Topical news if anything this week with the ACT’s local Government announcing a beefed up system for managing bushfires and emergencies in the capital with every Government organisation roped in to play a part.
Serendipitously just a few days before last week’s bushfire scare in the city and just 15 years after the 500-house, 4-death disaster of 2003, the new scheme centres around a ‘Whole of Government’ approach designed to make responses as efficient and effective as possible.
“The Director-Generals of all ACT administrative units ….. will automatically be appointed to the Security and Emergency Management Senior Officials Group,” the official announcement announced.
While PS-sssst! can only applaud the worthwhileness of the move we wonder why it couldn’t be announced using the English language.
According to Fowler’s Modern English Usage, the noun-hyphen-adjective word ‘Director-General’ is correctly pluralised as ‘Directors-General’ since ‘General’ is the adjective and adjectives don’t come in plurals.
And, just because we know we’re right, we reckon there’ll be plenty of similar examples in the public sector – e.g. Governors-General, Commanders in Chief, Men-of-War to name just a few – so we have some fabulous book prizes to giveaway to coax them out.
So if you know of any, please share them with us at [email protected] with the most entertaining rewarded with a free book or two.
To enjoy the entertainment next week, simply watch these spaces, although doing so will make you a spaces-watcher.
Unfare menu
Another quick visit to Philomenaland now with the courtesy of Philomena S of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, who shares with us another gem of Philomenic fun, this time for dinner.
“Have you heard about the new restaurant called Karma?” Philomena asks cunningly.
“There’s no menu,” she said, “you get what you deserve!”
Very funny, Philomena. Will meditate on it!
Rama to the rescue
To PS News’s wild, weekly (and wegular) giveaway now in which another ultra-lucky reader has the chance to win a fabulous free-for-nothing prize just by reading one of our Queen of the Giveaways – Rama Gaind’s – entertaining and informative DVD or book reviews.
This week the irresistible prize is the five-episode DVD box set of the multi-award winning 1990s Aussie TV drama series Police Rescue starring Gary Sweet and Sonia Todd.
To scoop up the 18-disc collection, the wise and wily winner needed only adwise Rama of the number of series the 5-series blockbuster box contains.
The answer of course was 5 and the first correct entry to escape from the PS News Barrel of Booty with that answer was sent in by Frances C of the Federal Department of Education and Training in Canberra.
Congratulations Frances and thanks to everyone who took part in Rama’s game. The very impressive box set will be on its way to its new home very soon.
For another chance to join in Rama’s giveaway generosity, simply visit this week’s competition here and try your luck.
You’ll be surprised how easy it is.
Good luck to all!
Milestone scaled
And finally, heartiest congratulations all over to each and every PS News reader for their individual help in boosting our national subscription list past the magical mark of 200,000 at 31 October, an achievement any publisher (and any reader) should be very proud of.
It only took three weeks short of PS News’s 13th anniversary (21 November) to scale the milestone at 201,780 but it was a welcome feat, well worth working and waiting for.
For the record, the State and Territory editions subscriber lists which shared the record month were the Australian Public Service (now 75,062), NSW (28,326), Victoria (27,132), Queensland (16,724), WA (13,431), SA (9,646) and the Northern Territory (1,085).
As always, if you’re on the PS News list and don’t want to be, please help us keep it active and accurate by ‘unsubscribing’ but if you’re not a subscriber and would like to be, you can subscribe for free at this PS News link.
Till next week…….
