Unmistakable signs of a society going round in circles up its own arse

A wise man once said something to the effect that if you wish to judge a society, you should look at how it treats its old, poor and defenseless.

I think we could safely say that a good place not to fall into any of those categories is Haringey. This is the North London Borough where every few years babies get tortured to death under the unseeing eyes of those paid to make sure such things don't happen.

I do not blame those on the front line, so to speak. If they do a bad job it is because they are badly trained and managed. But I saw something so bizarre today that convinces me that it starts even before that - with how the council recruits people.

Here are selected extracts from a job ad which make me think everyone running things in Haringey is living in some insane parallel universe; life as imagined by Dali or perhaps Hieronymus Bosch.

Heading: URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Car Park and Street Compliance Manager

What?????

"The Parking Service is looking for a Street Compliance Manager who will be able to manage the maintenance of signs, lines and street furniture relating to parking restrictions."

Street furniture????

Here's a bit more.

"You will be actively working as part of the Parking Operations Division promoting teamwork and encouraging a joined-up approach to responding to street compliance issues."

Now seriously, folks, did a sane person write that utter shit? Could it even be conceivable?

It goes on like that for a bit, with some more drivel about teams with a hilarious bit about "working in a pressurised office environment" which I assume means with a bunch of similarly demented form-fillers, then at the end it says "Haringey Council wants its workforce to reflect the diverse community it serves."

Er, we all know what that means.

How the hell can you hope to get people doing a proper job if everyone talks this incomprehensible moonshine? Madness.

Instead of looking after people the poor sods who apply for these jobs have to learn to talk this gobbledygook and pretend to believe in it, too, before they can hope to climb up the corkscrew ladder of opportunity at Haringey.

And we're paying for all this.

Words fail me.