The solution to this is to do all these little experiments after the media has lost interest.
Howard Gleave
4 years ago
Depressingly true. Both government and the media are at fault. The media because of the Gotcha and blame game culture. Government because it lacks the humility to admit central government doesn’t have all the answers, act as much as a facilitator of experimentation as the doer, and have the guts to take the media on.
Nigel Clarke
4 years ago
The NHS is serviced by 27 different QUANGO’s, overseen by the Department if Health…below are the ones I could find, not sure what the others are as I can’t find a complete listing.
So, is this really neccessary? Has this separation of health services reduced or enhanced the NHS?
My instinct says the complexity of the inter-relationships reduces the efficacy of the relationship benefits…
NICE CQC NDG HSCIC (NHS Digital) PHE NHS England (Executive Non-Departmental Body) IRP NIB NHS Business Services Authority NHS Improvement Authority NHS Litigation Authority Doctors Review Body Dentists Review Body ARSAC HFEA HTA NHS Blood & Transplant
Excellent work, and hence the source of the neurosis that the sainted NHS might fail. Oh for the days of Sir Lancelot Spratt and the wonderful Hatty Jaques!
Tomorrow the 6th May one the largest Quangos, The Welsh Assembly is upgrading itself to the Welsh Parliament. No doubt this revolting, self congratulatory, yet totally meaninglessness act will have to be paid for by the now massively overburdened taxpayer! Post Chinese Death Flu we should rid ourselves of these political parasites. We can no longer afford such nonsense.
Yes, it’s been obvious for many years that we need more small scale and widely varying experiments, not top down solutions that simply throw money at a given issue and invariably make it worse. But of course this would require politicians as well as large govt departments to give up some of their power, which is unlikely to happen. It would also require imagination and initiative on the part of the public sectors, which is equally unlikely to happen. And, as the writer points out it would require the media to behave with intelligence and integrity, which is also unlikely to happen. So, nothing will change,
Nick Whitehouse
4 years ago
Wishful thinking I’m afraid. The media are already complaining about “U Turns” with the current crisis. No allowance for the fact that this a new virus and as it is better understood the approach should change. Also, as you wrote the complaints of postcode lottery, would escalate if you allowed too much localism – even though I agree with your ideas – but how would the relevant Minster survive?
Juilan Bonmottier
4 years ago
I think it is because of a tendency to idealise power and what it can achieve. This, not only in leaders, but in followers too. Perhaps it’s a defence to combat our inherent fear of freedom -the which brings greater awareness of complex relationships and responsibilities, our limitations and our greater dependence on others. I think the fantasy of omnipotence in leaders -that they must be able to do all of the things we demand of them – is a way of escaping our own lacks. We project our frustrations into a ruling class and then don’t have to own them for ourselves. There are some leaders who are only too happy to run with this projection -likely quite a narcissistic drive to have their own sense of omnipotence (usually a defence against their personal fear of impotence) reflected in the populus. I’m not saying this of all leaders and I think some narcissism is healthy and desirable.
I like the idea of these ‘little experiments’ but I feel they need to start off as even smaller , spontaneous and autonomous experiments, within the individual first, then in your own back yard, then with neighbours, then on the street on which you live and so on -see how far it takes you -and how often you have to stop because you get caught out by your own omnipotence! Good leadership is undoubtedly very complicated.
‘We project our frustrations into a ruling class and then don’t have to own them for ourselves’
Well this ‘ruling class’ takes away at least half our income, one way or another, while rewarding itself extremely well. As such, it is not unreasonable to assume that they and their millions of staff might discharge their responsibilities competently and with a degree of integrity.
I don’t see why we should have to ‘own’ their mistakes when it is we who are paying for their grotesque and eternal incompetence.
