08 April 2010

In Purdah

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Being a particular sort of civil servant, I am forbidden from blogging about anything that might be construed as politically partial and tending towards affecting the election result, for at least the next four weeks.

And I didn't have to pay a penny ... !
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Posted by at

6 comments:

the mother of this lot said...

Are you Sir Humphrey in disguise?

8 April 2010 at 21:14
Mike Cliffson said...

Punch c. 1930 (I'm old, but b4 my time)
had a series of poems for various types of civil servant
Each I believe titled:
"Song of a sub-man"

D.V.this is neither accurate nor apposite!

9 April 2010 at 11:37
Mike Cliffson said...

Sorry TTony, I couldn't help following up the memory.....
Again hoping neither apt nor apposite in your case!

what I was thinking of was the one abt diplomats particularly
from
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/7926-Patrick-Barrington-The-Diplomatic-Platypus
Actually, US being top nation 80 years on , I can't help thinking of Mrs Clinton, not that she's a civil servant.....

....../......
He never stated anything, for no one ever told him to,
And soon he was appointed, so correct was his behaviour,
Our Minister (without Portfolio) to Trans-Moravia.
My friend was loved and honoured from the Andes to Esthonia,
He soon achieved a pact between Peru and Patagonia,
He never vexed the Russians nor offended the Rumanians,
He pacified the Letts and yet appeased the Lithuanians,
Won approval from his masters down in Downing Street so wholly, O,
He was soon to be rewarded with the grant of a Portfolio.
When on the Anniversary of Greek Emancipation,
Alas! He laid an egg in the Bulgarian Legation.
This untoward occurrence caused unheard-of repercussions,
Giving rise to epidemics of sword-clanking in the Prussians.
The Poles began to threaten, and the Finns began to flap at him,
Directing all the blame for this unfortunate mishap at him;
While the Swedes withdrew entirely from the Anglo-Saxon dailies
The right of photographing the Aurora Borealis,
And, all efforts at rapprochement in the meantime proving barren,
The Japanese in self-defence annexed the Isle of Arran.
My platypus, once thought to be more cautious and more tentative
Than any other living diplomatic representative,
Was now a sort of warning to all diplomatic students
Of the risks attached to negligence, the perils of imprudence,
And, branded in the Honours List as 'Platypus, Dame Vera',
Retired, a lonely figure, to lay eggs in Bordighera.
by Patrick Barrington
1908-1990,

9 April 2010 at 12:05
Jonathan Marshall said...

Are you sure about this, ttony?

I am a (sort of) civil servant, and as I understand the Purdah rule it simply forbids us from making political statements in our official capacities as civil servants. Comments made as private individuals are not affected.

I might have got this horribly wrong, of course....

16 April 2010 at 23:51
Ttony said...

Rusticus, look here: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/354815/2010electionguidance.pdf

19 April 2010 at 18:43
Jonathan Marshall said...

Yes, I've seen that - all it proscribes is blogging "in a professional capacity".

I honestly think that comments made - wherever - as a private individual are not subject to "Purdah".

23 April 2010 at 22:31

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