For Queen and Country.

Courtesy of Drumlanrig, "Jim Murphy's announcement that the Government is to press ahead with the repeal of the Act of Settlement has sparked speculation that the reform could inadvertently lead to the creation of the best job in the civil service. Repealing it means having to change the statutes in 16 Commonwealth countries across the world which continue to recognise the Queen as their monarch – including the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and Australia. Someone, it is noted, will have to travel there to set the whole thing up. "You could do Sydney in January, then get to the Caribbean for the spring. That's a joke," added one official."

Pen Pushers.

Another example of where Government rhetoric parts company with the reality on the ground?

Mr Smith realises it easier to recruit civil servants than it is to train cops or teachers, but the SNP have been in power now for eighteen months. You think they would have gotten the hang of it by now.

"FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has been accused of hiring more pen pushers while the number of police and teachers has fallen. Since the SNP government took power last year Scotland's schools have lost 300 teachers and police forces are down by 800 staff. That's despite a SNP manifesto to put an extra 1000 officers on the beat. But the number of staff employed by the Scottish government rose by 600."

First Division.

So the Sir Humphreys aren't for striking unlike their "lower" level colleagues.

"SCOTLAND'S senior civil servants have voted against joining their lower-paid colleagues in striking over pay. Members of the First Division Association (FDA) have voted not to take any industrial action and to accept a pay offer of around 2 per cent."

It might have something to do with this later story ...

"THE Scottish Government is drawing up plans to split from the UK civil service machine, following demands from SNP ministers. Sir John Elvidge, the top civil servant at the Edinburgh administration, has revealed that he has begun a "substantial exercise" to examine how the 15,000-strong civil service department may become an independent organisation."

Mandarins.

According to the Times: “The number of civil servants earning up to £270,000 has jumped by 40 per cent in the past six years despite Government claims that it has cut back tens of thousands of Whitehall posts, it was disclosed yesterday. In the same period average salaries for mandarins in the most senior grades have increased by 23 per cent, with the total pay bill rising by 71.44 per cent between 2000-06, according to data from the Senior Salaries Review Body.”

Who said public service doesn’t pay?