It may be worth summarising, as far as possible, the rules-based system of planet Starmer.
To begin with we have –
Rulers
Rules
The Ruled
There are of course many gradations of rules plus rules about the application of rules, institutions competent to rule on rule application together with rules about who applies which rules and rules about the ruling circumstances of rule application within the overarching rules of rule application. Rules ruling the hierarchy of rules begin with international rules and the rules ruling the application of these rules when the national rules of rule conflict resolution have to be applied according to local application rules and rules about the appropriate application of such rules, rule resolution rules and rule appeal rules. Rules concerning the application of rules to rules concerning the application of other rules must of course take note of the rules whereby the rules of applicability rule particular circumstances and if those circumstances arose via appropriate rules.
And deny everything anyway.
Rulers
Rules
The Ruled
There are of course many gradations of rules plus rules about the application of rules, institutions competent to rule on rule application together with rules about who applies which rules and rules about the ruling circumstances of rule application within the overarching rules of rule application. Rules ruling the hierarchy of rules begin with international rules and the rules ruling the application of these rules when the national rules of rule conflict resolution have to be applied according to local application rules and rules about the appropriate application of such rules, rule resolution rules and rule appeal rules. Rules concerning the application of rules to rules concerning the application of other rules must of course take note of the rules whereby the rules of applicability rule particular circumstances and if those circumstances arose via appropriate rules.
And deny everything anyway.
7 comments:
Don't forget the sly drool.
dearieme - a few months ago I saw an Otis King cylinder version in an antiques shop. The number of people likely to know what it was must be dwindling, but I can't remember the price.
Football commentators like to refer to a slide-rule pass, in their inane and ignorant way.
I never owned a cylindrical one but I did own a disc-shaped one. A bit limited but it slipped easily into my pocket.
dearieme - I haven't watched TV football for ages, I wonder what they say now? Must be tempted to insert AI into it somewhere.
Your post could be the basis of an excellent Gilbert and Sullivan song, or even one by Tom Lehrer. I once worked in an engineering company design department which had a cylindrical, spiral slide rule. It was closely guarded. Only for use on very accurate big sums.
I thought that Otis King was an early blues singer and you had found an early wax recording. Reading further I was enlightened.
Proceduralising the hierarchy of rules is what bureaucrats do. They don't question a rule itself - that is a 'given'.
Which is why the hierarchy of rules is collapsing because of the inbuilt contradictions. Whether the collapse is graceful or wild remains to be seen. Meanwhile Cnut Starmer is telling the collapse to heal itself.
Doonhamer - ah yes, Gilbert and Sullivan could have created something around "rules" which would still be very topical.
If I remember rightly, the cylindrical slide rule was kept in a little box, only taken out to do those big sums. Then cheap calculators came along and we could do really big sums and even statistics to prove we were right.
DJ - yes, those inbuilt contradictions are clearly building up and nobody in government seems to have any intention of doing something about it. Both politicians and bureaucrats build their careers on adding rules, not deleting them for the sake of clarity and transparency. It isn't easy to see how it can possibly end well.
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