There's a really simple way to sort out our dysfunctional civil service, Keir – your latest gimmick is a waste of time

The Sun

a day ago

LABOUR is to make the civil service more 'working class' by offering internships only to those from 'lower socio-economic backgrounds'.
Their eligibility will be judged on what job their parents did when they were 14.
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Meaning that Sir Keir 'my father was a toolmaker' Starmer would make the cut.
But his Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whose parents were teachers and therefore classed as 'professionals', would not.
Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.
Look, I'm not against limiting the number of Tristams and Jemimas who find themselves interning at the Houses of Parliament because 'Daddy' knows some politician 'from his club'.
And the thought of some hand-picked, 'working class' realists rolling their eyes in despair behind the lectern every time the Government announces its latest, daft initiative is admittedly an appealing one.
But what does 'class' actually mean these days, and how is it judged?
Take me, for example. Born in 1962, my mum brought me up alone, I went to state school, and for several years we lived extremely happily with my godparents in their council house.
Mum worked as a stable girl, then became a secretary, and eventually trained as a teacher — a job she was doing when I was 14.
Which, according to the Social Mobility Commission that advises the Government on such matters, is a 'professional and managerial' occupation along with chief executive, doctor, journalist, engineer and nurse.
So, along with Ms Reeves, that rules me out too.
PM vows to drastically increase the numbers of channel migrants sent back to France
'Intermediate' occupations include driving instructor, IT engineer, shopkeeper and hotel manager, while 'working class' jobs are those such as cleaner, waiter and bricklayer.
It's all very prescriptive and, let's face it, old-fashioned.
Aside from a few Hyacinth 'Bouquets' in the suburbs, does anyone really care about class any more? And isn't this seeming Labour obsession with it just inverted snobbery?
Back in the day when I was in charge of a busy newspaper department, I always recruited the best person for the job, regardless of their background.
Pipe dream
I met some immensely stupid people who'd been to private school, and some immensely smart ones who hadn't. And vice versa.
Their education, class, religious beliefs, ethnicity, sexual preferences, eating habits, whatever, were irrelevant, and so too was whatever Mummy or Daddy did for a living. I looked for punctuality, enthusiasm, honesty, quick-thinking and a willingness to work hard.
And that's what the civil service should be looking for too.
Meanwhile, it's curious to learn that, despite its keenness to attract kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds, Labour's internships are still only being offered to undergraduates studying for a degree.
Which rules out those bright 'working-class' kids for whom university is but a pipe dream for fear of racking up huge student debt.
Such hard work
A FRIEND of mine who runs a small business frequently regales me with amusing stories about the entitled attitude of some of those applying for junior positions.
'I don't work on Fridays,' said one applying for a 'full-time' role, while another stressed she would need at least a two-hour lunch break every day to return home and check on her new puppy.
'Some of them act like they'd be doing me a favour by turning up at all for the job I'd be paying them to do,' she laughs.
I thought of this when I read this week that a 45-year-old asset manager on £330k a year took his employers to a tribunal after feeling 'shocked' and 'angry' at how small his £10k annual bonus was despite being 'almost entirely absent from work' while suffering from long Covid.
Apparently, he thought his bonus (on top of his salary) should have been around £100k.
For. Doing. Virtually. Nothing.
Thankfully, common sense prevailed and the judge ruled in his employer's favour.
But honestly, some people.
Kinnock tax on health a big turn-off
LABOUR'S former leader Lord Kinnock has called for the Government to slap VAT on private healthcare to help fund the NHS.
Hmmm. Except it probably wouldn't because, chances are, it would simply result in a significant number of people giving up private healthcare to rely on the already overstretched NHS instead.
Much like Labour's VAT raid on private schools which has forced many families to pull their children out and, instead, send them to the nearest good – and therefore oversubscribed – state school.
Following the closure of the private Bishop Challoner School in Bromley, South East London, last month, state alternatives in the county received around 100 enquiries in just 48 hours.
So it remains to be seen whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves – pictured this week at a holiday camp in Kent – takes the advice of Lord Kinnock, who has also suggested the introduction of a 'wealth tax' that, without doubt, would result in even more high-net-worth individuals departing these shores.
Little wonder that, when polls suggested (wrongly) back in 1992 that he might win the general election, The Sun ran the front page headline: 'If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.'
The public aren't stupid and Ms Reeves et al would be wise to remember that.
JOB TO TACKLE CRIME
'IF I left my job, these would be the number one reason,' says a police officer.
Is it lawless street thugs? The poor prosecution rates in courts? Or a lack of support from their superiors?
Nope. It's too much support in the groin area.
Namely the standard- issue cargo trousers that have been described by 69 per cent of officers as 'problematic'.
'They teach us all these good restraints and moves in public-safety training but I can't do half of them in these trousers,' says one officer.
The study, by Lancaster University Law School, says officers have complained of crushed testicles, cuts, blisters and swelling from the tight, chafing fabric. Ouch.
The Police Federation agrees, saying the restrictive uniforms are stopping officers from keeping their communities safe.
In other words, it's tough to tackle crooks when your tackle's crooked.
CHEERS TO OLD TIMERS
AFTER emerging damp and starving from the I'm A Celebrity jungle last year, I was keen to indulge in a late night out.
But post-8pm, the restaurants of Brisbane's Surfers Paradise were virtually deserted.
Like Americans, they eat early.
'You Brits are party animals,' one muscle-bound waiter told me disapprovingly when I ordered an Aperol Spritz at, er, 8.30pm.
Now it seems that restaurants in the UK are adapting to accommodate a growing trend for 6pm dining here too.
Richard Piper, of Alcohol Change UK, says: 'Younger diners especially are making choices that reflect physical and mental well-being but also financial health.
'Earlier dining helps avoid expensive late-night drinking. People want to socialise without the hangover.'
Great idea. So last week, a friend and I arranged to meet for dinner at 6pm.
Trouble is, we were still there at 9.30pm, having scoffed and quaffed far more than if we'd stuck to our usual 8pm meeting time.
Clearly, we're not cut out for this modern world.
LIFE IN CHECK
THE new grandmaster (shouldn't that be grandmistress?) of the Women's Chess World Cup is 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh from India.
Former chess coach RB Ramesh says: 'She was a confident girl from a very young age.
'She didn't have that negative side to her, the one that tends to create self-doubt. That inner chatter that wrecks things, fortunately, was missing in her.'
Maybe. Or perhaps, given that much of her spare time is spent practising chess moves, she isn't constantly on social media being fed impossible depictions of 'perfection' or hate-filled judgments from people who don't even know her.