It seems to me that all new Governments start out with ideals and a zest for action, with ideas and a 'can do' attitude. There are usually some low hanging fruit following on from a previously bankrupt administration in terms of actions and policies and making a difference - 'they got bogged down but it's OK, we're here now, with sharpened tools and motivated ministers: Relax everyone, things will now get better, much better.'
The devil, residing quietly in the detail, smiles indulgently.
It normally takes a few years for the reality that is the civil service, together with their allies in other major public sector bodies like the NHS and Education to take complete control of the agenda and quite often they allow a new regime to win a few minor battles on policy, a few new initiatives that create positive headlines. But in the end it's like a small group of clever, motivated and agile flies, trying to move a massive boulder.
They keep trying, don't get me wrong. They try everything and anything, money, publicity, threats, the moral high ground, they try to undermine the rock, to wobble it, to take away its foundations, they cajole it to move, persuade it, flatter it. But the rock is just bigger, more solid and much more permanent than they are, so eventually they give up on this big difficult stuff and instead move on to easier tasks. They ban hunting, or introduce a freedom of information bill or go to war or sell forests or build runways or railway lines - in short, anything that doesn't involve the impossible task of moving the rock.
And yet. And yet. The rock continues to consume vast amounts of money to operate - exponential amounts as far as the health service is concerned, and health outcomes do continue to improve because of advances in technology and medical science, albeit at a vastly inflated price to everyone. The last government poured £millions into healthcare with little result. Doctors pocketed the extra money and now put in fewer hours of work. Why? Because they could. The checks and balances were not properly worked out and they took advantage of that. Technological advances mean that this sector is effectively strapped to a vehicle that has an upward trajectory such that poor individual performance is completely offset by gains elsewhere. In other words doctors or even entire hospitals can under-perform spectacularly, but the overall upward momentum is guaranteed by technological advances that consume ever more money but cannot be refused because of the positive statistics compared to the outcomes secured by other forms of investment.
Think of it like the oil industry. Because demand is so universal, so inelastic, the 'industry' can perform as badly as it likes, can be as inefficient as it likes (can take out full page ads in the FT for £20grand a pop talking about 'Beyond Petrolium) but it will still secure massive income because there is no alternative.
Education continues to be (seen as) the most important thing a government can provide: more money is put in, day after day, but outcomes do not improve markedly. But we cannot address this properly for fear of harming the outcomes of our kids - and we all have kids and aspirations for them, so they too are like oil. Not negotiable and not even 'tinkerable' let alone properly changed for the better. The risk of failure is simply too great.
So we continue to accept a health service that is poorly run and inefficient because it's the best we can do. We continue to put up with an education sector that, if it were a commercial enterprise, would have gone bust every year for decades because of piss poor performance. It is failing our kids and thereby, our country, but is, it seems, too big to move, too big to change.
It's time for this Government to 'man up' and tackle these big ticket items and to stop asking people with vested interests to advise it on policy. It is time for the change that was promised and time for this government to retrieve these issues from the 'too difficult' drawer and to address them properly once and for all. Otherwise they will, quite rightly be judged as being full of hot air and spin and PR and ultimately ineffectual.
You have this one chance Mr Cameron, to really make your name on a world and historic stage. It's a big as Thatcher transforming the country by standing up to the miners and it's just as necessary today as that was then. It's time to bring the health service into the modern age with deeds and not just spin and aspiration. It's time to stand up to the teaching unions - the last refuge of militant laziness - and bring genuine reform and truly modern outcomes for our kids.
Don't blow it.
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