I take your point, certainly the frustration behind it, which I share, but I think this is also somewhat in the nature of the projection. Perhaps it is a question of what is ‘normal’ incompetence -acceptable in the face of extraordinary complexity -i.e running a country is massively complex -and then innappropriate, or as I think you suggest, corrupt incompetence. I certainly don’t think we are obligated to own the mistakes of the ruling classes but I would argue that the more we govern our own lives, the less sovereignty we cede to others to make poor decisions on our behalf. But yes, we have to stay engaged in a healthy debate with those we appoint to make decsions and hold them to account where necessary.
‘We’ used to rule the greatest Empire the world had seen since Ancient Rome, with only a handful of the parasites now regarded as a absolutely essential for the modern state. More are deployed in say Wandsworth, than were required to guide India. If you seek a benchmark for sheer incompetence, look at how this country has been run since 1945. On the other hand marvel at how the Empire was administered between say 1764 and 1914. Besides the minor altercation with our American Colonies, it was gravure performance of pragmatism tinged with humanity, and brought immeasurable benefits to nearly all.
Mark Corby
4 years ago
There was an experiment in reducing certain government powers a few years ago. It was called Devolution. It was an unmitigated disaster, the full cost of which we have yet to pay. Let us hope Boris Johnson KS, PM, carefully considers this before taking any precipitous action. If he wishes to control the Media, he should look to the example of his predecessor, the scoundrel, David Lloyd George, who almost as an act of redemption, did finally chastise the Press in no uncertain terms.
Steve Burston
4 years ago
Excellent article. This is a sad reflection of both government, opposition politicians and the media today. A government admitting that, no matter how well-intentioned their actions, they made a mistake, would be crucified by both the opposition and media. Likewise the same is true for an opposition politician admitting mistakes. Politics is now all about the soundbite, the punchline, the “gotcha” moment and the knock-out blow. On YouTube you can find a 1970 election debate between Roy Jenkins and Enoch Powell about the economy. They argue their respective cases in a respectful manner, with plenty of reference to the facts, that enables the audience to make an informed decision. In football parlance, they were playing the ball and not the man. I don’t see politics ever returning to this kind of discourse, especially since it doesn’t make for a high impact 3 minute news item in today’s 24 hour news cycle. More’s the pity. At least UnHerd is a step in the right direction and is to be congratulated.
Paddy Kay
4 years ago
So important to be allowed to fail, we can learn much more from the occasional failure than success. Localisation and devolution of budgets/responsibilities enables the “ready, fire, aim” approach which we will need if we are to become more nimble as we leave EU. Unfortunately our toxic media and adversarial politics makes this sort of approach very difficult. Not sure how we change this. Maybe the pandemic experience can be a catalyst?
Mark Cole
4 years ago
Interesting article. There are a lot of hard working heroes out there and there seems to have been some good examples of cross party collaboration in this crisis. I wonder if the weaknesses in our system lies in the MO or leadership cultures within the public sector, civil service, NHS/PHE administration? Contrast the speed with which the armed services and others built the excellent nightingales with perhaps poor or at least slow and efficient decision making on PPE, Testing & App development. In a crisis good leadership is often reflected in effective decision making based on experience, education, common sense and balance judgement – it is not led by “adhere to strict guidelines” or wait until we’re told to approaches. On the other hand clear responsibility and accountability are perhaps so not easily attritibale as they are in industry and military structures.
Very large corporates are also vulnerable to the failings of this type of institutional decision making, certainly more so than smaller and more nimble ones. There has been much work done on culture and leadership since the 2008 financial crisis, perhaps the public sector needs this crisis to learn some lessons from industry and the military?
Michael Whittock
4 years ago
You say our political culture is one ” in which you can’t be the ‘big man’ unless you make big decisions ” and that the “machinery of government is engineered around the amplification of the ego”. I think we should pay attention to the psychological make-up of our leaders because that will indeed affect their decisions. Were we slow in our response to Covid, in great measure, because of the optimistic, carefree attitude of the Prime Minister who didn’t seem to grasp the urgency of the threat? Could we compare that with the dour, careful, suspicious Gordon Brown who from that standpoint may have acted earlier?
