Are you sure that's wise, Minister?
Apr. 4th, 2026 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: The Blunders of our Governments, by Anthony King and Ivor Crewe
The authors begin by separating a blunder from other unfortunate choices, in that the potential for failure really ought to have been foreseen. They choose to begin with the Thatcher era, while noting that there is nothing new about blunders from that time. The poll tax features heavily, but so does pensions mis-selling, the Child Support Agency, and Black Wednesday (specifically, the decisions to do "whatever it takes" to prop up sterling at the time). Choosing episodes from the Blair era isn't difficult either - the Millennium Dome, Tax Credits and Individual Learning Accounts.
So the catalogue variously induces outrage, wry humour, and irony, but also a weary sense of repetitiveness. The authors attempt to identify common causes and potential for avoidance. The most concrete issue that comes up is short-termism, the determination to get quick results (mostly, in time for the next election) and to avoid anything that might prove unpopular, kicking the realities of the situation down the line. Disconnection of various forms also looms - ministers and officials having no idea how everyday people and businesses would react to certain changes. Whilst there are some anecdotes that align strongly to the plots of Yes Minister, there are also plenty of cases where civil servants did too much to follow the direction set by ministers, where a bit more questioning and challenging might have been appropriate.
The book is from 2013 and reserves judgement on the particulars of the coalition government, whilst pointing out there had already been a spate of blunders; and one can hardly say things have improved since then.
The authors begin by separating a blunder from other unfortunate choices, in that the potential for failure really ought to have been foreseen. They choose to begin with the Thatcher era, while noting that there is nothing new about blunders from that time. The poll tax features heavily, but so does pensions mis-selling, the Child Support Agency, and Black Wednesday (specifically, the decisions to do "whatever it takes" to prop up sterling at the time). Choosing episodes from the Blair era isn't difficult either - the Millennium Dome, Tax Credits and Individual Learning Accounts.
So the catalogue variously induces outrage, wry humour, and irony, but also a weary sense of repetitiveness. The authors attempt to identify common causes and potential for avoidance. The most concrete issue that comes up is short-termism, the determination to get quick results (mostly, in time for the next election) and to avoid anything that might prove unpopular, kicking the realities of the situation down the line. Disconnection of various forms also looms - ministers and officials having no idea how everyday people and businesses would react to certain changes. Whilst there are some anecdotes that align strongly to the plots of Yes Minister, there are also plenty of cases where civil servants did too much to follow the direction set by ministers, where a bit more questioning and challenging might have been appropriate.
The book is from 2013 and reserves judgement on the particulars of the coalition government, whilst pointing out there had already been a spate of blunders; and one can hardly say things have improved since then.