If anyone still doubts whether British society is broken, they should read the reports of the Centre for Social Justice. When we consider family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependence, indebtedness and addictions, the human and financial cost of decades of top-down bureaucratic control becomes heart-breaking. And let’s not forget that, […]
Read MorePost Tagged with: "Bureaucracy"
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy: from Stalin and Trotsky to David Cameron, we all know we loathe it. What is it? In “Bureaucracy”, Ludwig von Mises explains: Bureaucratic management is management bound to comply with detailed rules and regulations fixed by the authority of a superior body. The task of the bureaucrat is to […]
Read MoreOfsted’s new mission – to get rid of boring teachers
This is ridiculous. It should not need saying: Ofsted is to launch a crackdown on “boring” teaching in response to concerns that children’s behaviour is deteriorating because they are not being stimulated enough in class. … The inspectorate’s latest annual report, published in November, warned of “pedestrian” teaching in primary […]
Read MoreRecommended reading: “Freedom for Public Services”
The latest publication from the Centre for Policy Studies arrived today: “Freedom for Public Services” by William Mason and Jonathan McMahon. Better services at lower cost, and more fulfilling jobs for public servants, are quite possible. As ever, this CPS report is intelligent, brief, clear and insightful. The sheer scale […]
Read MoreHarriet Harman criticised after suggesting pensioners should be grateful to Government – Telegraph
The Telegraph furthers its “Justice for Pensioners” campaign: As well as losing out on income in their retirement, pensioners are hit twice over because when calculating their benefits the Government assumes they are receiving interest rates of 10 per cent on any savings. Ten percent? It would be funny if […]
Read MoreBureaucracy, Communism and New Labour
Joseph Stalin in 1934, quoted here: Bureaucracy and red tape in the administrative apparatus; idle chatter about “leadership in general” instead of real and concrete leadership; the functional structure of our organizations and lack of individual responsibility; lack of personal responsibility in work, and wage equalization; the absence of a […]
Read MoreFT.com / UK / Business – Mandelson to urge industrial policy
More echoes of a desire for central planning of the economy, whether or not it is implemented through ownership: Britain needs urgent reform to the government’s “insufficiently joined up” industrial policy to cope with the economic challenges after the recession, Lord Mandelson was due to warn in a speech on […]
Read MoreThe police are being handcuffed by rules | Magnus Linklater
From The Times: Fifty years ago, in a landmark article for The New Yorker, the American writer Mary McCarthy wrote: “Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern despotism.” There is no great evidence to suggest that things have improved since then. Instead, like all despots, it has […]
Read More“A victim of the State”
A young homeless woman asked me to buy a Big Issue just outside the conference area and then asked me, “If you get in, what are you going to do about poverty in this county? The Government seems very keen to get in with everyone else, but what are you […]
Read MoreMarxists shocked to discover Tories burning against social injustice
The self-confessed Marxists from The New Statesman held a conference fringe event today: “Policing Social Cohesion”. They were surprised by the number who attended. The room was stuffed full of people who railed against social injustice and Labour’s top-down control, which is, as we heard, a straightjacket on all involved. […]
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