The first law of government is that it continuously expands, and the third is the way left of centre parties make that their main cause. The process is aided by the way much of the media conducts the public debate, by the balance of lobby groups, by the very language used about government and by the budgeting systems used.
The media parades lobby groups who want more spent and more done by government as their daily diet of political news. They rarely give time to the few groups who want citizens to do more and for citizens to have more freedom. Anyone seeking a tax cut is asked what spending they will cut, whilst anyone wanting more public spending may not be asked what tax they wish to put up.
The language of politics deployed implies government is virtuous and uniquely able to do what is right. Any abuse or inequality brings forward strong lobby groups for a government answer even though some of the abuses and inequalities have been created by previous government interventions. A mistake by a private sector company is exposed and pursued whilst larger errors by public services are often excused or glossed over. Any train problem for example is wherever possible directed to private train companies away from nationalised Network Rail and the public regulators.
The budgets are rarely expressed in pounds in the way the rest of us have to budget against a background of a fixed net income. They are recast in so called real terms. Commentators assume inflation linked increases and often require a special and higher inflation figure to be included. They often also assume already agreed increases. Politicians usually concentrate on so called new money, meaning a further increase in sums agreed over and above the base budget. The dishonesty of budgets distorts the debate, with debates always being about cuts yet public spending goes up every year. The complex ways of claiming increased money is a cut also makes it difficult for most people to join in, as a privileged public spending elite pursue their own arranged figures for their own benefit. All my political life I have heard about cuts, yet there has been a huge cash increase and substantial real increase  in overall spending.
The public sector gurus dismiss the idea of productivity gains in the public sector, or pencil in low figures for them. Whilst it is clearly true that to have a high quality health service you need plenty of good quality nurses and doctors, the rise of ever better technology should allow productivity gains. Many parts of the public sector are large administrative systems where computer technology should allow substantial productivity wins.
May 16, 2021
“The media parades lobby groups who want more spent and more done by government as their daily diet of political news.”
The problem has always been the media, particularly the ubiquitous BBC.
Maybe Andrew Neil’s new news outlet will be able to add balance to the proceedings ?
May 16, 2021
I believe many journalists are lazy and get much of their copy handed to them by the PR sections of the NGO’s and other pressure groups. Evalyn Waugh had it right.
May 16, 2021
@Cynic
That is precisely how it works. Media Groups can no longer afford investigative journalists, in part due to the competition for advertiser/sponsors that keep the industry running from internet rivals.
There is a little club(named after a comedy group) on Old Compton Street were these empires and lobby groups hang out. The Club has lots of private entertainment rooms were all the business is done, the food is not great but the booze flows and as a peripheral outsider being entertained its quite amusing. These Media People need to attract the Sponsors, the Lobby Groups need to keep the media on-side to justify their calls for ‘taxpayer’ funding – put them all in the same room and look around its bizarre.
The freighting bit is they see themselves as the ones that actually run the State(Not kidding). Not forgetting in all this that our PM was a ‘story’ writer for the media. So when you start connecting the dots, the UK’s Democracy is in a horrid place a horrid cesspool of a place.
May 16, 2021
Exactly and on so many topics journalist have so little understanding of the subject they are unable to see through the lies or propaganda they are being fed. This especially in areas of science, statistics, economics and similar as most have English Degrees or similar. Almost always hilarious when they start explaining some statistics in their columns.
Why for exampe do so few journalists point out the problems of wind power and electric cars and how little they make sense even in CO2 terms let alone climate terms. See the excellent short video âthe impossibility of windmillsâ by Jan Smelik with some simple, correct maths to illustrate the problem wonderfully.
May 16, 2021
âAny train problem for example is wherever possible directed to private train companies away from nationalised Network Rail and the public regulators.â
The government had basically privatised British Rail, but then over time reinvented it as a really bad, disjointed, expensive, unaccountable nationalised industry.
Rail disaster due to loss of trained staff and poor maintenance was an early problem.
The private element are franchisees. They take the money and provide a basic service for as long as it suits them, or until they are kicked out. If passenger numbers drop itâs no skin off their nose, they still get paid by government. Any profits they make are often invested in European railways. They certainly have no broader plans for rail development in the UK.
The government gets involved in plans for expensive new rolling stock, only to find that they are not fit for purpose or they cannot work until the network is upgraded. Meanwhile there are still fees to pay while the trains are out of service.
So we have a nationalised rail industry, or one that is totally under government control, but it is a disaster and the government are too proud to admit failure.
A joined-up, wholly owned service with experienced and competent employees who have a long term interest would be so much better. I say this as one commuted by train for decades.
May 16, 2021
Look at Grenville Tower 99% a state sector problem. They owned it, they pointlessly clad it for idiotic green crap reasons at vast expense, they determined the cladding specs., the fire service failed to fully put out the initial fire fully and absurdly (even when it was clearly out of control) the idiotic fire âexpertsâ told people to stay in go back to their flats for many hours.
But doubtless they will find somewhere else to place the blame in the private sector!
May 16, 2021
Very good post Sir John.
For decades both the
Civil and Public services have self elevated themselves to a position of sacred cow status and apart from very minor tweaks around the edges regarding efficiency, responsibility and accountability there remain virtually untouchable. Maybe if pay scales were based on performance, efficiency and effectiveness then the two organisations would be dragged kicking and screaming into the real world of the 21st century.
May 16, 2021
If you want to prevent outrages such as the banking collapse, Grenfell Tower, horse meat being sold as beef by UK abattoirs, 400, 000 discharges of sewage into UL watercourses, and a whole range of rip offs across many industries, then you have to have independent inspection and enforcement where the officials have no motives to cut corners.
Self-certification and out-sourcing these back to people from the respective industries is a recipe for disaster, literally, as we see with Boeing.
Doing just that is central to John’s doctrine.
Having a decent, safe country for its people is the aim of the Labour Party on the other hand.
May 16, 2021
@MiC; Good comment Martin, for once you have left the “B” word in its box, not that Labour govts are immune from making regulatory errors, ‘Ronan Point’ in the 1960s for example, although the required regulation were changed quickly in light of the inquiry findings.
May 16, 2021
Independent you say MiC
All the examples you listed happened whilst the UK was a member of the EU and whilst we followed their rules, regulations, directives and laws which affected these areas.
They were the responsibility of independent agencies like the Health and Safety Executive, the Environmental Agency, Council planning departments, the Food Standards Agency and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Your logic is like blaming the Police for crime.
May 16, 2021
The Labour party is all but destroyed. It cares more about Palestine than it does its own voters.
May 16, 2021
MiC
I was under the impression that Grenfell Tower was in a Labour controlled council area?