The solution to this is to do all these little experiments after the media has lost interest.
Depressingly true. Both government and the media are at fault. The media because of the Gotcha and blame game culture. Government because it lacks the humility to admit central government doesn’t have all the answers, act as much as a facilitator of experimentation as the doer, and have the guts to take the media on.
The NHS is serviced by 27 different QUANGO’s, overseen by the Department if Health…below are the ones I could find, not sure what the others are as I can’t find a complete listing.
So, is this really neccessary? Has this separation of health services reduced or enhanced the NHS?
My instinct says the complexity of the inter-relationships reduces the efficacy of the relationship benefits…
NICE
CQC
NDG
HSCIC (NHS Digital)
PHE
NHS England (Executive Non-Departmental Body)
IRP
NIB
NHS Business Services Authority
NHS Improvement Authority
NHS Litigation Authority
Doctors Review Body
Dentists Review Body
ARSAC
HFEA
HTA
NHS Blood & Transplant
Excellent work, and hence the source of the neurosis that the sainted NHS might fail.
Oh for the days of Sir Lancelot Spratt and the wonderful Hatty Jaques!
Tomorrow the 6th May one the largest Quangos, The Welsh Assembly is upgrading itself to the Welsh Parliament.
No doubt this revolting, self congratulatory, yet totally meaninglessness act will have to be paid for by the now massively overburdened taxpayer!
Post Chinese Death Flu we should rid ourselves of these political parasites. We can no longer afford such nonsense.
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Yes, it’s been obvious for many years that we need more small scale and widely varying experiments, not top down solutions that simply throw money at a given issue and invariably make it worse. But of course this would require politicians as well as large govt departments to give up some of their power, which is unlikely to happen. It would also require imagination and initiative on the part of the public sectors, which is equally unlikely to happen. And, as the writer points out it would require the media to behave with intelligence and integrity, which is also unlikely to happen. So, nothing will change,
Wishful thinking I’m afraid.
The media are already complaining about “U Turns” with the current crisis. No allowance for the fact that this a new virus and as it is better understood the approach should change.
Also, as you wrote the complaints of postcode lottery, would escalate if you allowed too much localism – even though I agree with your ideas – but how would the relevant Minster survive?
I think it is because of a tendency to idealise power and what it can achieve. This, not only in leaders, but in followers too. Perhaps it’s a defence to combat our inherent fear of freedom -the which brings greater awareness of complex relationships and responsibilities, our limitations and our greater dependence on others. I think the fantasy of omnipotence in leaders -that they must be able to do all of the things we demand of them – is a way of escaping our own lacks. We project our frustrations into a ruling class and then don’t have to own them for ourselves. There are some leaders who are only too happy to run with this projection -likely quite a narcissistic drive to have their own sense of omnipotence (usually a defence against their personal fear of impotence) reflected in the populus. I’m not saying this of all leaders and I think some narcissism is healthy and desirable.
I like the idea of these ‘little experiments’ but I feel they need to start off as even smaller , spontaneous and autonomous experiments, within the individual first, then in your own back yard, then with neighbours, then on the street on which you live and so on -see how far it takes you -and how often you have to stop because you get caught out by your own omnipotence! Good leadership is undoubtedly very complicated.
‘We project our frustrations into a ruling class and then don’t have to own them for ourselves’
Well this ‘ruling class’ takes away at least half our income, one way or another, while rewarding itself extremely well. As such, it is not unreasonable to assume that they and their millions of staff might discharge their responsibilities competently and with a degree of integrity.
I don’t see why we should have to ‘own’ their mistakes when it is we who are paying for their grotesque and eternal incompetence.
