House music all night long

Well... not really. But the bit in the new New Order album (the last track if I remember correctly) where this is sung always makes me laugh. I'm sure it's nicked from something else, I just can't be bothered to look it up. Anyway, I was just going to quote a bit from Temptation as it's been going round in my head today - and I think this blog needs a bit of a musical interlude.
Up down turn around
Please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone
I'll find my soul as I go home
Actually, I'm suddenly finding all the lyrics very profound - perhaps I'm going mad.

Lottery Vote

So it's true: lottery grants are going to be decided by a public vote.

According to Third Sector, 50 awards of £50,000 will be made this year.

A panel of four people in each region will visit all the longlisted applicants before choosing the final shortlist. Public voting will be carried out, by region, during the week beginning 31 October. Each panel will consist of a local regeneration expert, a lottery-playing member of the public, an ITV representative and a Big Lottery Fund trustee.

Linda Quinn, deputy director of external relations for the Big Lottery Fund, said: "We will not be putting donkey sanctuaries up against asylum seeker projects. The idea is to create a level playing field. "The public will get a real sense of how difficult it is to allocate money when there is only a limited pot."

And on and on...

And so my trouble at work rattles on...

I've been talking about it to some colleagues who are all shocked at what my boss said to me. One of them (who mixes in higher circles) said she should've been notified about it, but instead all she's heard is good things said about me... Which is nice, but... I had decided to buckle down and do everyting I'm told to do (whilst worrying that it won't be enough and something will be invented that will make me fail). However, now I feel I have to consider making a complaint about the way i've been treated... I mean, I think I'm probably going to get the boot no matter how I perform so I might as well go out standing up for myself instead of meekly being consciencious. Or maybe the situation could be sorted out before then...

Lacklustre

On from here and here:

Well... I went to see the woman who has personnel matters as part of her job description (y'see, a lot of charities don't bother having HR departments). I asked for everything I said to be kept confidential* and told her what my boss had said. She seemed OK and suggested that the trouble was that I don't shout about my successes so no-one really knows what I've been up to (so does this mean that my actual work is fine, just I need to do some PR on myself?). Then the next day I had a meeting with my boss about what I'm going to do for the next couple of months - most of it's OK, but there's a couple of things that will probably be impossible. I pointed this out, but she just denied this was the case. Also included in my targets for the forthcoming months are things I've already done (and shown my boss months ago). So I really don't know what's going on. Or what I can do about it - if anything. I spoke to my union representative, who said that probation periods aren't covered by law so there's not much they can do for me. To be honest, now I feel quite depressed and demotivated. I've drawn up a chart of my targets and will make sure they are ticked off in front of my boss when I achieve them to hopefully stop her pretending I haven't done them.

* and guess what, she told my boss everything!

Happy Ian Curtis Day

I don't know why I find this so funny, but Radio 6 are having a special Ian Curtis Day today ('celebrating' 25 years since he died). It's a pity I'm at work. It's totally bizarre how things change - I used to get laughed at for liking Joy Division now it's the tasteful thing to do. Anyway, here's an article on the BBC website about it

Doing the state's work for a fraction of the price

From last week's Third Sector:

The Directory of Social Change is planning to ask the Attorney General to stop local authorities setting up charities to deliver statutory services. In a landmark decision in February, the Charity Commission lifted its objections to two organisations created by councils in Trafford and Wigan becoming charities. They had been formed to deliver services such as libraries and cemeteries that the councils had a statutory duty to provide. But DSC believes such charities will not be genuinely independent. It wants to use provisions in the Charities Bill to challenge the decision.

It's probably better to read the whole thing.

Alleluia!

Well, still in my search for a church...
I've just been to Evensong at St Paul's. A bit disappointing really. It all seemed very removed from 'the people' and I hadn't heard of any of the hymns they sang - although, if you like that kind of thing, the choir was excellent. They talked about the importance of not worrying and having anxiety over things - which is rather topical as this weekend I've been in a terrible state - teeth clenched, shoulders tight, heart pounding. But I do feel more calm now and will really really try to relax more.

An update on this... I did manage to make a visit to St James's about a month ago. I thought it was fine, although the 'C of E'-ness of it* made me a bit confused and the service seemed to go on forever. I'd happily give it another go though. Although I feel I ought to try some others first. I had planned to try the evening service here tonight, but it's apparently somewhere else today. Anyway, what's wrong with Bethnal Green methodists? (don't seem to have a website though!)