Please feel free to correct me if Iâm wrong!
May 17, 2021
It was Tory when the tower was clad, I understand.
May 17, 2021
And still is Tory.
May 17, 2021
MiC
Yes youâre absolutely correct, the impression that I had was wrong for which I humbly apologise!
May 17, 2021
You donât need to apologise Lester, this cladding was used on may Labour council area blocks too. Read up on Salford & Manchester. It was authorised for use. We will discover who authorised it.
May 16, 2021
Good Morning,
Thank you Sir John for this analysis; are you the only MP thinking this way, I do hope not?
Before certain people here have a go at the NHS, which undoubtedly could improve in many ways, please look at the data:
1, Expenditure on health care by country:https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2020/07/how-does-the-us-healthcare-system-compare-to-other-countries
2. life expectancy by country: https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
Lets get more efficient and cut the vanity projects, we can then cut taxes and balance the books.
May 16, 2021
Most countries spend just over 10% on healthcare as does the UK, the outlier is the USA at 17%. Doctors and medical professionals in the UK are paid an average of circa ÂŁ100k yet in the US and Canada nearly three times as much. Plus we have litigation lunacy in the US.
Only about 50% of UK trained doctors go on to work for the NHS such a poor employer are they. Many can earn far more outside the medical profession or go overseas. However you look at it the NHS it is (measured by outcomes) a very poor, very inefficient, virtual monopoly, rationing system. It fails millions and kills thousands.
A ÂŁ100k salary does not go far when you lose 40% in tax, NI, commuting costs and have perhaps ÂŁ150k of student debt plus interest to repay, live on and buy a house. So why not go overseas or get a less stressful job in the city. The NHS treats many doctors and medical staff appallingly. Our best home trained doctors often leave and are replaced by imported doctors who do tend to have less good negligence records statistically.
To get more money into UK healthcare and diminish waiting lists encourage more to go privately with tax breaks and abolish free at the point of rationing & delay.
May 16, 2021
How much money is wasted training doctors for 5-8 year when only 50% go on to work for the NHS? Rough estimate ÂŁ200 million PA and that is just the Doctors. Another stupid thing about the training of doctors is that they do not train them directly,almost from the outset, to do specific jobs. A GP triage job, an eye surgeon, a hip and knee surgeon, a skin specialist, mental health, abdominal surgeon, broken leg specialist … Engineers do not have to know about all aspects of engineering civil, mechanical, manufacturing, rocket, electronics, power, combustion, aerodynamics, jet propulsion … before they design or replace a turbine or an aircraft fuel tank pump system. Why not shorten training in this way to save ÂŁbillions and improve quality too they can get help from other specialisms if and when needed. Healthcare could learn a lot from a Toyota production line.
May 16, 2021
Answers:
Train medical staff for free, but it must depend on them staying with the NHS for, say 5 years after qualification or the student fees must be repaid.
Which speciality a doctor selects can only come after some years of general training and experience, since the human body and mind (both of patients and medics) are rather more erratic than mechanical or electronic components. Some will discover they are best at churning out hip or heart transplants, some may prefer mental health issues.
Question: why the heck isn’t the UK training more doctors?
May 16, 2021
The clue is in the title ‘ General Practioner’ – not Specialist Doctor.
May 16, 2021
Well a GP is a specialism their job is really a gate keeper to decide who need further investigation or to see a consultant or go directly to casualty and who just needs basic drugs, ointments, a minor procedure or nothing at all.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
It has been estimated that it costs us ÂŁ100K to train each doctor. UK medical students shouldn’t have the option to work anywhere but the NHS for at least 5 years.
May 16, 2021
Secret. I’ve always thought the same.
May 16, 2021
It that not a form of bonded labour of slavery?
âThe first law of government is that it continuously expands, and the third is the way left of centre parties make that their main cause.â Indeed and we only have left of centre parties economically it seems not that Boris has flipped into a climate alarmist, lockdown socialist.
It is even worse than this though, as they expand they deliver less and less of any real value and using more and more complexity of red tape and âlicensingâ they create ever more parasitic and pointless jobs in the private sector too. A malignant tumour for the economy, growing and growing to slowly kill it dead.
May 16, 2021
New doctors alone build up about ÂŁ150k of debt + interest while at University for 5 or 6 years and many will never repay these debts fully and the University places are subsidised. Especially the (slightly more than 50%) female ones as they take more career breaks and are more likely to work part time.
May 16, 2021
Agreed
In exchange for free of cost training you are bound to work for the NHS for 5-10 years
Failure to work for the NHS for the agreed period and you are contracted to pay for the training in full.
May 16, 2021
It is not credible to claim to be in favour of lower taxes and spending without addressing the issue of rampant state expenditure on pensioners. Close to half – half – of all government spending goes on state pensions, social care for the elderly and extra NHS care for the old. And these people mostly do not contribute as much as they cost. Indeed, most have never contributed as much as they cost. Try to tell them this and they get angry.
It is a very uncomfortable elephant in the room for a party which relies on the elderly for its electoral support – but elderly entitlement really does need addressing.
And, yes, I know you will all complain that you are âcash poor.â Sell your homes then. Youâre asset rich. Easy.
May 16, 2021
I think this could be a really great idea for for Sir Keir Starmer and Labour to achieve the cut through they need – any chance you could persuade them to take on the policy of withdrawing state healthcare and pensions for old people in time for the next election?
(Stifles laugh…)
May 16, 2021
A good wheeze.
May 16, 2021
An alternative would be to stop NHS for everyone, abandon state schools, close all youth services, stop public spending on transport and defence.
I’ll live on private savings.
May 16, 2021
If these old are asset rich with their homes they will pay 40% IHT on death. Their state pensions have been bought by paying NI and Taxes for perhaps 45+ years. Their private pensions similarly and they pay income tax on these and indeed Council Tax for the house. A shame the various UK governments have largely wasted all these contributions on various nonsenses like HS2, counterproductive wars, ever larger parasitic government and the idiotic war on CO2 plant food.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
Well Said.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
Here you are again ageist Andy to provoke people. You canât claim to be socially minded and then want to cut off the most vulnerable at a time when they canât do anything about it. They are not all stonking rich as you say, they donât all own million pound properties in the South, youâd find those that do generally look after themselves.
What bit of the National Health Service providing your pension and taking over private pension savings do you not understand? NEST – another 8% out of PAYE workers with no guaranteed returns, there is going to be an awful lot of upset people when they realise just what this will provide them with. Public sector workers pensions are the time bomb, 25% of their pay hasnât been put up and theyâre retiring earlier than most and claim it for longer.
