Members will have received details emailed to them of the Q & A on this coming Friday 5th November and for those who missed the AGM, here it is:-
Jim Barton addressed this year’s AGM in Newcastle on the reform programme, having stepped in for Jo Farrer at the last minute. Unfortunately due to time constraints we were not able to take all the questions members wanted to ask for him. However, Jim has kindly offered to run a Q & A session with all Napo members on 5th November 2021 between 2.30pm and 3.30pm. This will be an open Teams meeting rather than a live event to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak should they wish to. The session will be chaired by Napo’s National Chair Katie Lomas. Questions can be submitted via the chat or verbally if you raise your hand.
If Napo can't even be bothered to spell Jo Farrar's name correctly its no wonder she wasn't inspired to attend.
ReplyDeleteObviously written by the press officer who when not MIA when something is happening generally writes with a lack of due care and attention and is slap dash when it comes to detail whether on Twitter or when putting together a routine bit of blurb such as this. If it was a volunteer then I would be less critical but managing Napo's PR and Comms is her full time paid job. They should all be on short fixed term contracts or performance related pay. Members expect a high quality professional job but apparently the employers are happy with poor performance. A first year media student could do better.
DeleteIndeed a very sad reflection on Napo and their clear failing to uphold standards. Not surprising when you see how they have run down under the current comic leader. I watched his speech and was fed immediately with the padding filling and crap. From his hair to proud to be here nonsense so out of touch. Is there any other out there with a prospect of talent or we could stuck with clown another 5 years hope forbids.
DeleteBoring. Perhaps Jim could have a rule for comments where anyone having a bash at the Probation Union has to first post their track record of actually doing anything positive to preserve the profession and protect and promote the interests of workers
DeleteThis is the problem with probation staff. More concerned about a spelling error than the matter at hand.
DeleteHere’s a few reality checks;
Jim Barton is to answer questions - this is a good thing.
Jo Farrar / Farrer wasn’t attending no matter how her name was spelled.
For a union with a pathetic amount of members and zero clout with employers, the press officer does okay.
Probation staff need to quit the holier-than-thou attitude. It’s really not respected as a profession.
2114 has no idea what unprofessional and poorly led looks like when Napo was once an incredibly respected voice when the employers actually did not cross the line. Napo had standing pro staff were respected. All staff understood their career paths. It is a dog's breakfast now partly decline in revenue cost increases but the complete collapse of credibility is with the mouse in the big chair. Look at that record before you squawk about others . Keep in mind if you dig you won't like what you see unless your a loyal adjutant. O020 has summed it up although it would help if the pr officer was not so clumsy it will be text speak next and emojis. :)
Delete2114 does have an idea, 2114 has been there for the duration. Just as Napo cant in reality take credit for the renationalisation of Probation so the blame cant be laid entirely at the door of Napo for its weakened postion. I reserve my point which is basically, if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem, and banging on about the halcyon days is not part of the solution
DeleteYou make no reservation, than to endorse the decline in capacity capabilities and competance of Napo. The facts are Napo was capable had huge membership involvement giving a greater professional capacity to argue and the network was full of highly competent and professional staff. They did take care of the work and gate kept professional reports for errors and supportive discussion. These people did a great job supporting Napo and Napo standards were high and colleagues were respectful to members. If you haven't experienced it then you have worst experience it can get today. Get rid of the same old best friend eg treasurer example and other helped in candidates for the umpteenth time. Then let us rebuild Napo.
Deletehttps://bigissue.com/news/housing/25000-section-21-eviction-claims-have-been-made-since-theresa-may-vowed-to-scrap-them/
ReplyDeleteAnd posting that here is really going to make a difference.
DeletePeople get evicted. Fact of life.
Nice to see the return of the compassionate posting crew. I've missed their cutting wit, their oh-so-simple pragmatism & their it-is-what-it-is, fuck-you-if-you-can't-cut-it, in-to-win-or-choose-to-lose philosophy. Sweet music to the selective hearing of the duplicitous Boris & Tory chums.
ReplyDeleteNAPO was formed in 1912. Probation was very different then. It did however have a very defined identity.
ReplyDeletePeople who join the probation service today join for a variety of different reasons. They hold a vast array of different opinions of what the job should be about, what it's there for.
I'm just wondering if it's a fair observation to think that NAPO might no longer be able to represent all of the workforce all of the time because of those different and opposing opinions?
It must be like trying to look after a large family where everyone wants a different meal at tea time?
