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June 8, 2009
One myth, one grossly misleading use of language and one mad practice
Let us pray that the volcanic upheaval of our systems of Government that we so desperately need, does not die down as it eats up MP's and Ministers.
There is a myth, much paraded, that Local Government in our country is close to the people. It isn't. With some notable exceptions, local government is a bunch of extremely highly paid second rate officials, who operate by cronyism and by rote. Their activities are not properly scrutinised either by their local councillors who rely on them for capability, or by their local newspapers, who often depend upon them for advertising revenue.
And there is a cruel misunderstanding of the word 'Stakeholder' which I believe was brought into public currency by Will Hutton in his book 'The State We Are In' in the 1990's. I believed he intended it to mean the public service equivalent of a shareholder in the capitalist sector- viz, the owner and chief dependent on the activities and investments of those who manage. He meant the public. Instead the word 'Stakeholders' of public sector activity has cynically become to mean quangoes, charities, dependent-on-taxation bodies, who have at their heart their own survival and their income from Government, and not the interest of innocent and humble members of the public at all.
And then the idea that a Prime Minister as a practice of last resort should reshuffle his cabinet is about as mad an idea as it is possible to have. That is not hard to understand in the field of libraries as we now encounter our 4th Secretary of State in 5 years just as the third one had initiated an important hearing and was about to publish a study that has taken a year to complete. No one could believe that the priority of Government is to look after the public interest when such terrible management procedure prevails in the operation of public services.
Posted by Perkins at June 8, 2009 2:12 PM
Comments
Perkins might have a low opinion of politicians at the moment, including the PM. But the latter has done one good thing while shuffling: he has appointed Anne Snelgrove, MP for South Swindon, as his PPS, only the third woman in history to hold that position.
Posted by: Shirley Burnham at June 11, 2009 6:04 PM