So tell me socialist Andy, do you agree with people being asked to pay more rent for extra bedrooms, do you think Councils and Housing Associations should force more retired people that are in family homes but relying solely on Housing benefit into affordable one bedroom properties to free up these family homes? Do you think these people holding on to Central london HA properties should be forced out to give up their homes to workers, where is your line?
May 16, 2021
The current cohort of pensioners spent their working lives voting for borrow and spend governments, who put nothing by for when the voters would retire. Shouldn’t these own up to their responsibility for the massive national debt the next generation have to suffer?
As ever, everyone expects everyone else to pay.
May 16, 2021
Not really the Tories who have been in power mostly (other the the Blair era always promise lower taxes, more efficient government, less EU and bonfires of red tape – they just nearly always ratted on the deal with their voters. Heath, even Thatcher, Major, Cameron, May and now Boris.
May 16, 2021
Well, indeed. Help To Move would be vastly better for young people than Help To Buy.
My concern is that old white people have become the #1 enemy in our country but please read Peter Hitchens today on the march of the left through our institutions and the Tory Party.
A young person is disallowed from having conservative (small c) views, or at least expressing them. The BBC is busy telling them what they must think and their dramas are unwatchable because we are told who to like and what is acceptable – plots twisted out of all resemblance to the originals in order to feed the zeitgeist.
There are none spanking the pension system more than Leftists who retire from State employment in their fifties, or even double-dip into their sixties.
Your policies are being well catered for by this government and 11 years of Tory rule and we have not really left the EU at all. Old people may vote for them out of habit but they certainly aren’t getting what they want.
May 16, 2021
The concept of State pensions was introduced when life expectancy was far lower than today, so there was a pyramid with a large base of taxpayers supporting a small number of pensioners; over the last 40 years, that pyramid has been inverted.
The concept of the NHS was also introduced when life expectancy was far lower than today, women often died in childbirth, cancer, infections and heart disease killed most sufferers sooner rather than later, and severely handicapped babies died rapidly rather than needing care for decades.
Other than undertaking a nationwide killing spree to remove the sick, the mentally and physically disabled (both young and old), and anyone at all over 65 without a ÂŁmillion or two stashed away to support themselves (which many people, regardless of their age or creed, might consider a tad immoral), how would you significantly improve the situation, Andy?
May 16, 2021
Swap the words pensioners for immigrants Andy and re-read your post.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
@NS; Indeed, but two wrongs does not make such rants any more correct!
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
Andy
I must be the exception, Iâm 76 and I live in rented accommodation so Iâd love to have your advice, but I seem to recall that you never provide answers to questions posed but just continue to churn out your diatribe against the elderly….
Iâm waiting?
Not really ….
May 16, 2021
More hate mail from “Andy” targeting the elderly. Would this hate mail have been approved for posting if he had attacked gays, Muslims, women or black people? UGH!
May 16, 2021
I donât hate the elderly. I hate the system. There is a difference.
May 16, 2021
Yet when people call for reduced immigration you label them racists andy.
You are using different logic to suit your prejudices.
May 16, 2021
+100
May 16, 2021
then you should have paid more attention in class to ‘self expression’, and comprehension, even a modicom of economics.
So as long as the ‘system ‘ leaves the elderly almost destitute you are quite happy?
May 16, 2021
Andy
That doesnât come across in your posts, you assert that the elderly have properties that they can sell, how does the system come into play in that situation?
May 16, 2021
White old men are fair game it seems. The JCVI anti-male, discriminatory, vaccination priority order bumped off 1000+ extra of them. Not to good for their very many widows either.
The papers all seem to be against a particular creationist in Northern Ireland today. True it is bonkers to think the world is less than 10,000 years old given the vast evidence to the contrary. But then nearly all religions have equally mad belief systems, so why pick on him? Because he is a DUP politician I assume.
May 16, 2021
Lets direct the point to Sir John. Well do you, would you, approve for posting someone on here attacking Muslims OR other religions, women, black or asian people, LGBTTTQQIAA?
Attacking the elderly, and it appears to be elderly white people, ie the indigenous or native, is given space almost daily, yet many on here object most strongly to what seems a ‘hate crime’.
May 16, 2021
@Andy. More rubbish from you. You seem incapable of retaining what you read or understanding clear English in that you keep insisting pensioners are getting something for nothing and are a burden. You never actually come up with a solution so you’re not as clever as you like to think. Think on though because one day you will be a pensioner and hate mail might be directed at you.
May 16, 2021
Andy
A home is more than an asset or a pile of bricks. It has a lifetime of memories within it’s walls. Friends and family are near and as you get older it is less easy to meet and make new friends.
At our age, we haven’t got the energy to pack up a lifetime of bits and pieces.
If we did sell, we would still need somewhere to live and of course, it is not just the value of our property that has increased, they all have. The only way to cash in on the property is to move well away from our friends and family but who wants to do that? Thirty years ago maybe but not now.
I suspect that had my lifetime NI contributions been paid into a private pension, I would have been far better off than I am but, society has decided that each generation takes care of both the previous and next generation. I did paying crazy levels of tax out of my nurse’s salary as did my wife. It is our turn now to receive the benefits of the next generation’s contribution.
It is said that society can be judged by how it treats its elderly and vulnerable people, compared to most developed nations, our pensions are not as generous as you believe they are.
Now where do I send the Wurthers?
May 16, 2021
@Andy,
The real reason for High Taxes has got little to do with Politics (and we need Low Taxes). It’s because our society is dysfunctional – everyone is at war with each other, family members against family members, neighbours at war or not talking with each other, the rich against the poo, men against women, socialists against hard-right-wing capitalists, and so on.
The main way to get Far Lower Taxes, is to address the underlying reasons for our dysfunctionality. And they are:
1) Poor relying on the State instead of their own Families
2) (Except that Family Life is broken down for all kinds of reasons got little to do with politics)
3) The poor jealous of the rich and the rich looking down on the poor
4) Greed instead of Work Ethic
5) Me-me-me individualism (from all – the rich, the poor, the average) as opposed to what I can do for my country (Patriotism / sense of Public Duty).
Politicians can only do so much. Most of the hard work needs to be done by people in Education, the Media, the Arts, C of E. But Education is full of lefties. The Media is full of people trying to make a quick buck – dumbing everything down. The Arts are non-existent compared to the days of Mozart and Bach and Shakespeare. And the C of E is often so wet.
True Conservatism needs to go back in time to the values of great Conservatives (not necessarily politicians) of people such as Edmund Burke, Jane Austen, Samuel Johnson, Sir Christopher Wren, Quakers who were so good in business. To focus Conservatism too much on politics is a modern Heresy. At the time of The Renaissance, to be cultured was about far more than an interest in politics, but in Education, the Arts and so on.
