A little while back I looked at the dysfunction in the meat industry where slaughterhouses were struggling to keep up with rising compliance costs, particularly veterinary fees, which stems from the widespread use of agency vets.
Another issue, in the doomloop is that regulations are more complicated and more time consuming to deal with. We have a perfect product mindset without the resources to achieve this at scale. A planning application or a court application requires a huge amount more information compared to 20 years ago.
I've read this and several of your other recent posts about quangos and public sector bureaucracy with interest. I agree absolutely with your central argument, viz. many carry out vital functions, are often under-resourced, and that the tendency of the right to talk about a 'bonfire of the quangos' is lazy and generalised. However, years of working in private sector bureacracies as a consultant (we share HBOS as an example) have persuaded me (and I in turn have persuaded several CEOs) that there are whole teams and departments which are essentially superfluous and produce nothing of value, and others that are genuinely and chronically under-resourced. Quite often with the former it's hard to quantify their outputs and/or value (finance, HR teams eg), whereas with the latter it's much easier (contact centre people, IT coders). The trick therefore is not, to use the jargon, to 'salami slice' X% of all teams, but to identify those where you can safely remove 80% without consequence, and others where you need to add (say) 30% resource, of the right type of course. That's what I think is needed - people working with the public sector who understand its objectives, the required resource profiles, and can recommend to senior management helpful changes in structures, recruitment and activity. That would take time, of course, and it wouldn't make for sexy sloganeering during an election campaign, but it would deliver proper improvements. I know it can be done - my daughter (also a consultant) has done some amazing things with some NHS trusts, but it needs the will to be there, and that's why I totally support your messaging to the right, ie get your act together and stop with the slop.
"The trick therefore is not, to use the jargon, to 'salami slice' X% of all teams, but to identify those where you can safely remove 80% without consequence"
Very good post. The parties on the right - and others - should possibly link mass immigration to the decline in standards and enforcement across the country.
The government is spending about £50 billion a year on immigration if you add it all up. Immigration support takes money from everything else.
In addition, immigration, migration, pro-Islam measures, etc take up a huge part of government's "share of mind" leaving little room for progress on anything else.
As so many have said, the government can only possibly do 2-3 things well at a time.
Excellent ideas, Pete. You have certainly scored a direct hit on something that could make the environment for these criminals very difficult. I just read an article by Jupplandia about the various forms of dominance enacted by Islam in the West. Praying in public etc. Praying in Trafalgar Square. They are showing us what they really are and the stupid leftists simply don’t see it. I’m so angry about all this nonsense which is even happening in Australia. If we don’t do something big soon, we will have left it far too late, and the West will be lost.
It's nothing more now than a game of ‘musical chairs’. The various arms of the establishment and their attendant minions are praying that, when the music stops, they'll be sitting pretty on their ‘pension chair’, and it'll be left for somebody else to deal with. Similar to the talking head military figures lamenting the state of the armed forces, who said fuck all when they were in.
This series of articles on the nuts and bolts technical failures is incredibly useful. Hopefully whichever performative mock-Right party gets in will at least hire you as a consultant.
In this part of Cheshire we have a gypsy problem and enforcement is probably the biggest issue. Lack of man power is one aspect, but the biggest one from what I can see is intimidation, officers simply fear entering the site, let alone forcing an occupier to do something. This is very much political, as the DEI agenda, fear of upsetting a minority etc doesn't provide the support for officers to perform their task. So easy wins are made against weak targets i.e. middle class, white, generally law abiding and so negative opinions begin to form against the enforcement agencies. It's no wonder recruitment is a problem.
Pete's deep analysis is essential work, as it is underpinning the rhetoric of the populist right, or slop as Pete would call it. The sentiments are generally correct, but they haven't worked out why or what to do about it. They only respond to the first level question, and don't delve deeper, so problems are identified but meaningful solutions aren't put forward.
