Have you read 'The Blunders of our Governments'? It's about government projects and how/why they almost invariably go wrong (regardless of who's in power). The most shocking piece is about tax credits, where HMRC, a department used to collecting money, suddenly had to become a department that paid it out. They cocked up completely and it was mainly because it was a vanity project for Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, who wanted to be seen as a 'giving' minister. One of the problems is that no one would ever disagree with Brown (or any forceful minister, whatever the party) as dissenting voices tend to be removed or sidelined. It really is a case of "Yes Minister" in the Civil Service. And ministers really don't give a shit as they know they generally won't be there to clean up the mess in a few years.The worrying thing is that the trial demonstrated the problems arising out of significant delays in providing payments leading to rent arrears, homelessness etc - the statistics were damning yet they still rolled it out nationally.
Sky running a piece asking if its the new Poll Tax row for the Tories?
Lets fucking hope so.
Utter disgrace.
Have you read 'The Blunders of our Governments'? It's about government projects and how/why they almost invariably go wrong (regardless of who's in power). The most shocking piece is about tax credits, where HMRC, a department used to collecting money, suddenly had to become a department that paid it out. They cocked up completely and it was mainly because it was a vanity project for Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, who wanted to be seen as a 'giving' minister. One of the problems is that no one would ever disagree with Brown (or any forceful minister, whatever the party) as dissenting voices tend to be removed or sidelined. It really is a case of "Yes Minister" in the Civil Service. And ministers really don't give a shit as they know they generally won't be there to clean up the mess in a few years.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept of universal credit but when neo-liberal organs like The Economist start slagging its introduction off then you know something's badly wrong.