West Somerset Railway General Discussion

"We all know how to turn an aquarium into fish soup, but no one has yet shown us how to turn fish soup into an aquarium". (Adam Michnik on the problems of rebuilding society after Communism).

The problem is with Bailey's approach is that he is mirroring the same mistakes that George W Bush made after invading Iraq.

There is the erroneous assumption that creating new institutions will magic away the structurally embedded problems. Without changes in the culture the institutions fail, this doesn't just go for Iraq or Minehead, but there are plenty of other examples throughout history (ie post-Colonial Africa, interwar Europe, Russia under Putin etc etc) where people have come along and said 'you know what you need is these new institutions and your problems will be solved'. But without addressing the culture all you end up with is is 'Forms without content' and without the content the forms fail.

What I do see with the WSSRT 10 is that there is a genuine attempt at address the content question. There is also a lot more agency and there is a lot more scope for turning the fish soup back into an aquarium. Rather than the coach and horses approach of the PLC and Bailey. Also, moreover, considering the scale of change proposed in both measures, what I think is interesting is that there is far more scope for taking stock and asking questions and adapting. I'd have thought in this era of Covid and Brexit uncertainty, flexibility and adaptability is going to be critical. Two things where the WSR SM has fallen down this summer.

 

Happy to. Awaiting the call. A decent start would be the old WSR policies. I helped write them.

Robin

 

I get the feeling (and this is only my opinion) that someone up top decided that with no policies in place they could not be blamed or held to account for any actions that they took against those lesser mortals within the organisation...
However it now seems that this idea has back-fired on them in that, with no policies in place, they cannot formally (legally?) blame or hold to account any of those lesser mortals who may oppose them in whatever way they see fit.

 

Perhaps the HRA should consider using the (currently hidden) WSR's policies as standards for future use? It might save them having to re write everything, then getting (and paying for) legal opinion and then having to re write it all again but correctly this time....

 

I made the offer yesterday for the ten to send me their evidence that "dozens" have been coerced confidentially. I would then treat it seriously. Alternatively, they could asked those that have been coerced to contact me direct.
Here we are 24 hours down the line and I have heard nothing. Happy to give it another 24 hours yet.
After that I can only assume that the claim is hogwash.
Ian Coleby

 

It appears to me that Mr Bailey has allowed himself to get rather tied up in knots when it comes to HR policy in an attempt to try and excuse the WSR from not having one at all for over 12 months. It doesn't really wash. If you identify that your rulebook could do with improving, you don't withdraw the old one and just carry on with nothing in place for over a year while you pratt around writing a new one. You keep the old one in place, perhaps with some Special Operations Notice in place to temporarily cover the identified deficiency, which is better than nothing until its replacement is ready to go.

 

Ian, I'm afraid we are not going to send you any evidence. With no HR policies in place, there is absolutely nothing to protect the volunteers who have made the claims, and therefore we are not going to put them at risk. Those who feel coerced may themselves chose to get in contact with you, but that would be their choice. The management of the railway reap what they sow. You may therefore wish to conclude that it's all hogwash but as others have said, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".

 

I can't help but wonder was those policies ditched because Robin wrote them, because of an deeply felt animosity by some who now have the ear of the chairman? and is the reasoning behind much of the current problems,? that Robin to them is a threat to their cosy little empires i ask this because she clearly is the person who they fear , based on the abuse she seems to get.

 

Dave, I hear what you say. I find it odd that out of the "dozens" who you claim have been coerced, not a single one has made any contact with any single WSSRT trustee whatsoever. You might have thought that at least one might have contacted the trust to complain.

And how many is "dozens"? 36? 48? There just are not that number of people in the system to justify that number. That's what I find unbelievable.

I remain open to receive any evidence whatsoever, even if anonymised, to justify your claims. But if not a single person comes forward, I can only conclude that your claims of coercion are inflated.

Perhaps anyone coerced might speak up during the zoom meeting.

Ian

 

Hi Ian,

I have been contacted by individuals who sent me screenshots of messages designed to shall we say, influence their outlook. I will not be forwarding any messages for obvious reasons.

All the best

Brian Fraser

 

and risk being made an example of by the PLC? People won't come forward because they don't trust any of the trustees
I would assume , why is that? I would have to come to the conclusion that they feel some of of your fellow trustees are too close to the management of the PLC, and that despite your assurances, word would reach the plc of who complained, and they would then become persona non gratis,

 

It's also worth pointing out that just because the number of new members of the WSSRT don't corroborate the "dozens" claim, doesn't mean the coeraukn h as nt happened. Just that not everyone has caved in to the threat - yet.