I take your point, certainly the frustration behind it, which I share, but I think this is also somewhat in the nature of the projection. Perhaps it is a question of what is ‘normal’ incompetence -acceptable in the face of extraordinary complexity -i.e running a country is massively complex -and then innappropriate, or as I think you suggest, corrupt incompetence. I certainly don’t think we are obligated to own the mistakes of the ruling classes but I would argue that the more we govern our own lives, the less sovereignty we cede to others to make poor decisions on our behalf. But yes, we have to stay engaged in a healthy debate with those we appoint to make decsions and hold them to account where necessary.
‘We’ used to rule the greatest Empire the world had seen since Ancient Rome, with only a handful of the parasites now regarded as a absolutely essential for the modern state. More are deployed in say Wandsworth, than were required to guide India.
If you seek a benchmark for sheer incompetence, look at how this country has been run since 1945.
On the other hand marvel at how the Empire was administered between say 1764 and 1914. Besides the minor altercation with our American Colonies, it was gravure performance of pragmatism tinged with humanity, and brought immeasurable benefits to nearly all.
There was an experiment in reducing certain government powers a few years ago. It was called Devolution.
It was an unmitigated disaster, the full cost of which we have yet to pay.
Let us hope Boris Johnson KS, PM, carefully considers this before taking any precipitous action.
If he wishes to control the Media, he should look to the example of his predecessor, the scoundrel, David Lloyd George, who almost as an act of redemption, did finally chastise the Press in no uncertain terms.
Excellent article. This is a sad reflection of both government, opposition politicians and the media today. A government admitting that, no matter how well-intentioned their actions, they made a mistake, would be crucified by both the opposition and media. Likewise the same is true for an opposition politician admitting mistakes. Politics is now all about the soundbite, the punchline, the “gotcha” moment and the knock-out blow. On YouTube you can find a 1970 election debate between Roy Jenkins and Enoch Powell about the economy. They argue their respective cases in a respectful manner, with plenty of reference to the facts, that enables the audience to make an informed decision. In football parlance, they were playing the ball and not the man. I don’t see politics ever returning to this kind of discourse, especially since it doesn’t make for a high impact 3 minute news item in today’s 24 hour news cycle. More’s the pity. At least UnHerd is a step in the right direction and is to be congratulated.
So important to be allowed to fail, we can learn much more from the occasional failure than success. Localisation and devolution of budgets/responsibilities enables the “ready, fire, aim” approach which we will need if we are to become more nimble as we leave EU. Unfortunately our toxic media and adversarial politics makes this sort of approach very difficult. Not sure how we change this. Maybe the pandemic experience can be a catalyst?
Interesting article. There are a lot of hard working heroes out there and there seems to have been some good examples of cross party collaboration in this crisis. I wonder if the weaknesses in our system lies in the MO or leadership cultures within the public sector, civil service, NHS/PHE administration? Contrast the speed with which the armed services and others built the excellent nightingales with perhaps poor or at least slow and efficient decision making on PPE, Testing & App development. In a crisis good leadership is often reflected in effective decision making based on experience, education, common sense and balance judgement – it is not led by “adhere to strict guidelines” or wait until we’re told to approaches. On the other hand clear responsibility and accountability are perhaps so not easily attritibale as they are in industry and military structures.
Very large corporates are also vulnerable to the failings of this type of institutional decision making, certainly more so than smaller and more nimble ones. There has been much work done on culture and leadership since the 2008 financial crisis, perhaps the public sector needs this crisis to learn some lessons from industry and the military?
You say our political culture is one ” in which you can’t be the ‘big man’ unless you make big decisions ” and that the “machinery of government is engineered around the amplification of the ego”.
I think we should pay attention to the psychological make-up of our leaders because that will indeed affect their decisions. Were we slow in our response to Covid, in great measure, because of the optimistic, carefree attitude of the Prime Minister who didn’t seem to grasp the urgency of the threat? Could we compare that with the dour, careful, suspicious Gordon Brown who from that standpoint may have acted earlier?