We need to embrace Work Ethic, Family Life, Patriotism, Public Duty, and so on. Then Taxations will shoot down to 20% or something. Perhaps, even lower. Whilst creating a strong and interesting and colourful civilisation based on a strong and stable and high-productive economy that creates strong British brands and has strong exports.
May 16, 2021
Andy
Just wondered if your parents are aware or read John’s Website comments.
Would be interesting to hear their views.
May 16, 2021
As all political parties are left of centre the lobby groups and media with a left leaning agenda have little opposition to their activities. The deficiencies in government get overlooked as they are a symptom of large government. An acceptable downside providing government sticks with the big government left wing agenda.
Productivity gains through technology are not a goverment strong point. First they are just not good at technology and second they can print or tax levy the money to pay for it. The private sector has to be the opposite or die.
The BBC is a classic example of the public sector at its worst. Sprouting left wing propaganda because the staff are recruited for that purpose. Inefficient and grossly expensive, as it is allowed to be a direct taxing element of government. A situation thaf allows it to compete with the private media sector unchallenged. Unchallenged by government because they sing from the same hymn sheet.
My conclusion is that the great explosion post Brexit/Covid will be severely handicapped as long as this left of centre narrative is allowed to continue.
May 16, 2021
I should have added that the Covid crisis proved my point. Initially in government administrative hands it highlighted incompetense in PPE. Vaccine in private production and applied /managed by the talents of an investment banker, I believe, using the medical arm of the NHS performed miracles. Look at the socialist, left leaning, EU performance in this field to appreciate the incompetence of all left of centre big government. A lesson that will drift past our establishment as in a dream.
May 16, 2021
Certainly, and the BBC continues to enjoy statutory monopoly status with successive governments turning a blind eye to this situation, which would never be permitted outside the public sector. As you very rightly said, “The private sector has to be the opposite or die”.
May 16, 2021
We need to kill unfair competition from the state sector – it does vast harm – at the BBC, the NHS, housing, schools, universities, energy, transport, banking, the legal system and much else. It kills fair competition and most innovation. Yet âfair competitionâ authorities almost never look at unfair competition from the state sector.
May 16, 2021
@LL; “We need to kill unfair competition from the state sector â it does vast harm â at the BBC, the NHS, housing, schools, universities, energy, transport, banking, the legal system and much else.”
Oh come off it, it’s 2021, not 1981!
Except for Schools and the NHS, most of the other industries you cite are either totally within the private sector or face massive competition from the private sector, many having always done so. Any problem with lopsidedness these days is the weighted imbalance towards the private sector.
Even many of the the banks supposedly nationalised in 2007-8 (before being resold, merged or liquidated) are/were kept a good arms length from any State sector involvement. Also, just to put state sector involvement into perspective, it was the advent of the State owned National Giro(bank) in the late 1960s that forced the private banks to offer a similar range of services that we all take for granted these days.
The BBC (& Ch4) are constantly having to be content with the scraps when it comes to say sports coverage, often loosing out in the competitive bidding process, especially to the massive spending power of the subscription networks, even for sports that owe their popularity to the fact that a non profit broadcast allocated air time to the sport. Same with first TV screenings of blockbuster films, the subscription broadcasters buying the rights, same with big drama productions – and what the BBC do broadcast are almost totally bought in from or commissioned from the private sector.
May 16, 2021
@agricola; The same old biased anti BBC nonsense. Some seems to be forgetting that the BBC have in recent years, until the people concerned resigned to either take up an appointment within Downing Street or to start their own news channel, had programme/managing editors and presenters who were clearly on (or sympathetic to) the political right and who clearly leant to the political right in their editorial/presentational style. For far to many who post to our hosts site, left-wing content appears to be the equivalent to a bright sunny summers day, always remembered; whilst right-wing content is akin to rainy days, quickly if not instantly forgotten about!
May 16, 2021
Sorry Jerry, but some 20yrs ago I had two relatives and a young friend who worked in different depts at the BBC, and all were most aware that uttering pro-Conservative views even in the mildest fashion was regarded with considerable disfavour by senior management.
May 16, 2021
@SM; Well if we’re going to relate third hand opinion… I’ve know of four people who got out of the BBC, progressively since 1987, because they saw it becoming a bastion of right-wing thinking (and/or excessive govt pressure, beyond usual UK national security), documentary programmes cancelled, Director Generals forced out, commercialised decision making instead of decisions based on a PSB ethos.
Just to be clear, I do not want any bias, nor do I condom it, from whoever. The media might have been able to get away with such shenanigans in years past but these days when independent fact-checking is a few keyboard clicks away bias (more so blatant bias) is a fool’s paradise.
May 16, 2021
Jerry
You donât by any chance work for the BBC?
May 16, 2021
@Lester; No, but talking of the Spanish Inquisition, have you ever worked for Sky News (or one of the Murdoch print titles), do you work for GB News?…
May 16, 2021
Jerry
Sorry to disappoint you but Iâve never worked for any news organisation and how is the Spanish Inquisition relevant?
I merely enquired if you worked for the BBC, but I appear to have touched a nerve?
Your response seems to be a serious over reaction?
May 17, 2021
@Lester; “how is the Spanish Inquisition relevant?”
Perhaps I should have refereed to McCarthyism, possibly more relevant…
It is your response that seems to be the serious over reactions, as if a raw nerve has been touched, when all I did was (first, in reply to @agricola) state a few facts, and then politely, courteously, answer your question, simply going on to ask the same ‘loaded question’ in return. You appear defensive Lester, as if scared of your own reflection.
May 17, 2021
Jerry
You seem to be intent on escalating this, you seem to be a BBC supporter which is an unfashionable position to take nowadays and I merely asked your if youâre a BBC employee, and why would I be scared of my own reflection?
A truly bizarre response from you!
May 17, 2021
@Lester; Whilst you seem to be a Murdoch supporter, if not employee, which is an unfashionable position to take nowadays (after the phone hacking scandal…), so I can understand why you might wish to deign it, one whiff and your House of Cards is sure to collapse – well If you can cast daft assertions towards others…
“A truly bizarre response from you!”
Only to those who either wish to forget, or do not understand, what the McCarthyist era stood for. After all it was a similar rational as that put forward today by the hard right to justify their attacks upon the BBC and those who work within (or just those they think work or have worked within), even the language used ‘…do you or have your ever worked…’ is similar. How many times are we told “the BBC is full of lefties”, that it needs to be neutered; today the BBC, tomorrow no doubt Ch4, what then, target The Guardian newspaper, just as McCarthy moved from one broadcaster to the next and then from one Hollywood studio to the next?
