I just read a post by The Disaffected Lib discussing the mounting number of resignations resulting from the Rupert Murdoch scandal. Both the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan London Police (Scotland Yard) have resigned because of the disrepute they have brought to the organization through their actions and omissions.
Its a funny thing about the British, isn't it? I remember years ago when they were involved in the Falklands War, Lord Carrington, the British Foreign Secretary, resigned because he hadn't anticipated the conflict.
Meanwhile, in Canada, whenever something goes awry, a politician or public official may say he or she 'accepts full responsibility,' she retains her job, and everyone moves on as if nothing happened. Or to bring it even closer to home, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who apparently apologizes for nothing and accepts responsibility for nothing, continues in his position despite the atrocities committed by the police under his control during last June's G20 summit.
Only in Canada, you say?
In Canada, we find some junior staffer and toss them under the bus. The bus is stopped, the media spends a day or two exclaiming over the stopped bus, in the most washed out of terms, and then moves on. Sometimes the staffer is even hired back, months later.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, however, they have double-decker buses. Those things won't stop just because some junior staffer gets tossed under 'em.