Has the RNLI lost the plot?

jonjo said:
This obscenely rich charity could provide its commercial Bay Watch service free of charge to our threadbare local authorities so they could then spend more on care of the elderly.

There would be other benefits such as saving lives e.g. the 5 who drowned at Camber Sands last year.

The RLNI needs to be exposed for what it has become, it is now little more than the Rich Gits free nautical breakdown service that is managed by overpaid executives whose new specialism is upsetting volunteer crew leading to the closure of lifeboat stations.

Our national priorities are screwed up and the RNLI is a prime example.
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do you really think the government could run a better service?

I didn't tow in many gin palaces in my 30+ years as crew, plenty of small yachts, the pride and joy of their owners, fishermen, children in rubber dinghies etc, the odd swimmer and the very occasional arrogant yachtsman who knew everything
 
Bru said:
I suspect it isn't quite that simple as just opening more stations

Sure, financially RNLI could probably afford to do so (and I say probably advisedly, they may appear to be floating in cash but a lot of their money is tied up in assets, ring fenced legacies, investments and future proofing etc) but there's much more than just money to consider

Firstly there has to be a suitable site for a new lifeboat station

Secondly there has to be a pool of suitable volunteer crew and support staff available in the immediate area

Thirdly, and the grubby little secret I suspect, there has to be enough activity to generate a decent number of genuine shouts per annum. A volunteer crew who only get called out a few times a year is going to lost interest so too many stations would be bad for morale

I would like to see the RNLI make grants and training available to independents though. I happen to think they can, as an organisation, be a bit too precious about wanting to be the only lifeboat organisation
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the RNLI have a constant coastal review programme which has resulted in several new stations being opened in recent years and one station (St Abbs) being closed additionally change of boat etc

interestingly at least 4 independent stations have asked recently to become RNLI operated
 
dogleg said:
do you really think the government could run a better service?

I didn't tow in many gin palaces in my 30+ years as crew, plenty of small yachts, the pride and joy of their owners, fishermen, children in rubber dinghies etc, the odd swimmer and the very occasional arrogant yachtsman who knew everything
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+1. The day the state takes over supervision of the RNLI is the day my (admittedly modest) contributions cease and general taxation can take over. At present, for all I know, it may not be perfect, but it works and is solvent. And apart from taxis and pubs not that much else in this benighted country of ours does. Anyway I am off to The Lounge to calm down.....
 
The RNLI is a World Class organisation and I'm incredibility proud of it!! The volunteers, the fund raisers, the crew etc - nothing like it outside the British Isles and Ireland.
If I die leaving no family behind, I'll happily leave them everything in my will!!
 
jonjo said:
I find it criminally offensive that the RNLI kept £800 million in the bank while trying to pressurise an impoverished District Council into paying for its commercial Bay Watch service. Result 5 drowned at Camber Sands.
The RNLI should be taken into State control, a charity that claims to be "The charity that saves lives at sea" which in actuality prefers to count its huge bank balance rather than saving lives, is not fit to be called a charity.
The £800 million could be put to far better uses. Instead of offering a free towing service to broken down £1 million Sunseeker gin palaces, how many nurses could be employed if the Government sequestrated the RNLI's dosh?
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You get my vote for Forum Loony of the year!
 
Bru said:
I would like to see the RNLI make grants and training available to independents though. I happen to think they can, as an organisation, be a bit too precious about wanting to be the only lifeboat organisation
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I get mildly irritated by their tagline of "the charity that saves lives at sea", because there are many other charities which save lives at sea.