The future of the BBC, and that of the TVL, has been debated for at least the last 30 years, neither the commercial nor subscription broadcasters want to see either the BBC or the TVL fee scrapped (for their own financial & operational reasons), the only group wishing to see the end of the TVL fee and, by extension, the BBC are right-wing activists.
May 17, 2021
Lester
Jerry holds a fixed pro BBC position and he will relentlessly respond and attack anyone who posts anything that has a different view to his own.
You may as well just give up.
He will never stop posting at you.
Let him have the final post and he will then go away.
May 17, 2021
Peter2
Thanks for your comment, I was already getting that impression, thanks again!
May 16, 2021
John, I applaud your new crusade to get the public to understand the realities behind the concept of government.
It seems that most people (not just in the UK) cannot comprehend that governments are – and always have been – made up of human beings who are just as subject to normal human frailties as everyone else. That’s not an excuse for short-sighted, greedy or psychotic behaviour, it’s an explanation.
I am also getting an increasing impression from comments posted here that some people believe there was a ‘golden age’ when only the most noble individuals entered politics for the most benign and unselfish reasons, nothing was ever done to benefit one group of the public over another, no-one tried to line his own pocket and no-one ever made a mistake. They are wrong, and while errors and corruption should of course be exposed and remedied, the voter-in-the-street must learn rather more about eternal frailties of human nature.
May 16, 2021
SM
It was not a Golden Age, it was a rescue mission. The era I think most people refer to would be between 1970 – 1990. In the Seventies the nation was going to hell in a hand cart. In the 1980’s and onwards many of the problems of the previous decade (eg rampant inflation) were under control. Even New Labour understood this. Nationalisation of private industry was frowned upon and we felt optimism. Now people have seen behind the curtain and have come to realise that there is a Globalist Agenda that seems positively dystopian, people are not so hopeful.
May 16, 2021
That Globalist Agenda is the greatest issue we face and the root of many other issues which, at first sight, may appear unconnected.
May 16, 2021
SM they may we be human beings, but they are not risk taking and entrepreneurial by nature. Risk is an integral element in progress. Think jet engines, radar, computers and just about all forms of technical innovation, not least the vaccine I hope you have in your arm. Left to government you would have none of it. That is the big difference between government and the private sector. Governments relationship is largely parasitic.
May 16, 2021
Agricola – I am very definitely NOT in favour of big government, for anyone, by anyone, anywhere.
Civilised management of and by a State should, in my view, acknowledge that the principal aims of government should be defence, provision of an independent legal system and policing. Yes, the innovation and risk-taking and forward-thinking should be left to the private sector.
Except it ain’t that simple, is it?
If a government is protecting its people militarily, couldn’t it also be argued they should be protecting them by universal provision of elemental healthcare? But who decides what is elemental healthcare? I could cite a dozen other major issues without blinking an eyelid. Hence different political views exist across the world, and we continue to drive our host to screaming point on occasions (I imagine!!!).
May 16, 2021
“The voter in the street….etc”
The voters have always known
It is said that there is a huge staff employed to nudge/direct public opinion.
They might be better employed writing essays countering stuff like that piece on the vax guy I read today.
If its true, frightening
If it’s not true counter it.
The policy seems to be ban things rather than explain.
The plebs can read and comprehend perhaps the nudgers can’t write.
May 16, 2021
Public spending as a percentage of GDP is far to high.
In one way or another public bodieare spending 53% of what we earn.
Much is wasted and much is unnecessary. We need a royal commission to check every aspect of public spending with the remit to cut it by 25%.
May 16, 2021
Most is wasted much does positive harm. 20% is more than enough it would be 20% of a much higher GDP though.
May 16, 2021
âï»żMany parts of the pubic sector are large administrative systems where computer technology should allow substantial productivity wins.â Agreed, but the track record of the NHS in this has been dire.
I am therefore deeply alarmed to see that whilst the newsmedia were distracted by the Queenâs Speech last week, an edict was issued requiring GP practices to surrender patient data to âNHS Digitalâ, by force of law, without option (remember that infamous quote âItâs a good day to break bad newsâ?).
Although the data is supposed to be âpseudomisedâ, it is a relatively simple matter to re-identify individual patients in many if not most cases, and wanton abuse of NHS data in defiance of patientsâ registered privacy preferences has been commonplace in the past.
Readers who share my concern are urged most strongly to visit the websites of âmedconfidentialâ and âtheysolditanywayâ without delay for more detailed information on this perfidious and stealthy, mandatory data-grab (the latter offering manifold audited examples of prior abuse – q.v. Wokingham CCG therein, Sir John).
Protest!
May 16, 2021
Excellent post. Letâs hope GB News when it starts up moves away from this leftist mantra of always pressing for more govt and more spending
May 16, 2021
If Brexit was the revolution that will enable escape from the controlling clutches of the EU, then a second revolution is required for voters to escape the controlling clutches of the UK establishment and it’s vast panoply of patronage. This implies a very long haul, dedicated advocates for change and, for all practical purposes for the the Conservative party to be turned inside out, either from within or by external pressures which threaten its position as a leading political party. There needs to be a challenge to the persistent brainwashing by establishment institutions that are aided and
abetted by a compliant media. Challenging voices are heard to find.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
I see Brexitist whinger David Frost is complaining about the Northern Ireland Protocol- which he negotiated. He negotiated massive frictions to trade – including within our own country – and is now moaning about the impact of the massive trade frictions he agreed.
I would have thought the man responsible for the two worst deals this country has ever agreed would want to fade into the background and not regularity remind us all what an epic failure he has been.
He was tasked with negotiating what the Brexitists told us would be the easiest deal in history. They told us we held all the cards. They told us it could be done in an afternoon over a cup of tea. And what did Frost achieve? Two pathetic deals which humiliate our country, which damage our businesses and which harm our people.
Ah well. We can – and we will – deal with Mr Frost at the inevitable public inquiry. Which really will not end well for him. In the meantime my taxes pay this unelected goonâs salary. What a waste of my money.
May 16, 2021
Never a day goes by without a new record in shamelessness being set by someone on the Right, does it, Andy?
May 16, 2021
Such as what exactly MiC?
May 16, 2021
Silence came the response.
May 16, 2021
It seems our kind host has had an attack of the vapors with this excellent offering from Mr Redwood. It appears he can no longer contain what he and most us know to be the truth. The public sector’s been politicised by an ideological force and has become not only a financial burden but also a direct threat to our freedom, our welfare and our life
John, for some strange reason doesn’t call for reform.
The State owned public sector has become highly political and dangerously extremist. Its purpose is meant to be utilitarian, functional and service led.
The NHS has become a political player. The Police have become political. Local councils promote politics rather than emptying the bins. Education has become a tool of indoctrination and oppression. All of this has been taking place since 1997 under both parties.
