Neil F Liversidge - "I am sorry that my friend Alan Lakey has left the APFA Council and I am sorry also he has done it in this way. "
25 July 2014
It's a bit like smashing up a musical instrument just because you don't play it very well. The puzzling thing though is that Alan was not as lacking in influence as he would now have us believe. He wanted APFA to major on a longstop campaign and it has been doing and continues to do so. He like me has been a vocal critic of CMCs. Chris Hannant and I met with the MoJ to voice those concerns and we continue to do so. Alan is critical of the FOS and knows full well that APFA is looking hard at how it operates because he's been there in the discussions. And when the Big Chief himself, Martin Wheatley, came to the Council, did we all sit there blowing smoke up his posterior? No. It was a polite but very frank discussion and I don't think Mr W left with the slightest doubt in his mind as to the concerns of the professions. It is NOT true that the Council just rubber stamps policy decided by the exec team. When it became APFA policy that FOS claimants should pay a commitment fee that proposal came from me and the Council, of which Alan was one, got behind it. Yes a lot of policy is fined out by the exec team because it's what we pay them to do but to suggest that the staff effectively dictate policy to the elected members is a gross fallacy and unfair to both staff and volunteers alike. So Alan, what is your real beef? The only knock-back you've had to my recollection happened yesterday when you proposed that the number of small-firm representatives be increased from four to six. Your proposal gathered no support, not even from me or the other small firms' rep Gary Bottriel. We didn't see the point of adding two more when all the current seats aren't even filled. Contrary to the oft-propagated myth APFA is not a battleground between the networks and nationals on one side and the small firms on the other. All concerned work for the profession as a whole and there is give and take to that end. The proof of this Alan has seen first-hand; there is hardly ever a split vote. I can't remember one while I've been on the Council. Unanimity has been pretty much the norm and that unanimity has not, to my recollection, excluded Alan.
Long-term beneficial change most often derives from well the painstaking work of like-minded people who may well think differently but who aim toward a common goal, not from individual emotional spasms.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely
neil
