1 week ago Walking into disaster: how narcotraffickers captured the BVI

When the new premier of the British Virgin Islands said he needed an armed security detail, his chief of police knew trouble was on its wayAugustus James Ulysses Jaspert, Gus for short, arrived in Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, on 21 August 2017, just two weeks away from catastrophe. Jaspert, who was in his late 30s, had recently been appointed governor by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of the Foreign Office in London. The BVI is an overseas territory of Britain, with only partial independence, and the governor effectively acts as a backstop to the locally elected legislature. For Jaspert, a career civil servant, it would be his first hands-on experience of governing – and his first time in the British Virgin Islands. Any trepidation was outweighed by the prospect of moving to the Caribbean. “If you’re sitting in an office in London and someone says, ‘Go to Tortola,’ you look it up on a screen and think, ‘OK, I can do that,’” Jaspert told me.While Jas...

Events

1 week ago Walking into disaster: the narcotrafficking scandal that blew up the BVI

When the new premier of the British Virgin Islands said he needed an armed security detail, his chief of police knew trouble was on its wayAugustus James Ulysses Jaspert, Gus for short, arrived in Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, on 21 August 2017, just two weeks away from catastrophe. Jaspert, who was in his late 30s, had recently been appointed governor by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of the Foreign Office in London. The BVI is an overseas territory of Britain, with only partial independence, and the governor effectively acts as a backstop to the locally elected legislature. For Jaspert, a career civil servant, it would be his first hands-on experience of governing – and his first time in the British Virgin Islands. Any trepidation was outweighed by the prospect of moving to the Caribbean. “If you’re sitting in an office in London and someone says, ‘Go to Tortola,’ you look it up on a screen and think, ‘OK, I can do that,’” Jaspert told me.While Jas...

Events

2 w. ago Senior DWP civil servant blames victims for carer’s allowance scandal

Neil Couling said failings by individual claimants ‘at the heart’ of crisis, despite a report finding DWP shortcomings ‘unacceptable’ One of the most senior civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has placed the blame for the carer’s allowance benefits crisis on victims, many of who have been left with life-changing debts.In an internal blogpost written for Whitehall colleagues, Neil Couling, the director general of DWP services, said individual failings by carers were “at the heart” of the issue that has been likened to the Post Office Horizon scandal. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Civil servant who didn't turn up for work for ten years but was still getting paid is jailed for five years and fined $1m in Kuwait

Court documents revealed that the worker, who has not been named in local Kuwaiti media, worked in the citizens' service department but did not perform any of his duties for 10 years.

Economics

3 w. ago Dining across the divide: ‘I was nervous – was he going to attack me for being a snowflake?’

A Green-party globalist and a right-of-centre Tory clash over immigration. Would they see eye to eye over reparations?Peter, 34, LondonOccupation Former civil servant, now a student, studying public health Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago French civil servant 'drugged 200 women during job interviews'

Over 240 women were allegedly given spiked teas and coffees during job interviews by one French civil servant, who police say kept a spreadsheet of the apparent details

Events

3 w. ago French civil servant 'drugged more than 200 women during job interviews so they would uncontrollably urinate'

Christian Nègre is under formal investigation over claims he laced coffees and teas before taking candidates on long 'walking interviews'.

Events

3 w. ago ‘I didn’t even know this type of attack existed’: more than 200 women allege drugging by senior French civil servant

In a case echoing the Pelicot trial, dozens of women allege they were given hot drinks mixed with a diuretic to make them urinate. Three of them speak out hereWhen Sylvie Delezenne, a marketing expert from Lille, was job-hunting in 2015, she was delighted to be contacted on LinkedIn by a human resources manager at the French culture ministry, inviting her to Paris for an interview.“It was my dream to work at the culture ministry,” she said. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Woman on £27k can't afford heating and only shops for food 'once every 5 weeks'

Civil servant Julie Prince says her friends refuse to visit her freezing home

Economics

4 w. ago Rachel Reeves' life from 'girlie swot' to famous sister and rarely

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has two children with her husband Nicholas Joicey, who is a senior civil servant, and has previously spoken about the challenges of being a working mum

Politics