They are not going to be the only public service who will make such announcements. Once you get to a certain level of cuts the decisions revolve around cutting things that have previously always been regarded as core work. Now the Government has told the public sector to draw up plans for 25% or 40% cuts.

We will now see more shock headlines about how local offices are being closed, call centres closed, more charges for things you thought you already paid for. Anything that can be sold will be, things that are obsolete will not be replaced and systems will fall over as soon as anything unexpected happens.

People seem to think that government / public services can stand any level of pruning but there is a point at which they fall over and can be very difficult to set up again. I know, I have worked in one government department that collapsed because of a combination of increasing work, cuts, and a misconceived IT system and the effects are still being felt 20 years later.

That is now happen g on a grand scale and the level of cuts will mean that the levers of government will work very slowly, if at all, we will probably face an increase in public service corruption and it is likely that the quality of senior public administrators will drop because it will become a very unattractive job. Something to look forward to.

Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial

I wouldn't mind betting we won't also see a sudden reduction in the number of speed traps.

Just corrected your spelling error mate.

And I yours.

After serving my County for 12 years as frontline officer and DC I cannot put into words all the little things the general public does not know what goes on and gets said behind closed doors on how the Police prioritise things. The staff levels have declined massively and Police officers no longer get any of the perks. The government treat the force like a business which its not. The Job I loved doing turned me into hating most things about it so last August I left and travelled for the year. Now back and looking forward to a new start. Oh and my first season ticket.

I preferred you on sabbatical.