The Death Of Civil Service Blogging
Civil Service blogging is dead. The Civil Serf blog has closed down, presumably either because her identity was discovered and it was the choice of the blog or the job, or she thought that her was likely to be discovered. Maybe the guess that she worked in Department for Work and Pensions was too close for comfort. But now, in a blatant knee-jerk reaction:
The Cabinet Office is drawing up guidelines for using blogs and social networking sites in response to an independent report last year called The Power of Information.
These are expected to cover how civil servants should respond when they feel inaccurate information has been posted, for instance, on social networking sites. (BBC)
And yet, apparently, this no “not a reaction” to Civil Serf. Yes, and I’m a one-legged, wheelchair-bound Lithuanian lesbian called George.
Despite the apparently benign reference to “guidance” and “guidelines”, this almost certainly translates to “written in stone” and “don’t you dare” behind closed doors. This “guidance” will almost certainly result in no other potential Civil Service blogger dare rear their head over the parapet and tell us, the people who pay their wages, exactly how the inner workings of government actually work - or rather, don’t work.
There is a big difference between a private business doing this and the Civil Service/government doing so. A private business earns their own money. They have profits and losses and reputations - and whilst they, too, employ marketing to persuade us to back them rather than their competitors, we can withdraw our money and support from them whenever we like, rather than just every four or five years when they choose to let us.
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I’d never has guessed that your name was George.
George is a great name for a dragon — though a bit confusing for the supporters when that other George was fighting the dragon. Calls of “Come on George!” might not have worked according to plan…
Meanwhile, I shall miss the Civil Serf. It was interesting to get a feel for what is now going on in the Services, from which I was made redundant in 1996. It seems to have changed hugely since my time, and it was useful to have an up to date fly-on-the-wall commentary.
Never mind: perhaps others will spring up, though they’d have to be very carefully presented in order not to give away who the writers were.
It might even work best as a team effort, covering different Ministries and ensuring that no one location could be pinned down by anyone trying to scupper their efforts.
If I were the Civil Serf, I might be tempted to wait until the heat is off, then contact any of her commenters who disclosed that they too were in the Civil Service, with the idea of suggesting forming such an alliance. PGP or similar “public key” encryption would be useful in this endeavour.
Whatever does happen, I believe that the concept of the Civil Serf is too good to stop for long.