* oh, I know I know - what do you expect from a C of E church, eh?! It's just that it's been so long since I went to an anglican church (not counting cathedrals) that I'd forgotten it's differences with methodism. I was brought up in both traditions, although I tended towards the latter as I grew older. But since then I'd had it in my head that there wasn't much difference between the two.

At it again...

Well, would you believe it... I'm having trouble with my boss again. (See also here). I just had my 6 months probation meeting (hmm, it's actually 7.5 months since I started here... and I had to request this meeting) and she tells me that she wants to extend my probation period as she doesn't think I've performed well enough. She then went on to give really ridiculous reasons why she's doing this - most of which she seemed to be making up on the spot ('you haven't even done £40,000 worth of applications!' Er actually, I've done £101,000) and contradicted what she had previously told me. She also said that she doesn't think that it's her role to give me feedback from senior management meetings on any forthcoming projects I could fundraise for. Ho hum. SO... I've already been in touch with my union and I'm getting more advice tomorrow. But I don't think that I've got that many rights. A few months ago, I vowed that if I ever ran into trouble at work again (I hadn't thought that it'd be so soon!) I'd hand in my notice and go and do something exciting - then come back and look for a new job. The stress I had last year made me quite ill, although I think it's in my nature to fight injustice.

Brick Lane's Vote Riggers

From yesterday's Evening Standard:

Exposed: Brick Lane's vote riggers
...
The first floor is the locked-up office of a travel agent. It is the flat on the second and third floors that is of interest. According to the electoral register, this flat, comprising four small rooms and a tiny landing, contains no fewer than 12 Bangladeshi voters.

They all appeared on the electoral roll at 118 Brick Lane this year. None of them was registered at this address before. And they certainly don’t live here. “We live here,” says Sam Butler and his flatmates, a Belgian, Gilles Ubaghs, and two Canadians, Craig and Chuck. “And the tenants before us were white, too.”

...
The flat occupied by Sam, Gilles, Craig and Chuck is a classic place for a vote-rigging scam. All you have to do is register a certain number of fake voters, apply for postal votes in their name and come and pick them up. The street door looks locked, but a not-very-hefty nudge of the shoulder is enough to open it and bring you on to the communal staircase, with the newly-arrived post waiting at the bottom.

Then Gilles remembers something.

“A week ago, a whole stack of envelopes arrived in the hall,” he says. “Not addressed to any of us. They had ‘You need this to vote — very important document,’ or something like that, on them. I left them on the steps. The next day they were all gone.”
...
Brick Lane is a major artery of Britain’s most bitterly-contested constituency, Bethnal Green and Bow, where Labour’s Oona King is fighting the anti-war war-machine of George Galloway and the Respect party. Hundreds of journalists have flocked to the East End, writing stories about how the seat will, or will not, be decided by the war, the economy, the state of the housing, King’s record as an MP.

It is equally possible, however, that Bethnal Green and Bow will not be decided by any of those things, but by fraud, intimidation and direct threats. Few seats can be more vulnerable. Voter turnover is huge, perhaps a third a year. Many Bangladeshi voters don’t understand the voting process, and are susceptible to community pressures of a sort no longer found in other parts of British society. And the voting roll, the basis for any fair election, is, at best, grossly inadequate.
...

Some of it may, indeed, be freelance; Ron McKay, Galloway’s spokesman, says they’ve been approached by someone offering 200 votes at £100 a throw.

Election bumf questions

Since complaining of not receiving much in the way of election literature, I've now received bumf from most of the candidates: Labour, Respec' and the Lib Dems. Nothing from the Conservatives though - are they even bothering campaigning here? It's been interesting to note that that the Labour communique was addressed to me while the Lib Dems pamphlet was addressed to my (male) flatmate. Is there some sort of segmentation along gender lines going on? Do the marketing gurus think that I'm more likely to vote for a laydee? A couple of months ago I received a letter addressed to me from Oona about the proposed cuts in fire engines at Bethnal Green fire station. Am i more likely to react to this than a chap would? Hmmm. Who are the other candidates that are standing? Will I receive any bumf from them?

I also see that Oona's website has been updated. The last time I looked here there was no mention of the election, but now here there's a whole lot of stuff.