Is this the end of public sector tweeting as we know it?

As those who follow us on Twitter (@welovelocalgov by the way) will know, recently we came across what we think is some pretty bad news.  A fellow tweeter, @NakedCServant, has apparently been digitally hunted down over the course of seven months by a specialist security expert brought in by the DCLG, and has now been suspended pending an internal investigation and disciplinary hearing.  You can read more about it at the LocalGov website.

None of us at WLLG know or knew @NakedCServant, but we obviously feel a certain kinship with them.  They were writing as an anonymous voice from within government, saying many of the things others were thinking and offering an insiders perspective of what was going on.  Yes, he may have occasionally wandered over the line a little and said a couple of things that they wouldn’t say in a public meeting, but no state secrets were revealed, no one was hurt and no money was made.  What’s more, he did all of this from his own i-phone, so can’t even be accused of using government IT resources for personal use.  They did however break their code of conduct, and now face at best an uncertain future and at worst an unmasking and a brief fifteen minutes of notoriety.

This raises some serious questions regarding the way all of us who comment on government – central or local – might potentially make use of social media and share our opinions.  

Let’s Spread Some Good News

He doesn't endorse us, but maybe Russell might appreciate our efforts!

Russell Howard does many wonderful things, including what I consider an excellent TV show entitled Russell Howard’s Good News.  In this he trawls the news stations, papers and websites, picking out some things which deserve ridicule and being picked apart which he does with aplomb.

However, he also makes a special point to pick out some simple good news stories which should be shared for good’s sake.  These are things with no pithy punchline or demand for incredulity; rather they are stories which perhaps are a little unusual but which bring a smile to the face and warmth to the heart.

In no way are we trying to compare ourselves favourably to he of TV fame, but we do identify with what he is striving to do.  We too like picking apart some of the funnier and stranger goings on in our own little corner of the world, attacking where we feel it is needed and defending on occasion as well.

With this in mind we would like to announce our first direct call out to our readers.  Over the past few months we have seen our readership rise from ourselves (seriously, one week we had a total of 20 views, and a dozen of these were by my Mum) to thousands of people a week.  Whilst we would love to think it is our prose which attracts you to these pages in reality we know it is probably down to the fact that you work in or with local government and can share in our musings.

So why do we wear ninja masks?

Here at We Love Local Government Towers we are a friendly lot.  We share ideas and opinions freely, disagreeing often but with ideas and not individuals, which means no matter what is said we are rarely if ever offended by each other.

However, the WLLG Towers are a fictional building; we in fact inhabit far less light-hearted environments and are spread around various public sector organisations at a variety of levels.  In these organisations fear, mistrust and intrigue abound, and often we are not as free to express our real thoughts and opinions for fear of vilification, discrimination and possible retribution.

These, and a few others, are the reason that we set up this anonymous blog in the first place, and we wanted to take a minute to look at our decision to stay anonymous in a little detail.

I would like to say that there was an extensive period of planning after the need for this blog was identified: that we wrote plans, formulated policies, established and benchmarked procedures and formed steering groups to guide us on our blogging journey.  Suffice to say, we didn’t.  In fact, we threw away our learning from our years of service and went a bit crazy by just coming up with an idea in a corridor and within fifteen minutes getting it done.

There was no grand plan, no strategy as to the long term success or otherwise to our adventure.  In fact, in those early days posts were few and far between, with two or three a week feeling quite busy.  We got ourselves into the swing of just writing things down, learning how to do it as we went, and just talked about things which amused us.  We had a readership of less than five, two of which were writing the posts, and nearly threw a party the first time one of our posts was seen by someone we didn’t know.

A visit from the joy fairy

There are many things that are encouraged in local government:

• Long, often pointless meetings
• Petty mindedness
• Sheer absurdity

However, one thing which is not only not encouraged but is too often frowned upon is creativity.  This builds a dangerous sense of fun and enjoyment, which are out of scope for most workers; having fun is not in their job description.

That’s why, on those few occasions when people are actually creative, it really shines out and makes people smile.  Sometimes this can be in the form of a brilliantly worded e-mail, other times it can be a little more simple and anonymous.

Do you know who it is yet?

A short post for today…

Although this is an anonymous blog it has been brought to our attention that others will be able to work out who is writing the blog; not least because from time to time we write about ourselves.

Therefore, if you do manage to use your spidy-sense and work out who we are just drop us an e-mail. In return, and provided you work in or around local government at the time, we will add you as a contributor to the blog. After all, people must get bored reading the same three or four writers every week so it’d be good to add some new blood every now and again.

Look forward to hearing from you.

P