One of my wives friends husband is approaching retirement after decades on the Railways in a senior regional position over seeing the maintenance of track, junctions and general engineering safety and repairs. We got talking at a family gathering and I introduced him to the competency crisis theme (see the online Palladium magazine’s article about the American economy and aviation traffic in particular). He reflected and explained that all the younger workers that work with him eventually leave to explore more lucrative, easier or more accelerated careers in the railway arena. He agreed that there would be a huge shortfall in knowledge when he goes and this will come at a time when there will be a transition to greater use of Robot drivers etc,. His ability to understand and get the best out of overlapping systems some quite antiquated will be the biggest loss. Before Covid I got to know a couple of senior Police officers in the Safeguarding of child and adults arena, the austerity cuts in the police service are well known but the cuts in court time, which in real terms was down to half capacity, and the prioritising of high profile crime categories has led to a back log of large numbers of “bang to rights” serious criminals walking the street. My wife works for the police and I attended her long service awards event. Several of the coppers up for an award were involved in detective work and were commended for working longstanding child abuse cases in their spare time often over years until a breakthrough resulted in a successful prosecution. This practice seemed to be run of the mill. One of the organic problems in institutions is - as you describe - ageing workforces. In most jobs and industries there is understandably a pyramid structure and talented staff often have to relocate to where the vacancies are, and often face great difficulties in getting appointed in another location as organisations tend to avoid the risks associated with an external appointment. I have noticed how middle and senior managers tend to be offered retirement in waves and this can be very problematic for continuity, knowledge base and productive professional relationships. At the moment most councils are making a further 20-25% cuts over the next three years; and expensive experienced staff will be amongst those “let go”. Lastly, there no doubt are some excellent graduate courses but most industries know that the learning in academia is often out of date and lacking in street smarts. My brother is a front line copper who his local station senior manager talked into not taking retirement, because the younger Uni trained officers, benefited from his decades of common sense advice. Lastly I look around the senior management faces at various health social care and charity meetings I attend. Two things stand out: the preponderance of women, at the last meeting I attended there were 19 people only five male. The women are often very effective. But there is the issue of the preponderance of part time work and a tendency to focus on the regulatory frameworks - but overlook the fact that the generation being appointed to implement the regulations 70-75% women, many part time, are a different era and often academically credentialed. When AI cuts its swathe through local
Councils, ICBs and so many other industries it will exacerbate and accelerate the loss of frontline on the job expertise.
I have just posted this on your father's blog Turbulent Times:-
Since reading Sir John 'Pasha' Glubbs essay 'The Fate of Empires' , written in 1975, some 20 years ago I have accepted his analysis that our nations decline into decadence, frivolity, poor governance /leadership and an ever increasing welfare bill is inevitable.
And so every day we move closer to a total collapse in our country with no sign of any thing or body being able to prevent it.
It may seem dramatic but can anyone suggest to me a remedy other than a total collapse from which there will be a rebirth from the ashes under new leadership.
When that happens the 'people' need to demand changes to our governance that makes our politicians our servants instead of our masters to quite simply keep them in their place.
The template for lasting renewal was conceived back in 2012 by Pete's father and myself.
This is very important that you share this information to the Government and MPs as many as possible David Davis and everyone in Government should receive this information before it’s too late
Another issue, in the doomloop is that regulations are more complicated and more time consuming to deal with. We have a perfect product mindset without the resources to achieve this at scale. A planning application or a court application requires a huge amount more information compared to 20 years ago.
I've read this and several of your other recent posts about quangos and public sector bureaucracy with interest. I agree absolutely with your central argument, viz. many carry out vital functions, are often under-resourced, and that the tendency of the right to talk about a 'bonfire of the quangos' is lazy and generalised. However, years of working in private sector bureacracies as a consultant (we share HBOS as an example) have persuaded me (and I in turn have persuaded several CEOs) that there are whole teams and departments which are essentially superfluous and produce nothing of value, and others that are genuinely and chronically under-resourced. Quite often with the former it's hard to quantify their outputs and/or value (finance, HR teams eg), whereas with the latter it's much easier (contact centre people, IT coders). The trick therefore is not, to use the jargon, to 'salami slice' X% of all teams, but to identify those where you can safely remove 80% without consequence, and others where you need to add (say) 30% resource, of the right type of course. That's what I think is needed - people working with the public sector who understand its objectives, the required resource profiles, and can recommend to senior management helpful changes in structures, recruitment and activity. That would take time, of course, and it wouldn't make for sexy sloganeering during an election campaign, but it would deliver proper improvements. I know it can be done - my daughter (also a consultant) has done some amazing things with some NHS trusts, but it needs the will to be there, and that's why I totally support your messaging to the right, ie get your act together and stop with the slop.
"The trick therefore is not, to use the jargon, to 'salami slice' X% of all teams, but to identify those where you can safely remove 80% without consequence"
Good luck with that.
Very good post. The parties on the right - and others - should possibly link mass immigration to the decline in standards and enforcement across the country.
The government is spending about £50 billion a year on immigration if you add it all up. Immigration support takes money from everything else.
In addition, immigration, migration, pro-Islam measures, etc take up a huge part of government's "share of mind" leaving little room for progress on anything else.
As so many have said, the government can only possibly do 2-3 things well at a time.
Do you mean 'A Proper Government'?
(Yes, a good post and good response, thanks.)
Excellent ideas, Pete. You have certainly scored a direct hit on something that could make the environment for these criminals very difficult. I just read an article by Jupplandia about the various forms of dominance enacted by Islam in the West. Praying in public etc. Praying in Trafalgar Square. They are showing us what they really are and the stupid leftists simply don’t see it. I’m so angry about all this nonsense which is even happening in Australia. If we don’t do something big soon, we will have left it far too late, and the West will be lost.
It's nothing more now than a game of ‘musical chairs’. The various arms of the establishment and their attendant minions are praying that, when the music stops, they'll be sitting pretty on their ‘pension chair’, and it'll be left for somebody else to deal with. Similar to the talking head military figures lamenting the state of the armed forces, who said fuck all when they were in.
