Here’s part of what kept Mrs H and I going during the coronavirus debacle -
Tesco, Amazon, delivery drivers, water supply, sewage disposal, recycling contractors, gas, electricity, banks, payment processing, internet, medical supply businesses, diesel and petrol suppliers, a local garage and a local plumber. Lots and lots of other businesses behind that lot too. Private enterprise in other words.
As for the public sector - SNAFU as official government policy appears to sum it up from the Prime Minister downwards. Merely an observation of course and lots of room for quibbles about policing, healthcare and so on –
No - forget the quibbles. I’m extremely thankful that routine private enterprise kept going and still keeps going in spite of government bungling. It’s those people we should have been clapping.
It has been a strange six months, like being cocooned in a fantastically complex web of services which work so smoothly we barely notice them in more normal times. I worked in the public sector for most of my working life and it has taken the most shameful public sector mess to bring this contrast to the attention of anyone who chooses to see it. Shameful? Yes - absolutely shameful.
As for the public sector - SNAFU as official government policy appears to sum it up from the Prime Minister downwards. Merely an observation of course and lots of room for quibbles about policing, healthcare and so on –
No - forget the quibbles. I’m extremely thankful that routine private enterprise kept going and still keeps going in spite of government bungling. It’s those people we should have been clapping.
It has been a strange six months, like being cocooned in a fantastically complex web of services which work so smoothly we barely notice them in more normal times. I worked in the public sector for most of my working life and it has taken the most shameful public sector mess to bring this contrast to the attention of anyone who chooses to see it. Shameful? Yes - absolutely shameful.
7 comments:
Absolutely spot on. We had to move house during the restrictions, which really showed which sector was on the ball. Removal men have gone up massively in my estimation, as have garden rubbish clearance blokes, Amazon deliverers, and car mechanics. NHS Trusts and West Sussex Education Dept., on the other hand, have proved to be utterly bloody useless. I honestly don't know to this day whether the NHS know where I live, and whether my daughter's school have formally enrolled her. That's despite frequent telling.
Clap the public sector? I'm sure individuals do their best, but this year has shown me that people tend to give their best if you haven't paid them until they complete the job.
I agree, local shop, local tradespeople, local pub, local garages plus utility companies and private online retailers (Tesco has been easily the best round here) have kept us going. Local government, public sector and administrative services of almost all types have however been completely useless and central government has actively destroyed some essential services like dentists and ordinary health care. The few surprising exceptions have been our refuse bin service which hasn't missed a beat, sorting a log book for an unregistered (barn find) car with DVLA in minutes, and getting a new passport in under a week (but then being unable to travel because of the 14 day return quarantine imposition).
I've only met one chap (who works for himself), say that he did stop for a while as he's a plumber, so may have had some reason, I don't know.
Everyone else hasn't stopped, and our chemist and two small supermarkets have been fantastic!
My neighbours have been burgled though, so some thieves are feeling the pinch!
One or two trades had to stop, we had a painter booked for outside work but for a period he couldn't as all the paint outlets were closed.
But on the other hand an eye problem had to be diagnosed at the opticians as GPs no longer treat eye problems, another cutting of NHS services, and referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital, received letter for appointment six months ago still no appointment, soon to have my annual eye test again for the same complaint, private sector good public sector non existent.
Sam - from our limited perspective, schools seem to vary considerably in their basic competence. As if they can't get rid of the dead wood, particularly opinionated bunglers in the admin office.
Woodsy - it may be that your good experiences with DVLA and the passport people are both cases of interaction with well-sorted computer systems. Get that right and the public sector can be okay, but otherwise it's down to erratic people and flaky manual systems.
Scrobs - maybe we need a track and trace system for burglars. Something the police could take on perhaps.
Wiggia - I hope NHS failures eventually lead to a major scandal but I'm not holding my breath. It really is the ultimate Teflon outfit.
"I hope NHS failures eventually lead to a major scandal but I'm not holding my breath. It really is the ultimate Teflon outfit."
Given it literally murdered patients in the Gosport Hospital scandal and there was not so much as a sniff of legal action against those responsible, I've come to the conclusion that its untouchable. I think that an NHS Trust could be caught taking patients out the back and shooting them to get its waiting lists down and it would be hushed up as 'rogue elements over stressed by 'cuts', nothing to see here, the NHS is completely trustworthy, send more money'.
Sobers - I agree, it is untouchable. It seems to be more powerful than the government in that millions trust it and it manages to generate an apparently endless amount of favourable propaganda to drown out even the biggest scandal.
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