Isn't it a bit of an odd thing that 'we' charge into countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan to supposedly liberate them and give them democracy and free speech yet we don't actually have proper democracy and free speech in this country. Why do government funded departments insist on operating under such tight secrecy? Everyone knows the NHS in not always a bed of roses and sometimes working there is shit but yet the person who raises his head above the parapet to say so gets kicked back down again. It's completely out of order.

Another one bites the dust...

It looks like Inspector Gadget will soon have to stop writing.

Democracy doesn't really exist, you know. Governments call themselves 'democratic' in order to shut us all up. In reality they are busy passing laws which ever tighten the boundaries of what we are allowed to say and invading other peoples' countries 'You will have democracy whether you like it or not'.

Special Constable has already gone.

Damn, this makes me so angry............yet pleased to have emigrated! (In Sweden there is a constitution, where the right to free speech and writing - usual discriminatory provisos exist - is sacrosanct).

Whenever the debate about free speech is brought up, I feel compelled to remind people about who owns the so-called 'free press' in the West.......and to remind people that employers will use "Employment Legislation" to prevent people speaking up about the failings of an organisation (since that evidently goes against their own corporate-sponsored Press Office Spin!!!!!).......

Then I remind them of what the late (and hardly great) Alan Clark MP said on Question Time following a heated debate about somethingorother......

"Democracy is an unsafe form of government!" - a quotation which to this day still makes my spine shiver and my blood run cold......

Vote? Why bother?

#Sarcasm Start# If "everything in the garden is rosy" as all politicians, managers and administrators would have us believe then surely the lone voices of a few "crank bloggers with a grudge" can't do any harm? Call me naïve, but do you think they might have something to hide? #Sarcasm End#

It makes me sick. These people are only telling the truth.

That is why I think it is good that you have continued blogging and have managed to get a book published.

I'm looking forward to PC David Copperfield's book, Wasting Police Time, which I'm sure will be as incisive as yours Tom, but I'm also certain that the powers that be would love to stop him in his tracks because, like you, he tells it like it is.

We must buy bloggers' books - well the ones that talk about important things like the state of the NHS and the ambulance service, education (I'm thinking of Frank Chalk's very funny and shocking book It's Your Time You're Wasting, here) and policing - and ensure the truth is out there.

Free speach is an alusion,

i think a couple of good level headed blogger can go wonders for the rep of a dept. like this one shows that there is trouble with funding and goverment targets, and the general public need to learn how to us the service right.

It's grim. What more can you say? I've spread the word on Inspector Gadget, I think we've got another week to go before we find out whether he's got to pull his blog. But it really is appalling.

I CAN'T stand the thought of your blog being stopped - I've just this minute finished reading every entry from Day 1 (having previously read the book)!

Saddo? Probably - but this blogging stuff is an addictive read.

The reason for the clampdown on blogs is simple. Many of them expose the incompetence and waste in the industry/service world the blogger inhabits. Senior management don't like it when an underling tells us what we already know. These overpaid administrators have their heads so far up their ar*es they can't see what everyone else sees.

Hmmm. I've been looking at David Cameron (tm)'s new "blog", and I just saw him post this:

"Mogx34 said I should look at various blogs from nurses and doctors and I'm really grateful for the suggestion. When I meet people who work in public services they tell me how soul-destroying all the targets and bureaucracy are and they talk about the "death of discretion." We're putting a lot of effort into working out how to deal with this and I'll make sure we monitor those blogs so we keep in touch with the coalface."

He'll have trouble doing that if they shut them all down...

And there lies the real truth behind all this.
If they stop all the honest, professional, public service providers blogging, the general public will be none the wiser to the real truth behind all the govenmental bureaucracy etc... Grrrrr.....

Although the blog in question isn't so much what you'd call a considered exposing of the truth, as a very personal big ol' sweary rant.

I think that's why Tom gets away with it - he told his employers about his blog and, although he sometimes criticises management, or expresses frustration with the punters, his style remains calm, sensible and professional.

This doctor, on the other hand... if I knew who he was I sure as hell wouldn't want him treating me. And I think it's that which his managers probably take exception to.

For those who haven't seen his blogs before (like me), you can get a preview using Google cache - angry is an understatement but still entertaining and shocking at the same time!

how do you do that?

Google search for "angry nhs doctor" and it's the first link.

Rather than clicking on the link, at the bottom of the paragraph the words "Cached" and "Similar pages" - click on the cached - the cache is the instant when Google indexed the website. They come round on a regular interval so the cache will get updated soon to reflect the empty blog.

thank you