State sector woodentops

As the lamentable response of the emergency services to the 7/7 London bombings continues to be laid out for public display by the inquest evidence, today we read that they were not helped by poor communication from above.

Andrew Barr was clearly ludicrously over-promoted as "gold commander" in charge of London Underground's response to the attacks, but evidently he is still in post. As The Telegraph reports:

A review by the chief operating officer at London Underground ... found that some members of staff found out more about what was happening from television news than they did from the Network Control Centre that was supposed to be co-ordinating the response.

Asked if he was confident that the problem had been solved, Mr Barr told the inquest, "I believe there is an awareness of what is required".

In other words, No. If this mess of a response happens again, it will be the responsibilty of the London Mayor. Watch out, Boris.

Meanwhile, up in Scotland Dave points out that South Lanarkshire Council has been forced to call in police for the second time in six months after falling victim to a sophisticated mobile phone scam.

Crooks have racked up thousands of pounds worth of calls at the taxpayers’ expense after stealing sim cards from alarm systems installed by South Lanarkshire Council.

It comes just months after the authority, which is facing £55million worth of budget cuts, was stung for more than £100,000 by an African crime gang after officials were duped into paying money into a bogus account.

Bosses at the Labour-run council are reportedly furious after hearing about the costly scam only last week following a tip-off from the public. Evidently Strathclyde Police made initial inquiries with council staff six months ago, but details were only recently passed on to managers.

How much else are the staff concealing? Sackings are in order but I doubt we'll see any.