The working man no longer wishes to remain a working man, or the peasant to continue a peasant, while the most humble members of the middle classes admit of no possible career for their sons except that of State-paid functionaries. Instead of preparing men for life French schools solely prepare them to occupy public functions, in which success can be attained without any necessity for self-direction or the exhibition of the least glimmer of personal initiative.
Gustave Le Bon - The Crowd: a study of the popular mind (1895)
And so it continues to this day. Expand university admissions and we were bound to see an increased demand for careers as State-paid functionaries. It's what our MPs are. Marginal seats may be less secure than a career in the Civil Service, the NHS or the BBC, but State-paid functionary is what many MPs are, especially those who bagged a secure seat years ago.
Our MPs are advised by more State-paid functionaries, pass laws drafted by State-paid functionaries but supposedly they oversee the activities of millions of State-paid functionaries. It can't work as claimed and it doesn't.
Keir Starmer seems to think it's all a jolly good idea, so much so that we need more of it. From what we see so far, he intends to bring the role of MPs even closer to that of a of a State-paid functionary.
3 comments:
"he intends to bring the role of MPs even closer to that of a of a State-paid functionary"
Of course he does: look at how well it worked in the Soviet Bloc . . .
The penny might be about to drop in some quarters; even the BBC. They had a piece on this morning talking about the incredibly high levels of student debt. And there are rumblings about significant numbers of universities who are laying off staff, with the prospect of the receivers about to be called in.
It is about to get very interesting, because Bridget Phillipson recently admitted that there isn't a single penny available to sort out this problem. If anything becomes available, it will be due to the growth that the Labour Party are banking on. Which won't, of course, happen.
I reckon they will try to relax the borders even more, to bring in yet more paying foreign students.
Anyway, let's wish her every success, a speedy nervous breakdown, and a tearful repentance in the House of Commons.
Jannie - as a former(?) Trotskyite he probably thinks the Soviet Bloc would have worked if only someone like him had been in charge.
Sam - it's remarkable how far so many dud official ideas have to be pushed before the problems are officially recognised. I remember Bernard Levin pointing out that more university places would simply lead to lower standards and he's been dead for nearly twenty years.
Now we have a student debt problem which in many cases must have been incurred for a degree which wasn't worth the money.
Post a Comment