 

It's clear from what @Andy Norman has written over the last 20 months that the policies were ditched because they were inconvenient when considering the particular grievance he was advancing. Despite the animus he's attracted, I've never seen his basic timeline challenged.

Whether there were other reasons is just speculation.

 

Thinking about it, the great victory my parents generation won was not so much the military defeat of fascism, huge though that achievement was but its political defeat and the re-emergence of Germany & Japan as respectable nations.

That was achieved by understanding the nature of the Societies they were faced with and acting accordingly, something that took a great deal of planning and thought. Sadly something that their descendants never seem to have managed. (OK, its a bit more complex and murkier than that but please get my drift)

So this is the nature of the problem that those who seek to put the WSR on a new path are faced with, not so much defeating the old guard at the ballot box as understanding how they & those that support them can either be persuaded to go quietly or change their ways

 

Your chairman recently referred to our 10 trustee nominations as 'mass nominations'. Would you prefer us to refer to 'mass coercions'?

I have heard convincing verbal evidence from volunteers I trust to satisfy me of their claims. I won't be repeating any of that to you. It may be that some expressed fears are out of proportion to the veiled threat, but if that's how folk respond then it is real and genuine. Matter closed.

 

While I understand the sentiment, that is probably a rather overwrought comparison to make, IMHO. A lot of discussion seems to be entrenching divergent views on both sides, rather than looking for areas of common ground. (To be fair, the joint statement from the @WSSRTcandidates does appear to have been written looking for consensus rather than division).

Tom

 

Ian, the WSR also had a Whistle Blowing Policy within its HR Policies which gives a guarantee that anybody whistle blowing would be protected. I whistle blew after my HR complaints and other concerns were ignored and after I had exhausted the other internal avenues of trying to get the WSSRT & WSRA to bring some sense to the situation (neither wanted to know and your Chairman ignored my emails). I was very careful to follow the Whistle Blowing Policy at all times to ensure I was protected.

However the result of that whistle blowing was my ID card was removed and I was bullied some more and continue to be over the last 18 months including up until very recently, usually just after I post on here !!

Interestingly, even though the WSR removed their Whistle Blowing policy, I am still protected under UK Law as a statutory right under the Pubic Interest Disclosures Act (also known as the Whistle Blowing Act). This makes it illegal to act against anybody making Whistle Blowing disclosures and includes substantial fines for companies not following the act.

Some long term readers here may recall at various times I have kept that legal protection running by reconfirming in posts here that declarations I make are covered under the PIDA.

However not even this threat has worried the current management and they have carried on openly disadvantaging my position within the WSR, excluding me from the WSR and taking various other actions which contravene the PIDA (which I’m continuing to add to my personal ‘charge sheet’ for later use).

My point is, in my opinion there is a culture of fear within the WSR, much of it implied and veiled but real nevertheless. None of these people are going to put their heads in a noose that has been freely used (despite all the rules designed to stop it happening) a number of times before and I don’t blame anybody for one minute for staying silent in public but complaining bitterly quietly to friends and colleagues (which is what is happening), I’ve heard the same rumours as well. There is no Sheriff in town to protect them and once you speak you can’t take it back.

Ask yourself: How much longer can this go on before somebody does something really, really stupid and this sorry, sad situation gets out of control and the railway I know you love is really damaged beyond repair or sinks under a large legal and compensation claim bill.

Ian, Rather than saying everything is great, we are all lovely people just trying to do a good job, nothing is wrong and we are not the problem the others are and they need to stop moaning now. your time and reputation would be better spent looking inwardly and seeing how you can take the real and perceived fear away (both are real and tangible to the person who feels it), encourage your Board to openly state the WSR is a safe place to have an opinion and WSSRT Members can vote however they wish, and then support anybody who feels that’s not the case as opposed to saying it is all a conspiracy and hogwash.

Please be one of the people to help break the cycle.

 

Coming to terms, confronting and dealing with the past is very difficult and one of those intractable problems. Although comparisons with Nazi Germany or other post-dictatorship states are slightly awry, the underlying principles remain true: what to do with factions who have been in conflict with one another.

Put simply Bailey is set up to exclude the losers, WSSRT10 is set up to include the losers. I think I know which one is more likely to lead to a peaceful Somerset in the short, medium and long term.