Rightly or not, that's what the media do. But they should be so lucky!
We have Secretaries of State and Ministers with responsibilites for doing things. That's their jobs.
The Prime Minister's job is to chair Cabinet Meetings and hire and fire the above postholders. Other than at the General Election, why would he be held personally responsible for the performance of executive agencies and government departments?
Blimey, if he wasn't responsible for the public statement about Iraq's WMD's, I can't see the media nailing Our Tony for anything. He'll move along when he's good and ready, and not before.
Interestingly enough BBC News 24 are reporting that the US media has turned squarely against Bush. They even included a clip of Bush ingratiating Michael Brown for doing such a good job in the aftermath of the breaches of the New Orleans' levies.
"John Turner" wrote in news:dft6dg$vfa$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderg1.core.theplanet.net:
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Sorry John, wasn't suggesting that the above was what you were claiming, just pointing out one of the excuses coming out of N.O. at the moment. As for figures involved, who really knows yet, there are reports though of the authorities now using armed helicopters!
There is only one problem with the Centurion, it was designed expressly for road transport so that the constraints of the British loading gauge didn't hamper the tanks design in the way it had earlier vehicles.
There's clearly some real scum in New Orleans, as there is of course in most modern cities. The problem is heightened in the USA though in that the government allow them to have guns.
Granted that some Government departments didn't cover themselves in glory in the Foot and Mouth epidemic, but that might have been understandable if you take into account they were dealing with an industry which seemed to have abbrogated any responsibility for the control of contagious diseases.
I definitely remember a radio interview with a senior police representative from the South West during the epidemic when he stated that his overtime budget had been overspent. When asked how this happened, he stated that the main expenditure was providing officers during the night to stop illicit stock movements. And I think I remember a member of the military commenting at one point that they could have got on with the clearing up much quicker if they hadn't had to take time out to stop farmers making illicit stock movements.
And I also remember the last traces of F&M somewhere in the NW of England where outbreaks kept re-occuring up and down a river valley, and one could question if the farming community in that area were either incompetent at disease management or deliberately flouting the rules.
Members of the Government were easy Aunt Sallies during that epidemic, but I often felt that a lot of the adverse comment from the farming comminunity was a cover up for their own short-comings.
Absolutely, I had a friend who was working for Department for Food & Agriculture (or whatever it was called in those days) at the time of foot & mouth and they had all on trying to keep the farming industry in line with the strict quarantine rules. The impression I was given was the the farmers couldn't give a toss about foot & mouth providing they got their compensation and were not inconvenienced in any way.
I pass no judgement on many reports I heard that certain farmers deliberately ensured that foot & mouth got into their flocks simply to get compensation.
Five by five is an international radio term, it means I am receiving you at strength five (maximum) and your inteligability is five (also maximum) - In an earlier life I was a Radio Officer, this sort of thing relates to something called Q Codes, for example QSA 5 is I am receiving you strength five and QSD 5 is your signals are very clear, no distortion and the like, hence 5 by 5 = Q codes are part of the international code of signals, so people speaking different languages can communicate. At Liverpool Museum they used to sell the flag signals in the form of small enamel badges, I bought E X to wear to meetings at the office, E X is the international signal meaning 'My position is doubtful'
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