'super talented weirdos'- Dominic Cummings wants your cv

[bimble]

Job description here:
‘Two hands are a lot’ — we’re hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos…
just bizarre.

 

[Supine]

That whole blog is the work of a James Bond super Villan. Absolutely unhinged.

 

[Edie]

Really interesting ideas in there

 

[Edie]

That whole blog is the work of a James Bond super Villan. Absolutely unhinged.

Why unhinged?

 

[Manter]

Um. Wow

 

[bimble]

if it was a startup in i don't know hoxton none of it would be that surprising, but this is the conservative party recruiting for the civil service?

 

[Edie]

if it was a startup in i don't know hoxton none of it would be that surprising, but this is the conservative party recruiting for the civil service?

It’s actually encouraging

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It’s actually encouraging

It really isn’t.

 

[Supine]

Why unhinged?

A man who is found to be in contempt of parliament and personally unelected is taking over civil service functionality. He's throwing out ideas about machine learning and all sorts of random ideas so he can be a 'disruptor'. I'm feeling rather uncomfortable about the whole thing tbh.

 

[Edie]

It really isn’t.

Why not? Whoever they end up recruiting will be interesting, with new ideas.

I do get the megalomaniac bent now I’ve read the whole thing But still encouraging to throw the net wide.

 

[Edie]

A man who is found to be in contempt of parliament and personally unelected is taking over civil service functionality. He's throwing out ideas about machine learning and all sorts of random ideas so he can be a 'disruptor'. I'm feeling rather uncomfortable about the whole thing tbh.

I’m not so uncomfortable about it being disrupted

 

[bellaozzydog]

If I was utterly unaware of the evil cunts politics i’d Find that post quite inspiring/inervating

 

[weepiper]

Why not? Whoever they end up recruiting will be interesting, with new ideas.

I do get the megalomaniac bent now I’ve read the whole thing But still encouraging to throw the net wide.

Hitler was interesting, with new ideas. New ideas aren't de facto good ideas.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Why not? Whoever they end up recruiting will be interesting, with new ideas.

Whoever they end up recruiting will be a fucking tory puppet doing exactly as they’re bloody well told.

 

[Winot]

Well some employment lawyers are going to do well anyway.

 

[Edie]

We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole, weirdos from William Gibson novels like that girl hired by Bigend as a brand ‘diviner’ who feels sick at the sight of Tommy Hilfiger or that Chinese-Cuban free runner from a crime family hired by the KGB. If you want to figure out what characters around Putin might do, or how international criminal gangs might exploit holes in our border security, you don’t want more Oxbridge English graduates who chat about Lacan at dinner parties with TV producers and spread fake news about fake news.

By definition I don’t really know what I’m looking for but I want people around No10 to be on the lookout for such people.

We need to figure out how to use such people better without asking them to conform to the horrors of ‘Human Resources’ (which also obviously need a bonfire).

Hard to argue with that. Although agree with bellaozzydog it’s a shame about the politics. Although tbh fuck the politics, it needs to change.

 

[Manter]

A man who is found to be in contempt of parliament and personally unelected is taking over civil service functionality. He's throwing out ideas about machine learning and all sorts of random ideas so he can be a 'disruptor'. I'm feeling rather uncomfortable about the whole thing tbh.

Some of the stuff he is throwing out as ideas *could* be good (some of it is at the worryingly libertarian tech bro end)... but you need someone to calmly and methodically pick through the impacts and costs of changes that are going to affect 60+ million people. I’m uncomfortable with the contempt for the civil service oozing through, and isn’t he an oxbridge humanities chancer

anyway, as he points out- they have a huge majority, no elections for ages and don’t give a shit what we think. They can do what they like, unopposed

 

[Manter]

Well some employment lawyers are going to do well anyway.

Aren’t they just. Until the Tories ditch employment protections as part of their ‘bonfire’ or the ‘horrors’ of HR.

 

[Winot]

I’ve got a neighbour who talks like him. Runs a number of tech companies. After 5 mins of his enthusiasm I want to grab him by the lapels and scream ‘But what do you actually do?’

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Hard to argue with that. Although agree with bellaozzydog it’s a shame about the politics. Although tbh fuck the politics, it needs to change.

Your attitude is terrifying. You don’t just “fuck” the systems that keep the lives of millions of people going. This isn’t about trying new ideas, this is about a group of bastards smashing up things they don’t like out of spite.

 

[Edie]

Your attitude is terrifying. You don’t just “fuck” the systems that keep the lives of millions of people going. This isn’t about trying new ideas, this is about a group of bastards smashing up things they don’t like out of spite.

Why do you think that?

eta the last bit

 

[Supine]

It’s actually encouraging

So I just took one random thought and spent a minute googling it. He wants fast project managers 'like CC Myers'. It seems this myers bloke ran projects fast by hiring outside of unions so that they couldn't represent his workers. That isn't what I'd call encouraging.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Why do you think that?

eta the last bit

Have you been paying any attention at all for the last few years

 

[Winot]

For those that think this exciting, I’d like to know what is it exactly about how the civil service runs that you think could be improved and how do you think his approach fixes it?

Bear in mind ‘machinery of government’ changes are inherently expensive and cause delay in delivery. Change in large organisations takes time.

 

[Edie]

So I just took one random thought and spent a minute googling it. He wants fast project managers 'like CC Myers'. It seems this myers bloke ran projects fast by hiring outside of unions so that they couldn't represent his workers. That isn't what I'd call encouraging.

Well to play devils advocate, if you want something done fast then it makes sense to hire people who want to work hard for more money rather than work to rule. I can understand the opposition to that though.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Hard to argue with that.

It's hard to argue with the content-free rantings of a nutcase yes.

The only important thing in there is the bit about a government with a large majority not needing to worry about 'short-term unpopularity'. That's the shape of things to come. We're about to be subjected to a shitstorm of evil things we can do nothing to prevent and you're praising the cunt behind all of it.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

if you want something done fast then it makes sense to hire people who want to work hard for more money rather than work to rule

Christ almighty.

 

[Manter]

For those that think this exciting, I’d like to know what is it exactly about how the civil service runs that you think could be improved and how do you think his approach fixes it?

Bear in mind ‘machinery of government’ changes are inherently expensive and cause delay in delivery. Change in large organisations takes time.

I’m enjoying the implications of harvesting a load of CVs for ill defined jobs with no equalities disclaimer via a personal blog and gmail address. No issues at all. Snort

 

[SpookyFrank]

Well to play devils advocate, if you want something done fast then it makes sense to hire people who want to work hard for more money rather than work to rule.

What he's actually going to do is spend billions on consultants who have realised that the less work they do, the longer they can continue to charge More Money for their services.

 

[Edie]

Have you been paying any attention at all for the last few years

Answer the question. Why do you think Cummings et al want to smash things up out of spite?