It Doesn't Work, Nick!

This morning, I happened to notice a BBC News item reporting that Nick Clegg, on behalf of the UK Government has launched a consultation with the British public over ways to improve freedoms and reduce the numbers of laws and regulations that have an impact on our lives.

Having found my thoughts continually returning to how businesses behave, I took this to be a wonderful opportunity to share my thoughts on ethical corporate taxation, so I signed up

For those with an infinite supply of patience, you can actually see my offering on the Government’s Freedom site here.  For those of you with lesser patience, I have made a copy of it and placed it here.

Those of you who went and read my copy of the entry on my blogspot site can go away and make themselves a cup of tea, maybe bake themselves a cake and reorganise their sock drawer. It might be a while before those who went to the Government site rejoin us.

OK, if everyone is back, then I’ll continue.

You might have guessed that I was less than impressed by the implementation of the site. It is poorly laid out, slow and is rather sloppily tested. For something that is supposed to be capable of conducting a comprehensive consultation with the British public, it leaves a lot to be desired.  

While I had hoped to spark off an intelligent debate over an innovative way for rewarding ethical standards in business, I find my contribution consigned to the bubbling swamp of yet another poorly designed and hurriedly implemented government IT system.

If you like a good political conspiracy theory, this hands you one on a silver platter. This particular initiative is fronted by Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, the junior party in the coalition government. On the home page of the site you are greeted by his smiling face and chirpy little video introduction. I hate to say it Nick, but I reckon that the Tories took one look at the site and decided that they didn’t want their names tarnished by this amateurish software. Face it, lad, you’ve been stitched up, if not by your coalition partners, then by some second rate software development outfit who probably charged you a fortune for the privilege!

It is highly unlikely that Nick Clegg or any of his advisors will actually read any of this. Yet just in case they doubt the damage done to both the initiative and their reputation, consider this: If the software was any good and the website was actually fit for purpose, this blog post would have been all about how wonderful it is to have a government that consults and the fantastic advantages behind ethical based taxation – instead it is all about another failure in Government IT and the egg all over Clegg!  

In short, Nick – IT ISN’T WORKING FOR ME!