The political class to which Mr Redwood belongs are now so far removed from the lives of normal people they have become immune to the anger engendered by their actions.
Without reform Labour and the unions become detached from democratic control. Yes, the Tories are in government but it is Labour, the unions and their Marxist allies who have the most power.
If I was the PM the entire charade, the scam of the public sector would be exposed. It is time the Tories started representing the people and the taxpayer rather than itself as it uses our money to appease the unionised State sector
May 16, 2021
Boris has just appointed a LGBT adviser. Says it all about his Woke/Green/ Yellow administration. Not one conservative bone in his body.
May 16, 2021
You spend half of your time whingeing that the Government is trying to be master rather than servant of the people, and the other half carping because it is not in absolutely all respects.
Try to make up what appears to be your tormented, conflicted mind, at least on this.
May 16, 2021
Only when the majority of politicians and voters realise that the Government has no money of its own, only that which is taken from the people, will we even start to get a resolution to what the government should provide in the way of services.
Perhaps the answer in part is to publish each year, in detail, how much is spent by each department and on what they have provided for the money.
The NHS is free at the point of use, but it is not free, perhaps if more people realised this and were given a cost invoice for each hospital stay, many would appreciate it more.
Let us also breakdown the cost of benefits to show how much actual benefit is given out, and how much each system costs to run.
Only when you get down to the real cost of each service provided, will you be able to see its real value for money.
Some of it may prove uncomfortable reading with regards to actual cost verses perceived benefit.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
+1
Agreed. From my brief experience in the public sector/civil service, I suspect there is not much difference between the cost of the service/benefit and the cost (including the hidden cost of contractors) to administer it.
On just one site, the RPA had over 100 contractors, almost the same number as the permanent staff.
May 16, 2021
Let’s face it, the media is responsible for so much of what is wrong in our world today by forcing issues into the public domain, telling us what to think and by indoctrination of the masses with politically correct ideology. They have so much to answer for.
The corrupt lobbying system is long overdue for replacement.
Mass media is no longer just about selling copy, it’s about making the news and pushing agendas. They make or break government ministers, but they are not the honest watchdogs so many still take them for.
Before we can have small rational government, mass media has to be made truly independent without pressure to follow a line imposed on them by those that control their finances.
May 16, 2021
Indeed. Ofcom’s should be radically reformed or removed if it cannot enforce impartiality. The Woke MSM needs bringing to account.
May 17, 2021
It’s the party funding ‘system’ that warrants very close examination and replacement more than anything.
May 16, 2021
Sir John,
Re media. Time was when The News from the BBC was just that. It took half an hour. A brief opening statement without a self-aggrandising build-up; twenty minutes of real news, (no opinions, no conjectures, no interviews); a few minutes of financial news, then the weather, a reminder of the main headline; and close.
Opinions, conjectures and interviews were in other programmes, not in The News.
A return to that format might save the BBC: a calm, non-partisan presentation of fact.
May 16, 2021
rename it ‘Pushing our Agenda’?
May 16, 2021
Another interesting post Sir john, your thoughts seem to contradict the direction of your party and the government that you are a part of.
How long has your party had to correct the expansion the Labour government (and the previous Major administration) facilitated? If the party leadership or the Parliamentary party had any interest in shrinking the state or improving productivity it would have been started.
Thank you for keeping this topic visible but I hold out little hope.
May 16, 2021
Sir John (apologies)
May 16, 2021
“media parades lobby groups”
There is the root of the problem and this Government in particular jumps to every twist and turn thrown at them from these noisy narrow vested interest sources.
That is not a Government that even wants to represent the whole of the UK, but one that has become distorted, perverted and no longer pays the slightest attention to reinforcing Democracy.
May 16, 2021
+1
I would also add, despite their hand-wringing disingenuous prating, little or no regard for the WELFARE of the people. Indeed, some of them come across as decidedly sadistic.
May 16, 2021
This series on the Growth of Government needs to get to a much wider audience! One had hoped that Mr Johnson was in favour of more freedom, but any signs there were early in his term of office, have been eroded not just by his , admittedly probably necessary, actions in the pandemic, but by the growth of his Green agenda.
One of the problems about taxation, is the assumption by most of the media and political classes, that there is some kind of virtue in paying higher taxes, but there can be no virtue at all in paying what the State has decided is due from you: the only virtue is in giving by ones own free will.
As for improving productivity, the record of the NHS in improving and developing its computer systems and IT capability has, almost uniformly, been disastrous.
May 16, 2021
Brilliant John,
And long overdue pump priming does not work. Brexit is the time to kill off the myths about tax and spend. It is spend then tax it does not work the other way around. Spending comes first then taxes are collected.
Most of the problems are covered in my posts from yesterday so no point posting the problems again. Here’s how to fix what I posted yesterday.
1. Slash taxes in certain areas as the tax has caused the unemployment. Don’t just give tax cuts to the rich.
2. The budget deficit has to meet business and household savings desires. So replace the idiotic budget constraint with an inflation constraint. It’s not difficult and force both the IFS and OBR to adopt this new way of doing things. In their current form they are not fit for purpose and have become too political.
3. Introduce a job guarentee. That increases competition and thus productivity that lifts all boats. Replaces the current automatic stabilisers that causes recessions with a stabiliser that is more effecient and effective. Transitions workers back into the private sector.
4. Sort out the competition and monopoly commission and give it some teeth. Create a more level playing field that doesn’t favour the banks and big business that create rent extracting monopolies.
Would be a start and solve a lot of problems. Government spending would then be targeted for the first time in a long time. Go up when needed and go down as workers transition back into private sector jobs and meet household and business savings desires. Stops the madness of loading the private sector with excessive debt levels just to grow the economy that is inflationary.
May 16, 2021
I am interested in how Number 3 works, Derek
“Introduce a job guarantee”
How does that laudable objective stop failing businesses from closing?
Would it have stopped Woolworths, BHS, Debenhams, Black Rock or Reliant cars from closing and making heir employees unemployed ?
May 16, 2021
Hi Peter,
It will be too long a post for this blog.
There’s an excellent book if you want to get to the crux of it by Hyman Minsky called.
Ending poverty jobs not welfare.
May 16, 2021
Just by a wave of a pen you make jobs guaranteed in a Western democracy.
Well done and most intriguing.
I note you didn’t bother even try to answer my straightforward question.
May 16, 2021
An illustration of the problem
From todays Telegraph
“The Indian variant “can really spread like wildfire” among those who are unvaccinated, the Health Secretary” is the English Health Secretary or the Scots or Welsh one, there is no UK one. Or once again Rule by Fear! Would anyone now believe a single word purporting to come from Government! ONS UK deaths from Covid = 0.0019% of the population India 0.00019%. The facts say the UK is 10 times worse than India – but how is it playing out in the Media?
