Should We Vote On It?

Quick, form a committee!

It could be my age but the older I get the more convinced I am that the quicker we do away with Committees the better. It was the late Sir Winston Churchill who once said 'good committee consists of only one'. Come to think of it, it was also Sir Winston who on being told by a Lady that he was drunk replied, 'Yes Madam and you are ugly. But in the morning I shall be sober.'

Can you imagine an Army on the battlefield being told 'We shall put it to the vote'? Half of them would want to advance; the other half would want to retreat, and the Chairman would be in favour of hoisting the white flag. I'm one of these people who think you should either give orders or take them. If you are on a Committee and something proves somewhat unpopular you can soon get out of it by telling your friends 'I didn't vote for it, it was the others.'

How much I admire the lot of Football Managers. One false move by them and if their team slips to the bottom of the league out goes the Manager with a flea in his ear and, yes I agree, with also a fair amount of compensation. Which brings me to the question of payment. I believe that the Manager which is what we should call the Boss of any Club or even yes our Parish Councils should be paid if not the rate for the job, then some amount of remuneration. First you should elect your Manager who should then recruit his or her team and if it turns out that some of them are found wanting then the Manager kicks them out and gets in a replacement. I have much sympathy for our much-maligned Chairman as he or she looks at the assembled Committee and mutters 'My God where did this lot come from'? Most of the Committees I have come across have Men as Chairmen whereas the Secretary is invariably a Woman.

This bizarre situation comes about because its foolishly assumed that when you want to fill a position of authority you send for a Man, leaving the little lady sitting in a corner with a pen in her hand. If you continue down that route why not chain her to the kitchen sink and be done with it. More enlightened people, such as myself, know that in most households there is only one winner and it certainly isn't the likes of me. We don't have Committees in our household.

A certain dear Lady exercises the ultimate power and I don't even have a casting vote. It is, therefore, not surprising that I am not in favour of Committees. I much prefer Dictatorships, assuming I have the opportunity to dictate, which I don't. Maybe I should form a Committee to look into this.

Les Lawrence