I quite take your points about opening new lifeboat stations, by the way. As I wrote, I am not saying it's something they should do, but it's certainly an alternative to upgrading existing ones. An equivalent goes for boats; to me the strength of Sybarite's point about the relative cost of RNLI and SNSM lifeboats is not that the RNLI could spend less (they have the money, why not spend it) but that they could have twice as many boats if they went for SNSM standards. Again I am not saying that they should, but I think it's worth bearing in mind.
 
jonjo said:
I find it criminally offensive that the RNLI kept £800 million in the bank while trying to pressurise an impoverished District Council into paying for its commercial Bay Watch service. Result 5 drowned at Camber Sands.
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I'm no great fan of the RNLI lifeguard service, but I think that £800 million is wrong. As I recall, someone in the know told us that the "reserves" of charities in accounting cover everything needed to provide their charitable services, and so include the current value of lifeboats, station buildings and other infrastructure.
 
thecommander said:
The RNLI is a World Class organisation and I'm incredibility proud of it!! The volunteers, the fund raisers, the crew etc - nothing like it outside the British Isles and Ireland.
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The RNLI performs the role of a comfort blanket for the retired Carpetbagger Generation of this country, deep down this generation knows it wrecked this Nation State.

  • The national debt is soaring towards £2 trillion.
  • The NHS is breaking down.
  • Scotland wants to bail.
  • The young are cursed for life by student loan debt.
  • Our pot hole strewn road network already resembles a 2nd world country and is getting worse.
  • The Royal Navy would struggle to dispatch 5 combat ready ships to respond to a Falklands style event.
  • A Russian fleet can sneak up to the 12 mile limit before the military wakes up.
  • Meritocracy has been replaced by State subsidised inherited privileged.
Buy hey, Britain is still great because we have a proficient deluxe nautical breakdown service that panders to every need of hapless middle class leisure boaters.
 
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Grumpybear said:
So Jonjo wants to nationalise the RNLI and privatise the Navy. Hmmmm.....
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No.

I have advocated that 6 Royal Navy squadron commanders be given the entire Royal Navy annual budget to spend as they see fit on their assigned operational remits. Through such a radical implementation of "fund the front line" it would be possible to increase the combat strength of the RN by 50%.
 
jonjo said:
No.

I have advocated that 6 Royal Navy squadron commanders be given the entire Royal Navy annual budget to spend as they see fit on their assigned operational remits. Through such a radical implementation of "fund the front line" it would be possible to increase the combat strength of the RN by 50%.
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I wonder if you realise just how right you are.
 
thecommander said:
I think this thread should be renamed to - "Has jonjo & Sybarite lost the plot?"! :encouragement:
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While I do not agree with them I think the subject is worthy of consideration.
Years ago we had an RNLI collecting box in the plan print room at our office and rather than put small walk in cash printing jobs through the books the money went in the box, we probably took at least £20 a week, mostly in notes but we had the devil of a job getting the box emptied or exchanged, in the end we switched to a famine relief charity (Trocaire) who came in, exchanged the box regularly, then phoned and told how much was in it and how they planned to spend it, it made us feel that the collection was worth something. I suspect the wee village fund raising coffee mornings and the £10 added to Yacht Club subs. are just a nuisance to the RNLI but they have to put up with them to keep their public profile.
 
jonjo said:
The RNLI performs the role of a comfort blanket for the retired Carpetbagger Generation of this country, deep down this generation knows it wrecked this Nation State.

  • The national debt is soaring towards £2 billion.
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  • Almost Abbottesque in the command of the numbers to back up the "argument"?
 
Topcat47 said:
God help us if the government ever get their hands on the. RNLI! Look at the mess they've made of the Coastguard Service.
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What mess have they made of the Coastguard Service? Apart from a few old lags grumbling - it's what old lags in any organisation do, I'm one myself - what actual, genuine problems have there been? You know, with evidence? I have had one recent CG interaction, resulting in some help from Campbeltown lifeboat, and it was all very calmly and efficiently handled.
 
JumbleDuck said:
What mess have they made of the Coastguard Service? Apart from a few old lags grumbling - it's what old lags in any organisation do, I'm one myself - what actual, genuine problems have there been? You know, with evidence? I have had one recent CG interaction, resulting in some help from Campbeltown lifeboat, and it was all very calmly and efficiently handled.
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down our way some of them cant even pronounce shipping forecast area names correctly
 
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