CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

I don't know if this has appeared elsewhere in the blogosphere, but I see that there's been an outbreak of bullying over in Ayrshire:

A FORMER senior councillor is being investigated over claims he bullied staff by using capital letters in his e-mails.

Here's an example:

"This involves large sums of PUBLIC MONEY. We have a duty to guard this money and pursue and identify fraudsters AND recover ANY money gained by fraudulent means."

And then we have:

"We are I BELIEVE OBLIGED TO PROTECT PUBLIC MONEY. If no-one is to progress this I WILL BE FORCED TO CONTACT OUR PAYMASTERS WITHIN THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE, AND the DWP."

And:

"...this becomes a major fraud of over £100,000 of TAXPAYERS' MONEY, and I believe we are duty-bound to pursue the repayment of ALL of this money."

The now sadly ex-councillor believed that he was "effectively an employer" of the local bureaucrats.

If only!

As far as I'm concerned, his language was a bit on the modest side. The truth is that local and national government employees have absolutely no conception of being our servants, PUBLIC or otherwise. Eventually the worm will turn and CAPITAL LETTERS will be the least of the worries for the ranks of unemployable ex-bureaucrats.