I'm thoroughly confused.
No change there then.
While listening to Broadcasting House on
Her His Majesty's BBC this Sunday morning,
and enjoying in parts, it's eclectic mix of packages including the ghost of Labour past,
Ed(stone) Miliband and another package on the start of the traditional apples and pears season
tomorrow. I couldn't recall where exactly the Tories had parked their tanks, on Labour's
red lawn. Naturally, I went to Conservatives.com but when clicking on manifesto, I landed on
this
Boris Never Went Away which seems to give substance to the fact that the Tories are very
conflicted. Sure, they voted for Truss. But scratch the surface a little and it's clear who the
blue rinse and sharp elbowed brigade really, really want back.
It seems to me that both main UK parties' commitments involve spend, spend, spend.
For the Tories it's all about the public services and crime. For Labour it's all about a switch
from red to green. Or being green. Whilst still being red. Whatever awful colour that makes.
The trouble is. We spend too little energy on reform.
I'll give you one example. Because its one I know marginally better than the rest.
Military procurement is a complete dog's breakfast.
After the dog has already barfed it up a couple of times.
Military officers typically serve in postings of eighteen months
to two years, before moving on. In some ways, its not a terrible system
because people tend to get stale in post around the two year mark.
However, in procurement its a death sentence to the project at hand.
Because of the technical and political complexity involved in system
manufacture, it takes months before a newly arrived officer is up to
speed and starts to contribute in a meaningful way. Then only several
months later, they're preparing to move to their next posting
which will typically be a field command, which is what they joined up
for in the first place. Having this continual revolving door of military
officers and civil servants leads to minimal accountability, epic
wastage and huge over-runs in time and cost.
Until recently, Whitehall issued cost plus contracts to military
suppliers. Meaning that no matter how much the cost escalated,
the supplier was guaranteed their profit.
If the government would get a grip of procurement across government
we'd have the infamous magic money tree to dole out cash to
wherever its needed. Is this some highly classified secret?
Nope. Is it widely known by everyone who's ever served in government
including the janitors? Yup.
Based on what both main political parties are claiming the country needs.
Each has decided to spend, spend, spend and let future generations carry
the can. Because what are politicians expert at, if nothing else?
Kicking the can down the road. Why do they do this?
Because polling tells politicians that we can't handle the truth.
The sheeple would rather be lied to.
And so on and on it goes.