.
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