Another New Year approaches, and with it another set of New Year honours.
Normally the honours attract a degree of admiration and ridicule, depending on who has been awarded one and on the political perspective of those viewing the honours list.
However, this year marks a turning point in which the entire country has been royally taken the piss out of by the award of a Damehood to Lin Homer.
Homer's "career" (if it can be described as such) is a series of increasingly appalling car crashes of spectacular incompetence, as she climbs the slippery slope of civil service power and authority. Now, to add insult to injury, she has been awarded a Damehood for her work in HMRC.
This surely is an insult to every member of staff of HMRC and every taxpayer; ie it is an insult to the entire country.
Normally honours are awarded to those who have left office, to those who have done something useful or to those who are chums with the PM. However, as far as I can see, Homer is none of these.
Therefore I can only conclude that she was given the award for one (or a combination) of the following reasons:
1 Cameron is a closet republican, and wants to bring the system into such disrepute that it is abolished.
2 Cameron wants to take people's attention away from Crosby's honour.
3 Homer was about to leave, and the award is a bribe to keep her in office long enough so that she can be blamed when HMRC inevitably collapses.
4 Homer knows where the bodies are buried in HMRC, and it's a bribe to keep her quiet.
Whatever the reason, it's a fucking disgrace!
Thoughts and comments are very much appreciated.
Incidentally, a twitter chum of mine who is a journalist is seeking confirmation (for an article that he is penning) that Homer is on PAYE. I assume that she is, but please could someone confirm this?
Thanks.
Happy New Year!
Tax does have to be taxing.
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And let's not ignore the gong for Dorothy Brown as well. What the fuck is going on?
ReplyDeleteAnybody able to comment on what the reaction is like in HMRC offices today?
ReplyDeleteYou missed a fifth reason Ken, she knows who evaded tax in off-shore accounts, and other ways, many are Cameron's chums.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling in this office is one of utter disbelief. The article on the internal newsroommakes her sound like everything she touches turns to Gold, whereas we all see that everything she has ever done, SHE and no one else, turns it to shit. It also states (proudly) that she has improved staff engagement figures. The sooner the horrible cow pisses off to fuck something else up, the better. Unfortunately it will be a government related job, as no private industry would employ her with her appalling record.
ReplyDeleteStaff engagement? Staff in some offices were coached on answering questions FFS! This is nothing more than a reward for undertaking orders from the likes of Maude (Shit be upon him)to rip the guts out of the department. Dame Hatchet has a good ring to it.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt the next hatchet man will be rewarded for the upcoming assault on terms and conditions (again), as HM Government think us oiks at the coalface deserve bringing down to the level of the private sector, although it's funny how HMRC buried the Hay report. Utter wankers, the lot of them.
I wanted to write something relevant and inciteful but I don't understand anything anymore. I just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteBlimey, judging by the mainstream newspapers this sordid mess has not escaped the attention of many including MP's with a conscience.
ReplyDeleteJust stand clear of the door!
Not surprised at all. Is there any way of finding out - FOI? - who nominated her? Or does this honour come automatically with the job? If so, why? She has presided over an alarming fall in standards, although in her defence, acting under orders from above. It's only surpassed by Lynton Crosby's honour for services to the Conservative party - and Labour are no better. If she was further down the HMRC ladder, she would get an MI (must improve), not a DCB. No wonder disillusionment is rife. As for services to public finance, I'm not quite sure how squandering £100 million of public money on the West Coast Line fiasco squares with this. Perhaps Sir (a genuinely earned honour) Richard Branson might comment somewhere? Ordinary HMRC staff should start nominating each other for services to public finance and see how far they get - oh, better not, that would be seen as dissent. Disgusted.
ReplyDeleteAn utter disgrace and a slap in the face to all hmrc staff. Morale is rock bottom and any dissent lands you with a must improve yet if you're at the top you get a gong. What a shambles
ReplyDeleteI have spent today thinking of how I can write a balanced and composed comment in response to this news, it has been difficult but here goes. With nearly 26 years unblemished and loyal service to HMC&E / HMRC I have seen my fair share of questionable events over this time, nearly all of which have unsurprisingly happened during the course of the last 10 years. Narrowing it down further a vast majority of these have been under the non-leadership of the now Dame Lin Homer, how even writing that riles me to the point anger. Unfortunately I can only repeat what many, many others have written both in this forum and many more elsewhrere, how can the incompetence of one person over so long a period of time resulting in such high profile criticism be rewarded in this manner? Surely it makes a mockery of and brings into question the integrity of the honours system? Ultimately Dame Homer did not nominate herself and the decision to give this honour rests with others, now seeing the undeniable strength of public opinion I hope those responsible for bestowing this honour will realise that they have got it seriously wrong. I do not consider a personal tirade aimed at Dame Homer to be appropriate, however, I have now seen it all and call into question also the Civil Service values and standards that we as servants to the Government are expected to adhere to when clearly there are no standards. As a tax payer I am disgusted at this award, as a hard-working and loyal employee of HMRC I am embarrassed. How much longer can this go on?
