Um Bongo theme tune and the vet
What could be finer than sending a boatload of vets off to learn to bongo drum - at mine and your expense. Good grief.
Government officials have come under fire for sending vets and animal health experts on away-days at the taxpayer's expense at which they were taught to play the bongos.
The Animal Health agency, the Environment Department's (Defra) body responsible for the fight against diseases such as bovine TB and bluetongue, spent around ã500,000 on a series of 15 one-day conferences around the country.
As part of the events, around 1,700 vets and animal health experts normally on the front line of tackling diseases in livestock took part in drumming sessions.
Animal Health said the conferences were organised to give staff a chance to talk to senior management and discuss the organisation's new strategy.
The agency said staff participated "in a series of exercises which aimed to bring home the importance of effective working in an interesting, involving and fun way".
Participants then talked about what they had learned from the exercise "that would be applicable in responding to an outbreak of animal disease" - one of the agency's core roles.
Animal Health added that feedback had been "strongly favourable" overall about the days.
But one participant is reported to have complained that at a time of spiralling bovine TB rates, which left farmers stressed, animals being slaughtered and badgers suffering, vets were being taken away from their jobs to bang drums.
And shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert said: "It's incredible that when the nation's budget deficit is soaring and British farming faces a serious animal health challenge in bovine TB, the Government thinks it's necessary to teach its vets how to play bongo drums.
"It's these useless Defra ministers who need their heads banging together to stop wasting public money and deal with this dreadful disease, which left unchecked is costing millions of pounds and increasing animal suffering."
Googling bongo and then going to images can produce some strange results -
apparently they're a make of jeans, some sort of antelope and a net as well as a drum which Swampy and his mates seem to favour.
Older/Newer
« Kids using wheelie bins to get high | Toilet humour - US style »
Profile
Andrew Jackson - will be scouring the internet for the strangest stories, videos and pictures from around the world for your delectation.
My postings
Gavin Castle - will be getting every e-mail attachment you can think of. Yes, even that one. You know which one we mean.