“A Russell Group university has been accused of Soviet-style censorship after requiring new humanities courses to âmove awayâ from a âwhite, Eurocentricâ curriculum.” this same Political Cabal also demands the UK taxpayers money to implement their Political aspirations – But the ‘taxpayer’ isn’t permitted to vote for or against there organization.
Every day the passes that this Government doesn’t Govern for the whole of the UK, is another nail in the coffin as to the point in them. They are ahead in the lobbying poles because the alternatives are utterly horrendous. They will cause a new UKip this time not for Brexit but a party that supports the UK and its People.
The reason real ideals and figures don’t stack up is we have egotist playing games because they can. And they get away with it. Its about rule and control, not democracy and good Government.
‘We just don’t Believe’ any more
May 16, 2021
You belong to a party intent on destroying this nation from within by embracing all that Labour has created since 1997. Do you call for the dismantling of the now all powerful woke fascist Socialist State? No, you don’t. Far easier to remain schtum and let the masses pick up the cost in lost freedoms, higher taxes and and daily assault on our identity, our voice, our language, our history and our very being
May 16, 2021
Sir John
I genuinely feel sorry for you and probably 20% of Conservative MP’s. Understanding good Government, understanding the Figures, understanding ‘the Calling to Serve’. Then find a egotistical Socialist ‘Bozo’ has stolen the Party for his own personal esteem.
Having said that the same could be said for those on the opposite benches. In the round it is easy to quantify that 80% of those in the HoC, don’t believe in democracy and don’t believe in the UK.
Weirdly in the other Chamber it would appear that only the Hereditary Section has any idea what service and calling is. The rest at every level waste our money and promote undemocratic agendas.
May 16, 2021
Well said
May 16, 2021
Phew – that got straight to the point, didn’t it.
May 16, 2021
When Warren East took over as CEO of Rolls-Royce he replaced a man whose background and training was in finance, someone who recognised that the company had grown like Topsy and needed to change but lacking any engineering background of any sort, he was unable to see where inefficiencies existed and what needed to change to make the company world class in cost terms to match its world class products.
Warren East is an engineer by training and experience and immediately got to work once he had looked over the company and visited its various divisions both here and abroad. What the government and Civil service lack are Warren Easts, people with a high level of training and skill who can look at an organisation like the NHS from the inside, understand how it works and what needs to be done to make it world class like the health services in Germany. Instead of which we get people with PPE degrees with no relevant background and with no idea what to do, or people with a Geography degree with the arrogance to believe they know what needs to be done before having looked at it from the inside.
Things will not change for the better when rank amateurs are in charge of the governance of this country. Instead of running the country properly, they engage in displacement activities such as appointing women or people who are not English to key roles as though this were an achievement in itself or wrecking the economy to save the planet so they will appear more virtuous to their peers or claiming how much they admire people who have never achieved anything.
No wonder that the Civil Service has grown like Topsy when those in overall charge are even more incompetent than those whom they accuse of underperformance and overmanning.
May 16, 2021
+1. That’s why all health, public sector and quangos have selected left wing socialist woke types since 1997, when Bliar changed all selection processes accordingly. After 11 years the non conservatives have done nothing about it.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
All true and concerning, so the solution is…?
Further questions that may lead to solutions:
– Who has the real figures?
– Can they be accessed by the public?
– Who is capable of turning them into someting the public can understand?
That last point is not only about who is technically capable, it’s about who can do it while remaining credible i.e. such that there won’t be accusations of changing the figures rather than simply finding an understandable way of presenting them.
May 16, 2021
If there isnât a them and us, why the need for spin ?
May 16, 2021
So XY, the solution is,
To appoint a person of proven great organisational and management talent to look at the administration of the NHS above hospital level. You would not need medical expertise for such an audit because you would not be looking at medical matters. The big question for me would be, to what extent is this administration and that of the Ministry of Health enhancing the outcomes at the medical end.
Boris must have realised that something was awry during the PPE scramble. Which is why he brought in an investment banker with a track record for getting things done when it came to organising the vaccination programme. It proved that with efficient, highly competent administration, the medical side of the NHS could get the job done. The fact that in doing so, and in trying to subdue Covid, they did not have the staff, facilities, and finance to cover everything else they routinely do, became clear. It has left a backlog of unfinished business which will require a lot of clear headed enovative thinking to tackle. Nationally balancing capacity and demand, plus shopping for capacity overseas and posting patients to it. The means of transport has been sitting empty for months. Meanwhile over the next fifteen years you plan the facilities and people you need to match medical need to medical expertise. Within which I include mental health and care for the aged. One hell of a challenge.
May 16, 2021
We the public see our politicians as the problem and politicians see the public as the problem
The issue is that we need politicianâs everyday for five years while they only need us for one vital day and the communication bridge is the media and social media
Politicians talk about bridging the gap and implementing policies to stem the divide but it never happens
On voting day we the public and politicians have the same mission and objectives in the form of a manifesto and at other times a referendum question â However, the day after the election, politicians / government go their own way and ignore the public
May 16, 2021
I would suggest Glen that this diary is a bridge. There are others like constituency meetings where problems get aired, but here our host gets a unique opportunity to take the political temperature nationally. Even those that fail moderation are part of the process. Our host submits himself to not being allowed to forget.
May 16, 2021
I fully agree, it certainly gives us a chance to understand SirJs viewpoint on various topics….and I do believe that SirJ reflects upon our input to his blog – I wish every MP had such a diary blog
May 16, 2021
Ah..Politicians and wider politics – don’t you just love it.
No? Well find us a reasonable dictator who is not intent on killing opponents and sending ÂŁbillions to the Swiss, while actually wanting to make the country more self-sufficient, and even increasing opportunities for all. Don’t bother to reply Martin, Andy etc.
I know you are well equipped to do the job.
May 16, 2021
Sir John, you say: “The language of politics deployed implies government is virtuous and uniquely able to do what is right. Any abuse or inequality brings forward strong lobby groups for a government answer even though some of the abuses and inequalities have been created by previous government interventions. ”
That was once the overall perception of the people of this Sceptred Isle – and I am so grateful to have lived through such a period. The grandeur of the Monarch’s ‘gracious speech’ and it’s appeal to Almighty God to guide and direct the government of the day are a reality I am prepared to honour, as is taught by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” How much more agreeable that has been for us here in latter centuries, than the harsh days of the Roman Empire? And as to the lobby groups, notable examples include the abolition of slavery, the emancipation of women and social care.
