My Government

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2008

My Government

My government will introduce legislation to abolish workplace discrimination against women.

My government will introduce legislation to abolish child poverty.

My government will introduce legislation to ensure the public sector works perfectly.

My government will introduce legislation to ensure the economy grows steadily for ever.

My government will introduce legislation to make everything good.

*****

No time for a proper blog today, but WTF are these idiots loading yet more workplace regulation on companies already buckling under the worst economic onslaught since the 30s? Flexible working is another burden on the very businesses Brown reckons he's trying to help.

As usual, the government is deploying the bizarre argument that giving workers additional rights is somehow good for business. It isn't. If it was good for biz, then biz would have introduced it already. It's an additional burden.

And according the latest British Chambers of Commerce Barometer, Labour's regulatory burden already amounts to a cumulative £66bn cost on business.

Sure, in some routine jobs - maybe call centres - ideas like job-sharing can work. But it's very difficult to make them work with higher level jobs.

Even in quangoland, which majors on inefficiency and doesn't actually have to produce anything, the ideas don't work. Regular readers will recall the case of theTwo Sues, who were allowed to job-share the top job at the £35m pa National Patient Safety Agency. The result was a total Horlicks, and the emergency departures of both.

Watching the State Opening coverage today we were struck by two familiar points. First, just how irrelevant the whole shenanigans is. Given our elected dictatorship, Parliament makes itself look even more ridiculous with all that dressing up and general preening.

Second, how on earth did we ever get into a situation where that lot, in one way or another, preside over more than 40% of our national economy? We simply have to find a way of breaking up our state monopoly public services.