Saturday, 9 July 2022
Something must be done
It's a lovely day here in Derbyshire, but too warm to get much done, so we’ve had a pretty idle time loafing in the garden. There was nothing we really had to do unlike wannabe Prime Ministers who now have to be seen running around like maniacs. They must be used to creating the appearance of constant activity though. Part of the job.
Something must be done is perhaps the only political driver which reaches the public arena. Something mustn’t be done is usually the best response, but a key job of politicians is to make sure that one isn’t aired at all. It wouldn’t give meddlesome people anything to do and that includes the governing bureaucracy as well as the political class.
In which case, political activity requires a state of affairs which is not satisfactory so something must be done can be made to seem like the natural response. It also requires a certain lack of clarity about what could be done. To maximise meddlesome activity there is no point having simple solutions ready to hand.
Experts who offer simple, straightforward solutions or experts who say you can’t do much anyway are definitely not required. Meddlesome folk do not intend to set foot on that unproductive road. Get some other experts is the answer. As we know.
The political class generally seems to know all this but views the potential rewards as worth it. Revolving doors, useful connections, greater familiarity with how things really work. It attracts those with an inflated estimate of their abilities. Bound to. Almost as if that’s what it is supposed to do.
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7 comments:
Years ago I was told to always include a 'do nothing' option in any business case I put together.
But a politician that does nothing (when appropriate) will find that the spotlight no longer follows them around the political stage. The best trick is to declaim passionately about whatever is the flavour of the moment, seizing centre stage, and then... do nothing.
Way back in the '70s as part of my degree, I read a wonderful little book - a collection of essays, really - called "Why is Britain Becoming Harder to Govern?"
The most telling suggestion was that people now held the government responsible for almost everything that happens in their lives. This change had taken place in the previous 30 years; since the end of the war. That's quite a telling date, as it was then that the modern Welfare State got under way. Politicians took responsibility for certain things (housing, unemployment, education, how families conduct themselves, etc.) and then sat back and enjoyed the demand for their services.
Fifty years on, it's now obvious that politicians are riding the tiger. Too many problems solved, and they have made themselves redundant. Too few, and they are faced with claims that they are useless and can't do their job properly.
"loafing in the garden"
Let it long continue.
DJ - I was told the same thing in a project management course - always include a 'do nothing' option. It's a pity that such basic ideas don't become a normal part of political discourse.
Sam - I remember that book popping up somewhere as a reading suggestion but I didn't pursue it. We see the problem all the time now of course, people holding the government responsible for almost everything. We need a good word or phrase for it, but nothing seems to be quite potent enough. "Nanny state" is okay but doesn't express the risk of doing nothing about it.
James - it certainly continued today.
If it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
(Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, in a speech in the House of Commons on 1641-11-22: it's up to you to guess how he came to be in the Commons when he was a Viscount.)
dearieme - I don't know but I'm willing to guess at something to do with the HoC as it was just before the Civil War.
dearieme
Scottish peerage?
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