Two stories this morning that touch on the art of staffing politicians:

It seems the PMs Press Secretary contacted the Palace – yes, Buckingham Palace in an attempt to confirm Margaret Thatcher’s death. Turns out Minister John Baird’s cat died in Ottawa and caused rumours to swirl at a fancy-pants gala in Toronto. Just one question: did the Blackberry browser fail to load Google News? Was an email to the UK really even needed when a quick check with either their or our High Commission would have done the trick?

Senator Mike Duffy is being giggled at by Canada’s tech and political elite. The “Senator Duffy” parody account on Twitter isn’t nearly as funny as who the good Senator Duffy contacted in an attempt to have the joke stopped – the parliamentary IT department. I can only imagine the howls of laughter when the folks in Information Services on the Hill were finished with that call.  Quick staffing tip to the Senators office: dealing with this sort of thing is your job.

Thatcher photo credit