Time up for Question Time ?

 


The College is a secretive organisation, it hates parting with information; fact. Whether it's member's questions or muzzling the Council with threats of disciplinary proceedings, the RCVS is an information black-hole. So the decision to stage public Question Time events seemed like the first glimmerings of hope. The format was simple, invite the membership, dish up some food and let them loose ... well not quite Lord Copper, not quite. The invitations went out and the food appeared but that's where any resemblance to the advertised event stopped. Each of the evenings I attended opened with a question which had (so we were told) been submitted in writing before the meeting began. Initially I was a bit confused. Why should a question submitted anonymously by someone who couldn't be bothered to attend in person take precedence over those who had made the  effort ? Silly me. By taking control of the narrative from the get-go, the College was able to steer the conversation in the direction they wanted, not us. We were invited to be questioned, not to question. Clever huh ?

Perhaps I'm being overly conspiratorial but by refusing to share anything of importance with the membership - the membership lose interest - the membership feel alienated - the membership stop voting - cue justification to move to an appointments based system because of the derisory turnout ? 

So, given their clear aversion to openness of any kind, can we really trust the College to move from Council by election to Council by appointment. I fear not. How long would it take before the RCVS was completely dominated by the same self-promoting, careerist, busy-body, job-seeking, committee joiners (long in opinion, short in experience) that populate every NGO and QUANGO in the country,  The only way to keep our helium filled, gas-bag College even remotely terrestrial, is to keep it firmly tethered to the practicing profession i.e. to you and me. That means elections.

You (still) have the right to question candidates for the 2024 election. You might want to ask whether they will oppose any attempt to move to an appointments based system, it's up to you. It's like the local shop - USE IT OR LOSE IT. (here)
                            

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