Re: uk general election
On Wednesday 13 April 2005 04:37, geoffthur@ntlworld.com wrote:
>Dear Debs
>
>
>I'm hoping to stand in the uk general election, although I've left
> it a bit late and it might all fall through.
>
>Obviously, standing as an Independent I would have little chance of
>winning. I need policies, preferably stuff that nobody else is
> saying, but will strike people as making sense, and I need to
> believe in them.
>
>One thing that matters to me is the state of the internet - spam,
>cracking, organised crime and the like. Another is the way we
> allocate contracts for large computer projects here. Let me tell
> you about one such.
>
>The Child Support Agency was set up a while back to deal with
> absentee fathers. In theory, it collects money from them and gives
> it to the mother and child. In practice, this agency has added to
> the distress of single mothers by coming up with apparently
> randomly-generated support plans, some of which are way wide of the
> mark. Even when the money is taken from the father, it sometimes
> seems to end up in limbo, rather than getting to the mother. I
> believe this agency has cost something like five hundred million
> pounds to set up (I heard this figure quoted, but have not had time
> to check its accuracy yet), most of this on computer systems that
> are still ineffective. Apparently staff began entering wrong
> information just to get claims processed. Some files were deleted
> erroneously.
>
>This is just one of a string of failures in computer system
> provision in the uk. The free market approach is a failure here. I
> believe we should have an Agency for Computer System Provision, or
> some such thing, paid by the taxpayer. A smallish group of
> highly-skilled and well-paid programmers without businessmen
> creaming off much of the cash.
I'm in favor of a pool of talent scenario, where the talent can be
fitted to the job, and the job directive is clearly set in this
agencies regulations.
>So, what is the experience in other countries, please? Is this
> something that is a problem everywhere? Do other countries contract
> out on computer systems, or employ staff directly to implement
> them? What is working, and what isn't?
In my experience, (tv station, about 45 desktops & several servers)
I've always found that the most usefull computer systems have all
been configured and maintained in-house. In every case, farming it
out has led to systems so tightly locked down (to reduce the
contractors work time and resultant charges to maintain them) that
they were effectively useless to the more savvy user. That is not
productive use of any employees time in any situation.
>On the internet side, what can I get away with saying about
> Microsoft?
Almost anything thats still truthfull I'd say. And that leaves a very
wide field with lots of things to object too in the way M$ has
attempted to establish a monopoly, often with one size fits all
programs that in reality, don't fit any agency's needs all that well.
> What should they be told to do, and how can we make them
> do it? How far away are we from Linux systems for the less
> computer-literate user?
By competing with them at a level they must compete on or lose the
whole deal.
With the apps written in house according to the usage that agency
needs, being 'computer literate' at the user level isn't that much of
a requirement. The coder just needs to know to make it both user
friendly, and to gently reject the obviously out of bounds entries
inept operators may input.
> I know there are often threads on this sort
> of stuff here, but they tend to focus on how the individual should
> respond. Can countries do more in this area?
Certainly they can. There just needs to be a clear directive from the
electorate to do it. And that translates into educating the
electorate. Thats where you can get some serious traction I'd think.
>I'm sorry if anybody thinks I shouldn't be bringing this here, but I
>need help and expect some will be interested enough to comment. And
> I'm a few days behind in reading my emails because of my sudden
> decision to try to stand, so if there are relevent current threads
> on any of this, please be gentle with me.
>
>Cheers
>
>Geoff Thurman
--
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
99.34% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
message by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
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