a great day for burying the news, says the spin doctor.

The rightsnet news story (and link to the 'The Independent' article) on use of lie detectors by DWP and DTI has broken through my festive torper or general burn-out.

a few questions - in no particular order -why is the Minister fiercely resisting (for now!) the proposals drawn up by civil servants, allegedly? hello?!!!?

second -see header - civil service allegedly advises minister to breach human rights (article 6) - does this mean mandarins don't do human rights training? shock! horror!

was it a mistake/ freudian slip by the civil servant to say that if used, it would be the first time in the private sector? shouldn't that be public sector? and isn't it much more relevant to point out that its use would be in the area of civil law not criminal law, which, as we all know, has a different burden of proof to that in criminal law, acknowledging the status of the citizen in relation to the state, sheesh! citizenship 101 -innocent until proven guilty.

why do our administrators have such a problem with that?

is the impetus (which is pressuring the poor wee minister) in fact coming from civil servants, and if so, which type of civil servants are we talking about? if not, whence?

and why is the DTI handling the compensation claims for prescribed industrial diseases? is this usual?

why do the media swallow DWP press releases about fraud and error overpayments? (the real story is in the 'errors')

oh pleeze, brer fox, watchever yo do, don't go throwin' me into that ole briar patch yonder, no sir...

jj