[STUFF] Passing on the torch

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

Estimats cüncitaxhiens!

When the current Government was formed, I didn't particular want to take on the triple burden of Justice, STUFF and Technology. But the labour shortage among the Coalition parties was of such an extent that I had to. Thankfully Senator Plätschisch at least stepped in to make sure that I didn't have to be Seneschal as well.

My priorities as Minister of STUFF were:

• We will issue physical ID cards for those who successfully pass the Talossan Civics Test (to be conducted in an automatic online format).
• We will return to active production of Talossaware, including national flags of all sizes, passports, and lapel pins.
• We will organise a campaign to bring TalossaWiki up to date.
• We will simplify and update the content of the National Webspace.

I have achieved 3 out of 4 of those goals to my own satisfaction. The subject of Talossaware was left in the hands of my Deputy, Mic'haglh Autofíl, who did such a great job getting ID cards organised. The ongoing duties of STUFF are to maintain the content of the National Website, and to administer our social media. I have to admit that these are areas in which I am plumb out of energy and enthusiasm. To give an example; we removed the menus leading to many of the "informational" pages on talossa.com because the "iframe"-based technology which mirrored information from TalossaWiki had broken. Lüc da Schir has now fixed that. But that means it is now my responsibility to figure out how - or whether - to restore those pages. And I'm fresh out of ideas.

I feel the time is right to enact the content/admin split which was always envisaged when we split the Ministry of Technology from the Ministry of STUFF last year. To be precise: I announce my intention to resign as Minister of STUFF, and to recommend to the Seneschal to name Mic'haglh Autofíl as my replacement. I am happy to retain my other portfolios of Technology and Justice.

As to Technology, as many have heard me say before, I'm no tech expert, and I hope to be able to name a Permanent Secretary with more skills in that area sometime soon. The "Permanent Secretary" system - which allows those with the skills to do the work without having political responsibility, in consultation with elected politicians who set policy and answer the Terps - is one of the best reforms in Talossan history, IMHO, and is criminally underused at the moment.

Grült méirçi.

[Ian Plätschisch]

I hereby appoint @Mic'haglh Autófil, MC EiP Minister of STUFF with great thanks to D:na Schivă,