Good riddance - how many 'free' central heating systems have been handed out to people who are only interested in getting more for their property when they sell it. I can think of at least two examples in the village where I live.
Also, in one road (ex council houses, no surprise there) West Sussex County Council have marked out ELEVEN 'disabled' parking places. There is hardly any space for the fit and able-bodied to park now.
I have had 2 encounters with the Energy Savings Trust and formed the opinion they are (were) completely chaotic and unfit for purpose.
Take a look at the list (torygraph)
"Jobs for the boys" is the expression that comes to my mind. In many cases completely pointless and parasitic organisations that offer no discernable benefit to the man on the street.
They got one wrong. The technology strategy board are a complete bunch of incompetent wankers.
They fit the profile.
Fancy web site. Long list of "names" on the governing Board. Budget of
0.7 gigaquid over 3 years.
I admit that when talking of quango's the first things that come to mind is "jobs for the boys", "old school tie", and "fat cats" amongst others. However, remember that below them (a *long* way below them, at grass-roots level) are ordinary people - could be the guy next door; could be a neighbour down the road; could be your cousin or your grandad - all of whom are going to lose their jobs if/when these quango's go. These aren't rich people (probably on less than £15k/year) and they've done nothing wrong. It's not their fault that they ended up working for a quango; a job is a job - keeps food on the table and a roof over their heads.
Just seems wrong to me to be rejoicing in what at the end of the day, will be a lot of human misery.
Has conscription been re-introduced without my hearing about it?
Another Dave
I liked The Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products.
I wonder if they are going to be diluted?
random quango you have never heard of then Google it.
Government Hospitality Advisory Committee on the Purchase of Wines.
Well said Peter.
Reading the list, it is hard to imagine how any country or goverment could be properly advised and run without the reporting structure and wide range of expertise represented by many of these so called quangos. Some, indeed, were cynically introduced to bypass the democratic process - in order to force through unpopular development for example - and should never have been allowed in the first place, but the majority advise on important subjects, or manage vital resources. It is actually very disturbing that many vital agencies are to be abolished - on top of a number of vital environmental information gathering scientific establishments already abolished by the previous shower - and hard to see how decision makers will get very far without soon having to reinvent these committees under a different group buzzword name.
All this quite apart from the fact that now the public will have nowhere to turn for reliable independent advice and help on a great many issues that affect or assail them.
SReally, so when do we get ASHP under PD because at the moment they require PP?
How many committees does it take to ratify that one rather than push it around forever. I mean, it was 2007 when "45dB(A)" was rumoured - but as yet it is STILL requires PP.
No idea what you are talking about I'm afraid ;-) I did say 'many', not all were important, and some - like yours - I've never heard of.
S
In all my years in business I have never forgotten one basic thing: That in order to make a profit you have to spend less than you earn, and otherwise that is Bad News.
In the private sector there are occasional periods when you do not make a profit, and if you are on the ball you react quickly to make the necessary corrections, if you are not on the ball you could easily be toast, and very quickly. Weeks or months. Not years.
Of course the private sector also pays taxes. In our case the sum of VAT; PAYE/NI of our staff; Corporation tax and other micro-taxes makes a staggeringly high 6 digit number. We employ 20. probably another 50 mouths are directly fed by our business. That is a big responsibility. It's also a nice bit of income for HMG.
Of course in principle you have to pay taxes in order to fund government, defence, hospitals, roads, schools and everything else. I have no problem with that.
BUT the more taxes I pay the - less money I have to invest in growing my business. Higher taxation and onerous regulation puts the brakes on the development of private business, and it is in the private sector where wealth is created. It is that wealth that makes the economy grow. Higher taxes are bad news for business
I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect the Government to spend it's income responsibly and efficiently. It makes my blood boil to see Government money being pissed away on patently ludicrous expenditure; whether it's on Duck Houses; Eurofighter Typhoons that will never be used; incompetently executed IT projects; HIPS; dubious quangos or many of hundreds of other areas.
The Government has in the previous years committed to utterly unsustainable and seriously loss-making expenditure levels. It has overspent for years and we are all now paying the price. Expenditure must be reduced or the country will bleed to death. Government income can only be increased by improvements in the prosperity of the private sector.
I am afraid that it's an awkward reality that a lot of good people directly/indirectly in the public sector will lose their jobs as a result of what has to happen, but that is the reality. It is unavoidable and there is no magic alternative.
D
Which part of the topic are you replying to and to whom?
What an extraordinary attitude: I have been involved with a fair few quangos in my time, and let me tell you there ARE no people below them, by and large.
Your typical quango or charity consists usually of a head honcho who is never there, or having 'imporatant meetings' with specified people at the golf course, a marketing director whose sole purpose in life is to hire a web site designer and graphics artist who tick all the right boxes like disability access, and racial impurity etc etc. Plus a wordsmith to write a self defining mission statement, that carefully avoids condemning almost anything that they might do accidentally (because there is no purpose in them ).
Then there is a office manager to actually arrange the golfing visits and all the jollies, and probably a treasurer to make sure they spend every last penny of the money they get.
If they actually do pass any money on to anyone else, they will hire some culpable contractors to tick the boxes for them and give the money to whoever funnels enough back in perks to the directors or the consultants or both.
All the while maintaining a rigid tight lipped policy about their copious misteakes, because 'that wont help anbody, will it?'.
No surpisingly, because teh eercise is one of essentially a confidence trick, getting people to beliee in you and inveast in you, with as little tangible result as possible, thats is more or less whop runs them.
They would be better off in gaol, but failing that, putting them out to pasture on jobseekers allowance will do everyone some good.
And the money they no longer have to spend on duck houses, can be kept by those left in useful work, who will doubtless spend it on something, like an extra plate of chips.
Good for potato farmers, bad for duck house manufacturers and golf courses.
The idiocy of 'job creation' where those jobs create no wealth, is that in the end the GDP is no bigger than it was before you created the non-jobs. There is no more money, its just being funneled out of productive workers pockets into jobs for the boys.
Oh dear.
No, they don't.
You haven't a clue have you. The majority have almost no discernible function whatsoever.
It is actually very disturbing that many vital
Bhwahaha
Have you actually ever TRIED to get information out of one of these closed shops?
Obviously not..
I have had direct dealings with several of the groups listed and have read and used reports and references to reports from quite a few others. There are some about whose functions I know nothing, but then I'm not omnipresent, and all seeing all-reading, as you clearly are, and not in a position to speak for the other 60 odd million people in the nation, many of whom may rely on the groups that are to be shut down or deprived of funds.
I have found that, in the main, these groups produce rather more reports than anyone can keep up with, and they are only too keen to send them to me for comment! Others have been completely impervious to comment and criticism, and I will be glad to see the back of them.
S
Of course they are. hats how they pretend they are doing something. Ive never found any use fr any of them beyond irelighting though.
Others have been completely impervious to comment and
Really we need a lot LESS government. Let it do only that which must be done, and for which no other agency exists.
Government is really the instrument of last resort, as anything else that works at all, always works better.
I have to disagree with one of these, namely the Churches Conservation Trust.
This is a body which maintains a relatively small number of exceptionally special churches which are no longer needed for regular worship. I understand cutting back, and reduction of funds etc - but I don't agree that this organisation is a waste of space.
What an arrogant sod you are! Please explain exactly what you find of little use from the Churches Conservation Trust,
Rather than generalize, please list those that you've been directly involved with, and then give the others the benefit of the doubt.
And just how do you measure that wealth?
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