Tim Worstall

It is all obvious or trivial except…

 

 

Dysfunctional government

December 24th, 2009 · 4 Comments

No, it’s not just the personalities:

The Prime Minister’s plan to make postcode information freely available, when it currently makes more than £20 million a year for Royal Mail, is said to have left the Business Secretary feeling increasingly sidelined.

No, it’s not just Gordo and Mandy having a spat. It’s what they’re having a spat about.

£20 million is 0.0028% of the current budget. It’s less than a rounding error.

What in buggery are the two most powerful politicians in the country doing even considering such a pittance, let alone having a fight about it? This is the sort of thing that should be dealt with at middle management level within the Post Office, not fought over in the Cabinet*.

No wonder politics doesn’t work when huge amounts of time and energy are spent on such trivialities.

*Note that it makes all such decisions within anything remotely connected to Government inefficient: for middle management cannot credibly commit, they must refer it upwards.

Tags: Politics

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Kit // Dec 24, 2009 at 8:48 am

    As the old saying goes:

    “Count the millions and the trillions look after themselves.”

  • 2 The Remittance Man // Dec 24, 2009 at 9:17 am

    More a case of “Penny wise, pound foolish” methinks.

  • 3 ukliberty // Dec 25, 2009 at 9:58 am

    Parkinson’s Law of Triviality.

  • 4 Evelyn // Dec 25, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Actually, it’s a good sign…

    Imagine what those moonbats could do if they were as effective as you wish they were.

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