A powerful look at bureaucratic degeneration. We are bound to wonder if anyone actually knows what can and cannot be done within the rules and the regulations. Life becomes a matter of what you can get away with.
Excellent stuff there. Two points stand out. First, the increasing number of state dependent livelihoods. This was spotted by Prof. Curtice back in the 1980s as the reason why so many middle class well off people vote Labour in the UK. They are locked into the same state dependency as the poor, and support those who will keep the gravy train running.
Second, the point about the lack of knowledge of relevant rules. That's what's happening now in UK politics, it seems. Nobody understands what can be done. The legal and constitutional geeks have taken over, and Brexit has become a battle that nobody really understands. "Can Boris do that?" Nobody knows. I guess people will do whatever they can get away with. The only way to really test it is through physical violence.
Sam - as my field was absorbed by central government, people became amazingly wary about putting their heads over the parapet as it was called. Yet one of our transient managers imported from outside government would tell us that we could do more than we thought we could. He was right but it didn't have any impact.
Chromatistes - the thought often occurs to me too, especially as so many voters seem willing to hand things over to the EU. Including MPs of course.
3 comments:
Excellent stuff there. Two points stand out. First, the increasing number of state dependent livelihoods. This was spotted by Prof. Curtice back in the 1980s as the reason why so many middle class well off people vote Labour in the UK. They are locked into the same state dependency as the poor, and support those who will keep the gravy train running.
Second, the point about the lack of knowledge of relevant rules. That's what's happening now in UK politics, it seems. Nobody understands what can be done. The legal and constitutional geeks have taken over, and Brexit has become a battle that nobody really understands. "Can Boris do that?" Nobody knows. I guess people will do whatever they can get away with. The only way to really test it is through physical violence.
Alas, all too symptomatic of the current Augean stable that is Politics. One wonders whether Universal Suffrage was a Good Idea.
Sam - as my field was absorbed by central government, people became amazingly wary about putting their heads over the parapet as it was called. Yet one of our transient managers imported from outside government would tell us that we could do more than we thought we could. He was right but it didn't have any impact.
Chromatistes - the thought often occurs to me too, especially as so many voters seem willing to hand things over to the EU. Including MPs of course.
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