Excellent news for the NSW police force last week with the brightest and best singled out for the force’s Police Officer of the Year awards, the POTYs.
Congratulations to all 10 category winners, with particular mentions for Leading Police Constable Amanda Vidler who was judged top POTY for 2019 as well as the officer who snapped up the force’s Customer Service Excellence Award, Senior Constable Michael Crooks.
PS-sssst! thinks it must take a particularly committed policeperson to serve the handmaiden of justice under such an unpolicelike name as ‘Crooks’.
Best wishes to the Senior Constable who does!
Plain sailing
And staying with oh-so apropos names, the New Zealand authority responsible for safety at sea, Maritime NZ, has launched a new campaign to attract more women to the country’s maritime industry.
Reporting that the few women already in the industry enjoyed the power of leadership as well as adventurous careers on the high seas, the Agency hosted a World Maritime Day event to lure more women to its cause.
To assist it in driving home its case, it welcomed the Executive Director of NZ’s Marine Transport Association to puff some independent air into its mainsails.
And who better to ensure plain sailing ahead than the aptly named ED: Margaret Wind.
Acrimonious acronyms
To the ever popular game of spot the acronym now (STAN) in which PS-sssst! shines its light on the good, the bad and the downright ugly attempts at abbreviating names and titles which public sector agencies the world over seem to have a penchant for.
This week’s focus is on a trial coaching program conducted for the national workers compensation agency Comcare, designed to reduce the mental stresses of day-to-day public servicing.
Known as NewAccess, the trial program shows signs of success, but the same can’t necessarily be said for its accompanying acronym.
“NewAccess is a low intensity cognitive behaviour therapy (LiCBT) program ……” the official announcement announced.
‘Comcare is exploring opportunities to expand the LiCBT service…”
PS-sssst! wishes Comcare every success with its very worthwhile LicBTing but advises the rest of us to take great care pronouncing the BT bit after the LiC.
The ‘U’ may not always be silent!
Giving it away
To Rama Gaind’s regular weekly giveaway now in which three lucky PS News readers will become instantly delighted by winning the week’s giveaways but not before becoming instantly famous by having their names boldly published in Rama’s winners’ circle.
To be a delighted celebrity and win a 3-disc copy of the acclaimed TV series My Brilliant Friend starring Elisa Del Genio and Ludovica Nasti, all our winners needed to do this week was answer Rama’s quiz question and tell her who wrote the first in the series of Neapolitan novels exploring the complicated intensity of female friendship?
The answer was Elena Ferrante and the first three correct entrants to emerge from the PS News ‘Barrel of Booty’ belonged to Susan M of the Federal Department of Social Services, Phil A from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Karyn S of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone for taking part.
Rama has another Gaind Giveaway up for grabs right now so visit PS News link to give your chance a chance.
Good luck to all who do.
Question of driving?
And finally, the day has arrived when PS News’s gun motoring writer Paul Gover throws open his 40-years of drivetime experience to answer any and all of our questions about cars and driving and anything vehicular from the wonderful world of motoring in his new ‘Ask The Doctor’ column starting today.
A writer and editor for newspapers, magazines, books and online almost since Henry Ford was an apprentice, the revheaded Mr Gover has also raced cars for fun and fortune, taking almost every model on the planet for a test drive right up to Formula One, and is perfectly placed and prepared to share his wheel wisdom with us mere also-drivers.
So if you’re in the market for a new car, a used car, another car or just want to know why your car stopped unexpectedly on the way to work today, Paul the ‘Car Doctor’ is here to help. And it’s free!
Just send your query to [email protected] and tune in to the Car Doctor at this PS News link for your expert’s answer.
As always, it can be done anonymously.
Till next week……
Something to share?
Send to [email protected]
(And, yes, it can be anonymous!)