So where has it all gone wrong? God, in mercy, has done his part. So, by His grace, has our gracious Queen. But the infidelity of the governing and intellectual classes (with of course many notable exceptions) and flawed human nature: that is another matter entirely. And we are now seeing the outworking of this folly, and the progressively chaotic results. So in whom can we put our trust? Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Psalm 2:12b).
May 16, 2021
In saying the above, I am exercising freedom of speech in an area where much needs to be, and usually is, left unsaid. In general, keep government out of the Church, especially globalist syncretism. And the Church out of Government, too. This is the brilliance of our Constitution. Rather, the godly can, and should (as they have in the past) influence government from the grass-roots up, as did the William Wilberforce, and the groundswell he then represented. However, in a fallen world, there’s a limit to what can be achieved by salt and light alone. The precious gift of free-will is what makes us human, for good or ill.
May 16, 2021
Sir John
Isn’t the point or the root of the problem human nature. As a people we tend to protect what we achieve.
Get given a job, the next move is to secure your position. When there is no competitive requirement as in the taxpayer coughs up regardless, you build empires and advance mission creep, all the time too give the impression of indispensability.
May 16, 2021
+1
May 16, 2021
We need a return to the principle of preventing government and councils not engaging that which is “ultra vires”; i.e. outside the right and proper business of government at all levels.
May 16, 2021
Dear Sir I would not question your understanding of economics but a factor also is a growth in the “Management Culture” as a subject in it’s own right. Basically it means you do not have to have worked in the undertaking (at any level) you only need to have ” Management” training and you can go off and manage anything with no prior hands on experience.
We now have career politicians, of all flavours , who have never actually had a real job before they entered politics.
The NHS has been highly infected by the “Management Culture” and likewise Government at all levels.
The culture has a tendency to reduce the number of skilled workers and manage them to get the same output. That’s the theory . The skilled workers are not in the decision making loop as the Manager knows best. Now if the Manger is also a Skilled worker too, then the organisation does not have too many issues.
The other point to note is the wages of Mangers ( by Managers I am really referring to Senior Management, and Politicians) increases year on year even if this is not so for their employees/constituents.
You don’t need to be a left wing activist to see that the Strategic National Utilities and transport need to be state (tax payer) owned, But at arms length from the Politicians.
Mrs. Thatcher had the idea to sell the Utilities to the Public by a capitalist’s approach – shares, But who owns the utilities now ? Hopefully the French Sate owned EDF won’t cut the cross channel power supply to England like they might have done with Jersey. Probably just a bit cheaper not to have Power Generation on Jersey to meet demand. But Management/Politicians only saw the cost saving for the moment.
A Skilled worker ( Senior Electrical Engineer ) would have advised against this. When Management Culture mixes with Political Culture lookout. I won’t mention the “Indian Covid Variant” and how this has been Managed. They never learn, a re-run of original Chinese variant sto.ry and how in spread in Feb/March 2020
May 16, 2021
The budgets are rarely expressed in pounds in the way the rest of us have to budget against a background of a fixed net income
This form a man who cant get through sentence without saying ” More Debt “, who seems to think we can lend ourselves money and just not pay it back . The most protectionist anti business Government since Jim Callaghan with no obvious appetite either for reforming public sector delivery or addressing the inevitably waste of any sector where Unions are National and immoveable.
My own appalling MP could not wait to join protests against Southern rail who were doing nothing beyond day to day management actioning strategic Government aims . The second the Unions kicked up, as they were bound to do, the Conservative Party left the operators to take the flack and ( as ever) ended up throwing our money at the whole problem .
A Government who wish to remove money from successful regions and throw it at unsuccessful ones increase corporation tax and attack Banking Insurance Universities Pharmaceuticals Media …and pretty much every sector in our future just to save one or two picturesque fishermen
The Conservative Party are now Big State Nationalist Party to whom political expediency is the only consideration and as as for whining about an insufficiently supportive media …words fail me
Just how many parrots do you need in one Zoo?
May 16, 2021
If your party’s government would pass laws on trading standards, on professional conduct, and on the rest with real teeth, and empower the citizen with affordable access to justice via the Courts, then perhaps so many regulatory agencies – which seem to be generally useless anyway – would not be needed?
That’s utterly unthinkable though, isn’t it?
Heavens, the wrong sort of person might actually get nicked?
May 16, 2021
MiC
How would miscreants be revealed if these agencies never came and did unannounced inspection audit visits?
Members of the public report things to these agencies who can then take court action where appropriate.
May 16, 2021
Read George Monbiot’s recent excellent article about trying to enforce Trading Standards.
May 16, 2021
Diversionary response as usual MiC
Answer my question.
May 17, 2021
MiC
Not THE George Moonbat?
May 16, 2021
Government could save billions of pounds if it issued a short book (or something) – and gave it to each household – on, according to Christian / Islamic / Hindu / Buddhist and Western Philosophy / Psychology:
1) How to love yourself (but not in narcissistic way)
2) How to love your family
3) How to love your country (Patriotism)
And why Love beats Fear etc
The main reason we have High Taxation in this country is first and foremost because people don’t know how to love themselves (in positive way), so they get depressed in some shape or form / deep insecurity —> don’t work or not as hard as they could —> depend on the state instead of themselves and family —> Get mentally depressed —> Turn to addictions such as food, beer, gambling, the list is endless but all hugely damaging to body and soul —> All diminishing productivity Etc ..
If government could do more to do all this (the kind of thing Education / Media / Arts / Church of England should be doing), then government would be saving billions and could cut taxes a lot.
Really. This would be way more effective than anything The Chancellor of The Exchequer could do spinning plates here and there to strengthen the economy (important as having an economic policy is – it’s only one piece of the jigsaw to really try and fix this county’s economy and culture overall all)
May 16, 2021
We need a proper, comprehensive Conservative plan to fix (more) this country’s economy and culture – not just based on politics and economic policy but also on Education, the Media, the Arts, Church of England, and so on.
May 17, 2021
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a great example of Compassionate Conservatism.
Where the award gives young boys and girls the confidence (love) they need to be more responsible for themselves (which in itself brings joy).
If we had lots more things like this – not necessarily awards – but ways of encouraging the young etc, then they would become faaaar more responsible, reducing GREATLY the burden on the tax-payer.
We need a Conservative Party Thinktank at least focused on something like this. Call it The Compassionate Conservative Thinktank or something. And retired Tories could contribute to it etc .. (I know millions of Tories want to give money / time / encouragement to the young – but they don’t want their money wasted but to be used in a properly, creative and transformative way to help young people stand up far more on their feet). Both an act of charity but also saving the tax-payer billions and billions in the long-term.