Expensive speaking clock

[Cosimo]

MOD wasting money, well that's nothing new.

 

[Nitefly]

This is being blown out of all proportion just for political gain.

I think you are looking deeper into it than you anticipate I am. I'm just lol-ing at the idiocy

 

[ElliorR]

Government departments wasting money? Whatever next, furniture retailers sales not being genuine?

 

[Glaucus]

The MoD did block the number, their phone system however had a glitch which still allowed the calls in some cases. This is a bit of a political hoohaa engineered by the opposition to attack the Government on its Cuts Policy rather than a real issue at the MoD as it has been dealt with and as the MoD itself had banned the practice some time ago, it is one which is a disciplinary issue within the MoD and not one of Governmental Institutional Waste as Labour would like the public to believe.

Yep I'm not seeing the issue with goverment. That is on hell of a bill though. Ythis shows that it was a massive problem for some reason.

 

[Biohazard]

Yep I'm not seeing the issue with goverment.

They are responsible for, and in charge of, that department? And also Government spending no matter how small or big?

I'm not trying to pin it to the Government, but I have to say that when the shoe was on the other foot MOD failures were specifically owned by the Government.

It just depends if a Government of your liking is in office or not I guess.

 

[Hyburnate]

This is stupid, have they not heard of watches? Clocks are everywhere today and if they're not a watch should be. I have used speaking clock once or twice as a child because I thought it was pretty cool but other than that there's no use for it.

 

[Glaucus]

They are responsible for, and in charge of, that department? And also Government spending no matter how small or big?

I'm not trying to pin it to the Government, but I have to say that when the shoe was on the other foot MOD failures were specifically owned by the Government.

It just depends if a Government of your liking is in office or not I guess.

They are in no way responsible for the day to day running off it. It's absurd to think that.

Goverment sets budget, big purchases etc.
This is in no way anything to do with goverment.

 

[Trifid]

This. Assuming they're using any kind of decent VOIP system this would be a couple of clicks...

It will most likely be a bit more then that. They will have many clusters of servers each with many partitions for phones and then their call privileges. I only manage a single cluster with a few thousand phones and adding and removing call privileges is still something that needs to be thought out carefully. The glitch really was in their testing procedure.

 

[G-MAN2004]

Do people not wear watches these days? Or have mobiles? Or physical clocks? What on earth...

They were given a list of websites they could use to get the time free

Or how about the clock in the bottom right corner, assuming they're on Windows...

 

[Biohazard]

They are in no way responsible for the day to day running off it. It's absurd to think that.

Goverment sets budget, big purchases etc.
This is in no way anything to do with goverment.

3 years Glaucus.

3 years.

If Government through their Ministers aren't responsible, just who is?

Next time I get a complaint about someone below me in Government I will remind myself that it's ok, it's nothing to do with me.

 

[Glaucus]

3 years what?
No goverment is responsible for day to day running of a public sector company.
The CE and the managers under him are responsible for day to day running.

Again it is absurd you think the goverment can micro manage even public sector as well as do there job.Gooverment are to blame which it comes to setting the budget, requirements etc, the stuff they actually control

 

[Biohazard]

3 years what?
No goverment is responsible for day to day running of a public sector company.
The CE and the managers under him are responsible for day to day running.

Of course they are responsible for the running of the Civil Service et al.

This is a world wide phenomenon.

 

[Hyburnate]

Do people not wear watches these days? Or have mobiles? Or physical clocks? What on earth...



Or how about the clock in the bottom right corner, assuming they're on Windows...

My guess would be some form of Linux but every OS I know about (apart from some specialised ones) have a clock in them.

 

[Glaucus]

Lol so gpwhy des MOD have. cE and managers along with every other public sector.
Yeah goverment can micro manage every public sector. What a odd way to look at it.
Ce and managers are there for day to day running, goverment is there for the big picture.

 

[Biohazard]

Lol so gpwhy des MOD have. cE and managers along with every other public sector.
Yeah goverment can micro manage every public sector. What a odd way to look at it.
Ce and managers are there for day to day running, goverment is there for the big picture.

What?

Of course they have managers, but if these managers and senior leaders cannot enforce their own rules on their own staff then it does become a Ministerial issue at Whitehall, particularly when it involves public money.

 

[Strife212]

I'm sure there are more reliable and instant sources for time than the speaking clock, especially in the military. Even the US Naval Observatory operates several stratum 1 NTP servers. I'm sure the MoD have something similar.

If the MoD rely on the "talking clock" as an accurate source of time then that's laughable.

Also, from the article:

"They were given a list of websites they could use to get the time free, but calls have continued"

This is still pretty bad practice. If accurate timestamping/recording is required then going on some random websites outside of their management is stupid. If it's crucial for their operations the MoD need to have their own internal facilities to accurately give out the correct time. They should be doing this already.

The talking clock is a precise system and has been used by the military for ages;

During the Cold War, the British Telecom speaking clock network was designed to be used in case of nuclear attack to broadcast messages from Strike Command at RAF High Wycombe to HANDEL units at regional police stations.

 

[Glaucus]

What?

What do you eman what.

Since when did goverment micro manage any public sector that is not there job they wouldn't even have time to do it.
It is down to the CE and the managers below him.

 

[Biohazard]

What do you eman what.

Since when did goverment micro manage any public sector that is not there job they wouldn't even have time to do it.
It is down to the CE and the managers below him.

eman.

They don't micro-manage, but they do become involved where compliance issues arise, complaints come in, bad press, or to implement Government policies of the day. That does include reduced spending and being as efficient as possible with public monies.

 

[Hyburnate]

The talking clock is a precise system and has been used by the military for ages;

In the days where precise time was hard to get I understand that, however these days it's readily available in the form of watches and technology.

I understand that not everyone will get exactly the time but it will be close enough.
What I don't understand however is, if the Talking Clock was developed by the government, surely it should be free to government agencies.

 

[Strife212]

What I don't understand however is, if the Talking Clock was developed by the government, surely it should be free to government agencies.

Privatization