Stress in Loamshire

Things are looking up for Garth Bland, the beleaguered county archivist of Loamshire.

Regular readers will recall his adventures on the receiving end of government initiatives measured against the limited resources of a typical English or Welsh county record office (for example, see Bollocks, Bullshit and Balderdash)


The rolling Loamshire countryside: home of record stress levels among archivists

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced the launch of its fifth Rural Stress Action Plan, in collaboration with the Rural Stress Information Network and with the support of John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister (much admired for his own restraint in dealing with stressed members of rural communities).



The Deputy PM demonstrates how to relieve stress in rural areas

We asked Benedict Crumplethorne, spokesman on all matters emanating from Her Majesty's Government, to comment on the government's new rural anti-stress initiative.

Prescott's got it right at last. Instead of abolishing county councils and imposing regional government on an unwilling British people, he has turned his attention to the cutting edge of the shires.




Difficult depositor negotiations in hand

In these areas we find hard-pressed local government archivists negotiating with potential depositors, mounting exhibitions, listing massive backlogs, dealing with abusive customers, being quizzed by the press, making ends meet with tight budgets and doing manual handling work without manual staff.

The only remarkable thing is the National Council on Archives and the regions haven't got in on the act!

Now please excuse me, I need to take my tablets.

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