The Balance of Power

The latest political wheeze is to campaign on the promise of giving local people much more direct control over the management of their local services; from bin men to hospitals; from where to put the local library to changing bus routes. It all sounds jolly democratic and something that could only be opposed by the "Daddy knows best" brigade.

I hope that this shift in power will mean that we can sack all the people that are supposed to be making these decisions and getting them right! After all, it seems only logical that if the "people" want to make different decisions, then either the existing planners are wrong or it's the "people" who don't understand the question. I am not holding my breath.

Wouldn't it be nice that just now and again (actually I'd settle for just once) when a public service doesn't work properly, those being paid to get it right were forced to do it properly instead of changing how it's done. Then "people" wouldn't need power since they would not feel the need to change the service.

After fifty five years, shouldn't we be asking why the Secretary of State for Health needs to hold a consultation exercise to find out what her managers ought have known in the first place. The one question she doesn't appear to have asked is why her senior directors and managers didn't know already.