Floaters

Well that's Christmas done with for another year even though we have some mince pies left. Maybe Boxing Day is the right time to consider something lighter - such as floaters.

We’ve all seen it, the media story where someone we’ve never heard of is appointed as head of some official or semi-official body we may or may not have heard of either. Always one of those people who haven’t necessarily achieved much but seem to be remarkably well-connected socially. Members of the Establishment of course.

Which leads us on to a feature of modern life - the Floater. The Floater is a phenomenon of think tanks, governments agencies, quangos, NGOs, major charities, commissions, boards, regulators and other semi-official bodies where a dull but sound Establishment figure is required as the public face of a dull and not obviously vital organisation.

Floaters are just that – figureheads who float from role to role across the murky waters of public life. They float from conference to conference, summit to summit, forum to forum, dispensing fashionable views, nostrums, exhortations and the very latest in managerial politics.

Even someone such as Rachel Reeves is more Floater than Chancellor. She is the Treasury figurehead, the public face nobody in the Treasury actually listens to as they plan their next round of useless meddling. Reeves is the Treasury Floater, dispensing platitudes, dishonesty and nonsense until the time comes for her to float away to another mooring.