'Getafix
Napo cannot represent because it’s weak. I remember a stronger Napo in the past. Nowadays the employers take no notice.
DeleteToo many leaks in Napo many of colleagues speak and know of a different and real truth it has been irreversibly corrupted until all the top are changed for some members who don't fall into the collusion.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the video . Jim Barton would not be any use in programmes he spent ten minutes telling us he had only been given 4 minutes. That in itself is daft what could he have said of value in that time. What he did say was disingenuous he was the fixer for the split. The shit on colleagues rip off on redundancy terms and has Napo general secretary in his pocket. His appearance and Napo sucking up does nothing for us.
ReplyDeleteJim Barton did what he was asked to do. The failure is on Napo who failed to utilise his presence effectively.
Delete“Julian Knight MP has called on the board of Yorkshire County Cricket Club to resign after a leaked report emerged apparently containing details of the investigation into the treatment of Azeem Rafiq.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59137092
ReplyDeleteWhich MPs spoke up over these reports?
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/inspections/race-equality-in-probation/
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2021/10/black-and-mixed-heritage-boys-receiving-poor-support-from-youth-offending-services/
Agents will have received details emailed to them of the Q & A for this Open Teams event. Please note:
ReplyDeleteJim Barton, Special Agent, will take the stage & announce that any thoughts or considerations of corrupt activities by anyone & everyone involved in probation [or, indeed, the government as a whole] over the last ten years have been expunged.
The Excellent Leaders will remain in situ.
No questions about previous malicious allegations of 'wrong-doing' will be entertained.
During the event Agents will be subject to close scrutiny by the Excellent Leaders & may be terminated if it is felt they pose a threat to the security of the mission.
All Agents have been suitably remunerated for the purpose of carrying out their roles. Any dissent will result in termination.
Please stand for The Devil's Gallop...
https://www-independent-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/terror-attack-report-uk-fishmongers-hall-b1950536.html?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16360180679142&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk%2Fhome-news%2Fterror-attack-report-uk-fishmongers-hall-b1950536.html
ReplyDeleteThis week has seen yet another example of the Tory playbook being enacted in full public view, i.e. shamelessly take the most extreme position possible, cause outrage... & when you row back, without apology, you are several steps closer to your preferred position than you could otherwise have dreamed.
ReplyDeleteThe added bonus - you've created a shitstorm of a distraction that will have been used to slip other similarly amoral matters under the radar.
The question I want asked & answered is: What did they *really* use Owen Paterson as cover for?
"Yet doubts over Johnson’s sincerity remain. He flew to Rome and then on to Glasgow in a luxurious chartered plane painted with “United Kingdom” and a union flag. The jet is used by Johnson and some royals for shorter trips. But why not travel back to London from Cop26 by train, a comfortable journey of four and a half hours? This was not possible, No 10 said, because of “time restraints”.
DeleteOn Thursday, the reason for Johnson’s haste became clear. The Mirror reported Johnson had flown back to London to attend a reunion of Daily Telegraph journalists at the men-only Garrick Club. He was pictured emerging from a dinner with Charles Moore, his old boss, whom Johnson recently made a Tory peer.
Lord Moore has said there is no proof the planet faces a “climate emergency” and accuses activists of “project fear”."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/05/bit-like-a-clown-boris-johnson-makes-impression-cop26
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/05/paterson-fiasco-threat-boris-johnson-british-democracy
ReplyDeleteHow many more times does it need to happen? How much more proof do we need that the country is run by a man with contempt for the rule of law, who believes that he and his friends are beyond its reach?
Unfortunately we get what was elected and they are not what most of us want or need but here we are. A parallels to to nafo here too. The electorate really need to get out of popularity judgements and look at the records of performance
DeleteGet what you vote for - the us & them paradigm, the one-rule-for-you-but-not-for-us generation:
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/nearly-300-flights-within-uk-taken-by-government-staff-every-day
"The environmental audit reveals 22 Whitehall departments and government agencies took 106,824 internal flights in the year to 31 March 2020, an average of 293 flights a day."
COP26? What's that all about then?
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/nov/07/george-the-poet-its-easier-to-change-the-lives-of-offenders-in-prison-than-it-is-outside
ReplyDelete“That top-down approach to education, the idea that smart, cultured, well-off people are going to share with you how to be like them, does not work... What you see are patterns, reasons why school did not work, why the job market could not receive them or why they ended up in prison.”
George will call for investment in training that will inspire – “in other words, not training in things that make people feel they are at the end of the line and these are the scraps that are left for them”.