ReplyDeleteWell put @ 21:53 i am at a total loss to make sense of this, remember its not just at HMRC, this woman has a catalogue of failures, Borders, Birmingham CC. She has spent her whole career bumbling from one job to another, so surely her damehood should be based on her whole career, and not on the glossed over statement given by HMRC spokesmen about improvements in this and that, which as we all know are blatant lies anyway. Even taking to account any improvements, they were not driven by her but by the hard work of HMRC employees who have had to work under the most unbearable conditions and try to clear up much of the sorry mess she has created. The woman is an opportunist clusterfuck that couldnt run a tap let along one of the biggest revenue collecting government departments in the country. She cant go quick enough as far as i am concereened and she can take that damehood and stick it up where the sun doesn't shine.
ReplyDeleteI agree in totality with your comment, however, Homer is not only in charge of the largest revenue collecting department in the UK but the world and has totally f**** it up!!
DeleteIt is now turning to palpable anger among staff in the HMRC....senior management don't give a fuck and it won't be that long before someone actually turns to violence agains t these cunts.
ReplyDeleteScrew them for everything you can...that is what they are doing to you....i do not give a fuck anymore...they have murdered a once proud department....bastards !!!
They have murdered TWO once proud Departments, gave birth to this one, and then murdered that. They are hopeless.
ReplyDeleteApologies,you are correct...two...it's a crying shame.....and still they celebrate it.
DeleteThe New Years Honour intranet announcement is nauseating !!
Wonder what the 'customers' think?
ReplyDeleteRemember...by focusing on pacesetter and pmrs you too could be nominated for a gong. This proves that actually doing anything useful is a waste of effort. Oh yes...and remember to toe the party line comrade and report any subversion you encounter. Hail Dame Homer. Hail Dame Homer.Hail Dame Homer.
ReplyDeleteAll Hail the Dame
DeleteThe shit remains the same
All Hail the Gomer
Whose name remains as Homer
Come kiss the curse of Lean
Gross waste is so unclean
Such things do come to pass
So kiss my fecking arse
Happy New Year
^^^ Well done....beautifully put....have this printed off,laminated,stuck on the sh..oops (wh)iteboard,pick up your £20 "simply thanks" voucher and spend it on a flat cap to doff at her Dameship.
DeleteHomer did for voting
ReplyDeleteWhat Titanic did for boatin'
When it came to the Rail
My goodness did she fail
Along came the Border
Twas not kept in order
The Revenue Brew
Got in such a stew
They made her a Dame
For being so Lame
They placed the onus
On her for her bonus
You couldnt have made this up
If Potcheen you were to sup
So listen thee well
We all have to tell
Of what has created such smell.
Anon 2016
Early April fools Cameron loves a laugh
ReplyDeleteDCB in this case must surely mean either "Don't Come Back" (after New Year) or "Do Considerably Better" - a special sort of must improve. After this latest debacle, I'm even more embarrassed to work for HMRC. Still it is the Festive Season, and my goodness she's the pantomime dame sans pareil. I've never thought much of our honours system but today I wish I had one - so that I could send it back by first class post.
ReplyDeleteThe departmental response was to trot out that well rehearsed lie that she oversaw £26 billion in additional revenue when in fact only 39% of that was cash, the rest future revenue benefit , losses prevented -as staff leave , which is what HMRC want , revenue declines and this is the cover up .Lin Homer remember followed Dave (Vodafone, Goldman Sachs etc ) Hartnett so not a difficult act to follow ! in terms of staff attitudes morale is non existant -this remember is the woman who remarked " i do earn rather a lot dont i ? " in response to a query on her 20k bonus .The trade union sold its members down the river by trading wage freezes to avoid job cuts which are coming with centralisation anyway -the only option if you have it is to give the organisation 2 fingers and leave which is what im doing
ReplyDeletePSA has been pathetic, cowtowing to EXCOM. I expect nothing less than a statement from the Union condemming Homers damehood now the Christmas / NY break is over. If they cant do a basic thing like that then i will be leaving the union. They have to start growing some balls and start fighting for their membership. Their web home page is primarily about getting the Direct Debits in, and the union political fund, fuck that, start tackling the issues that matter like a decent pay offer, fighting against the erosion of our pensions, the job cuts that are going to ensue with the reorganisation, PMR....all these have been given lip service by the PSA. Get your finger out your arse and start doing the job the membership handsomly pay their subs for. If you dont prepare for a mass exodus of your disillusioned membership.
ReplyDelete1) At least get the name of the union right: it's PCS.
Delete2) "i will be leaving the union". So who will fight for you then? Or do you think that the management will be so impressed with your fighting spirit that they'll start taking notice of you?
3) "They have to start growing some balls and start fighting for their membership." Agreed - but the union will only ever be as effective as the reps elected by the members. Better reps = better defence. Some of us have those better reps, but they're battling apathy.
4) "Their web home page is primarily about getting the Direct Debits in". Yes, because that is how the union is funded: remember that dear old Maudie ended 'check-off' last year?
5) "the union political fund, fuck that". The union needs a political fund to be able to "...start tackling the issues that matter...", because that fund provides the finance for any such campaigning (the political fund does *not* - and *would* not even if PCS was affiliated to it - provide money to any political party).
It's about time Serwotka started earning his 6 figured salary instead of spouting hot air and rhetoric. No comment from him regarding Homers Dame hood I note. Still on Christmas leave is he?
ReplyDeleteUnions are dead in the water...the Tories have seen to that.
Delete