This series of articles on the nuts and bolts technical failures is incredibly useful. Hopefully whichever performative mock-Right party gets in will at least hire you as a consultant.
In this part of Cheshire we have a gypsy problem and enforcement is probably the biggest issue. Lack of man power is one aspect, but the biggest one from what I can see is intimidation, officers simply fear entering the site, let alone forcing an occupier to do something. This is very much political, as the DEI agenda, fear of upsetting a minority etc doesn't provide the support for officers to perform their task. So easy wins are made against weak targets i.e. middle class, white, generally law abiding and so negative opinions begin to form against the enforcement agencies. It's no wonder recruitment is a problem.
Pete's deep analysis is essential work, as it is underpinning the rhetoric of the populist right, or slop as Pete would call it. The sentiments are generally correct, but they haven't worked out why or what to do about it. They only respond to the first level question, and don't delve deeper, so problems are identified but meaningful solutions aren't put forward.
Great post Pete. Keep going on this, it's a national scandal that exemplifies the failure of our political class over the last 30 years.
A problem for British owners of abattoirs is non religious slaughter (full stunning) slows the process of slaughter.
Religious slaughter increases rates as a result of not stunning the animals.
Less efficient non religious abattoirs are being bought out by Middle Eastern businesses.
Partial stunning is still thought to be faster than full stunning rates (apparently).
Where's PETA, on that rare occasion when it might be useful?
3 monkeys when it’s Islam.
Three observations.
One of my wives friends husband is approaching retirement after decades on the Railways in a senior regional position over seeing the maintenance of track, junctions and general engineering safety and repairs. We got talking at a family gathering and I introduced him to the competency crisis theme (see the online Palladium magazine’s article about the American economy and aviation traffic in particular). He reflected and explained that all the younger workers that work with him eventually leave to explore more lucrative, easier or more accelerated careers in the railway arena. He agreed that there would be a huge shortfall in knowledge when he goes and this will come at a time when there will be a transition to greater use of Robot drivers etc,. His ability to understand and get the best out of overlapping systems some quite antiquated will be the biggest loss. Before Covid I got to know a couple of senior Police officers in the Safeguarding of child and adults arena, the austerity cuts in the police service are well known but the cuts in court time, which in real terms was down to half capacity, and the prioritising of high profile crime categories has led to a back log of large numbers of “bang to rights” serious criminals walking the street. My wife works for the police and I attended her long service awards event. Several of the coppers up for an award were involved in detective work and were commended for working longstanding child abuse cases in their spare time often over years until a breakthrough resulted in a successful prosecution. This practice seemed to be run of the mill. One of the organic problems in institutions is - as you describe - ageing workforces. In most jobs and industries there is understandably a pyramid structure and talented staff often have to relocate to where the vacancies are, and often face great difficulties in getting appointed in another location as organisations tend to avoid the risks associated with an external appointment. I have noticed how middle and senior managers tend to be offered retirement in waves and this can be very problematic for continuity, knowledge base and productive professional relationships. At the moment most councils are making a further 20-25% cuts over the next three years; and expensive experienced staff will be amongst those “let go”. Lastly, there no doubt are some excellent graduate courses but most industries know that the learning in academia is often out of date and lacking in street smarts. My brother is a front line copper who his local station senior manager talked into not taking retirement, because the younger Uni trained officers, benefited from his decades of common sense advice. Lastly I look around the senior management faces at various health social care and charity meetings I attend. Two things stand out: the preponderance of women, at the last meeting I attended there were 19 people only five male. The women are often very effective. But there is the issue of the preponderance of part time work and a tendency to focus on the regulatory frameworks - but overlook the fact that the generation being appointed to implement the regulations 70-75% women, many part time, are a different era and often academically credentialed. When AI cuts its swathe through local
Councils, ICBs and so many other industries it will exacerbate and accelerate the loss of frontline on the job expertise.
I have just posted this on your father's blog Turbulent Times:-
Since reading Sir John 'Pasha' Glubbs essay 'The Fate of Empires' , written in 1975, some 20 years ago I have accepted his analysis that our nations decline into decadence, frivolity, poor governance /leadership and an ever increasing welfare bill is inevitable.
And so every day we move closer to a total collapse in our country with no sign of any thing or body being able to prevent it.
It may seem dramatic but can anyone suggest to me a remedy other than a total collapse from which there will be a rebirth from the ashes under new leadership.
When that happens the 'people' need to demand changes to our governance that makes our politicians our servants instead of our masters to quite simply keep them in their place.
The template for lasting renewal was conceived back in 2012 by Pete's father and myself.
https://harrogateagenda.org.uk/
No, but I hope something happens before that 'total collapse'. (A vain hope probably).
So where will the next 'Peterloo' be held? Epping?
The 'clash' could be in any number of city ghetto areas.
This is very important that you share this information to the Government and MPs as many as possible David Davis and everyone in Government should receive this information before it’s too late
Also the Farming Unions and regulators
Panorama may be interested