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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| From North Korea to Camden: staff at town hall told to address Labour councillor 'Dear Leader' |
| 2012-06-21 |
| It is a term more commonly associated with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, but a Labour-run council in North London was forced to apologise today after staff were ordered to refer to its new head as “Dear Leader”. The email was sent to all councillors at Camden Council by a junior administration worker. The worker has been given a dressing down and told that Councillor Sarah Hayward does not need to be eulogised in such a manner, and that “plain old Sarah” will do. The member of staff at Camden Council in north London, sent out a tersely-written email to staff after Miss Hayward took over as the new leader of the council last month. The email, sent on June 12, stated: “Dear All - Any correspondence to Councillor Hayward should be addressed to her as 'Dear Leader’ or 'Leader’ “Please inform all your staff.” The operation to keep the identity of the sender under wraps has all the hallmarks of an operation Kim Jong II would be proud of. Cllr Hayward insisted she had “no knowledge” of the email at the time it was sent - and said she was quite happy being called Sarah. She said: “It was nothing to do with me and I have no idea what prompted it. I am happy to be called plain old Sarah or anything really as long as it’s not offensive. “I hope people are not treating it seriously. It was a well-intentioned mistake. I’m not going into any naming and shaming though.” |
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| #1 A link would be nice. Here it is. There is less here than meets the eye. The "Dear" part is the normal salutation in a letter. I cringe every time I write it, and avoid it when I can, but it's the custom. The "Leader" bit is strange, though, unless it's some sort of Brit thing. What's wrong with "Councillor"? |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2012-06-21 21:12 |