Bonfire of Quangos ... and Hell freezes over : Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:10 pm  

The much-anticipated so-called "bonfire of the quangos" appears to have been pissed-upon and gone out, according to the Dally Mail. (weak pun intended) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ds-newsxml <In opposition, Cameron> said: ‘Too many state actions, services and decisions are carried out by people who cannot be voted out by the public, by organisations that feel no pressure to answer for what happens – in a way that is completely unaccountable.' I guess that'll be why, as part of his "small state" policy he created 117 new Lords who "cannot be voted out by the public, feel no pressure to answer for what happens – in a way that is completely unaccountable" ... in just one year. The only bonfire the coalition has burned has been one of Conservative and Lib-Dem manifesto promises.

The much-anticipated so-called "bonfire of the quangos" appears to have been pissed-upon and gone out, according to the Dally Mail. (weak pun intended) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ds-newsxml <In opposition, Cameron> said: ‘Too many state actions, services and decisions are carried out by people who cannot be voted out by the public, by organisations that feel no pressure to answer for what happens – in a way that is completely unaccountable.' I guess that'll be why, as part of his "small state" policy he created 117 new Lords who "cannot be voted out by the public, feel no pressure to answer for what happens – in a way that is completely unaccountable" ... in just one year. The only bonfire the coalition has burned has been one of Conservative and Lib-Dem manifesto promises.

Re: Bonfire of Quangos - : Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:13 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

The only bonfire the coalition has burned has been one of Conservative and Lib-Dem manifesto promises.

Not really, they were instantly invalidated when neither of those two parties gained a majority, they now both work under the banner of "Well its no longer our manifesto, its the new coalition manifesto", its why David can look himself in the mirror every morning and not slump his shoulders in dismay at the thought of that "We'll reduce the deficit, not the NHS" poster.

Re: Bonfire of Quangos - : Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:21 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

Not really, they were instantly invalidated when neither of those two parties gained a majority, they now both work under the banner of "Well its no longer our manifesto, its the new coalition manifesto", its why David can look himself in the mirror every morning and not slump his shoulders in dismay at the thought of that "We'll reduce the deficit, not the NHS" poster.

Ah yes, the old "It wasn't us, it was them nasty Lib-Dems / Tories (*) wot made us do it "
(*)delete as appropriate.

Re: Bonfire of Quangos ... and Hell freezes over : Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:38 pm  

There's a serious issue here about democracy. You will see that, for example, from the article that Br Waterways fubctions were transferred to a charity. What is one of the practical implications of that? It is that the public cannot make Freedom of Information requests, like they could to the public body. In other words this is in part a government wheeze to avoid scrunity, hide plans, etc.

Re: Bonfire of Quangos ... and Hell freezes over : Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:50 pm  

Dally wrote:

There's a serious issue here about democracy. You will see that, for example, from the article that Br Waterways fubctions were transferred to a charity. What is one of the practical implications of that? It is that the public cannot make Freedom of Information requests, like they could to the public body. In other words this is in part a government wheeze to avoid scrunity, hide plans, etc.

Consider also the reduction of statistics which will be available from the ONS due to budget cuts ... and we'll just have to trust HMG.
Like that's a great idea.

Re: Bonfire of Quangos ... and Hell freezes over : Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:30 pm  

When one of the first places that a government swings the axe is the ONS and NAO, you know there's some skullduggery on the horizon...