All of a Piece

There is a striking similarity between the failures in the current cold conditions, the banking crisis and politics generally. That failure is a lack of accountability, which leads to a lack of care. Let's go back a bit to when this culture crystallised. Tony Blair knew that he had to lie to the electorate in order for Labour to become electable. People were aware that whilst some of the Tories were bent (Archer, Aitken) some were deeply unpleasant (Clarke, Heseltine), but that under them the country had prospered and had a strong sense of national identity. It is why Thatcher is so hated by the chattering classes, why comedians make half-jokes about her with a knowing nod that well, she was awful wasn't she, without any attempt to substantiate why. So Blair had to lie about the Tories and their intentions. He was very good at it, it came naturally to him. And then when in power he realised that even when a government was caught lying through its teeth, no one could do anything about it and he just said 'move on'.

So a lackadaisical attitude at the very highest levels became the order of the day. Banks hired people who seemed to know where the end of the rainbow was (by which I mean that was the level of planning that went into hiring them) and these Chief Executives then demanded, and got, pay packages that included massive bonuses whether they succeeded or failed. When such a moronic situation can arise, you know trouble must be ahead.

Politicians also came to live in a fantasy land, seeing themselves as very special people, who didn't have to actually work for a living and that the taxpayer should fund their every whim. The shock at the reaction of the public to their pilfering was real. The politicians had no concept of any wrongdoing on their part. It was their entitlement, how dare anyone object. And while politics slept the iceberg approached. All kinds of senior people, in government funded Quango's and big corporates up and down the country adopted this new laissez faire attitude to the responsibilities of their positions.

And then they get tested and naturally are found wanting. The banks run out of money; how did that happen the CEO's ask, surely banks have loads of money? And then it snowed. Not horrendous amounts you understand, just quite a bit. So, not only has no real planning and preparation been done by the work averse senior management, but when confronted with the disaster that was wholly predictable they just rely on their inbred character and shrug their shoulders. The people are left stranded and freezing, the airport closed and the trains not running because they don't actually care.

And it is everywhere. My postman pushed a card through my door today, for the collection of a parcel. I went after him, 'hello, I'm here, you have a parcel for me?' 'er no', was the response. 'due to the conditions and the backlog we are not delivering parcels, you have to go and collect them.' You see the attitude at work here again? They have charged me for a service and yet, once conditions get a little difficult they feel entirely free to sit back and tell me to put myself out and struggle through the snow, because they don't want to. Despite being paid to deliver parcels.

My other favourite comment so far, was from some gimp at BAA who, trying to explain why, even without it snowing for 3 days, the airport was still closed. He sounded quite reasonable, until you actually listened to what he said. He seemed to have been taken aback that the snow had covered the whole airport, he said that the 'problem' was that they have 200 gates and each has an aircraft at it. Was he not aware of that previously? Well no, since when did someone in a senior position at an airport have to know anything about what goes on at his airport? He was very concerned (and I believe this was genuine) that the TV crew filmed him saying how distressed he was at the suffering of their customers. The words of course, he didn't actually care which is why the airport was not functioning.