At least the cake is getting smaller
This week has been a bad week, and a good week, for common sense.
The bad week started, of course, when we heard about Ofsted interfering in an arrangement between two working mums – insisting that they had to be registered as child carers because they took turns to care for eachother’s children. Such sheer lack of common sense, on the part of a public body, was met with disbelief.
But why? Day and daily we hear about sheer flying-in-the-face-of-logic decisions by public bodies. And our own, vastly inflated and engorged, morbidly obese public sector sure does produce some ridiculous decisions – in direct proportion to the extent of its bloat.
It seems likely that the Executive will cave in to Union demands for ‘back pay’ relating to some esoteric argument about salary equivalence under equality legislation. Some workers may be “entitled” to around £20,000 of back pay – and the collective bill – just as we are facing massive slashing to the block grant – will be around £100m.
Meanwhile, the Executive is forging ahead on the devolution of policing and justice. The cost of such folly will be hundreds of millions. Never mind the fact that, according to Economist Victor Hewitt, the £370m public spending cuts planned by Stormont for next year will “pale into insignificance” compared to what’s coming next.
At last, some common sense creeping into the debate.
And, despite some weasel words about cross-Party consensus on the need for devolution of policing and justice, David Cameron weighed in, earlier in the week, and made clear that there would be “no open cheque book” from a Conservative government to implement devolved P&J.
However, with Gordon winging in tomorrow – just at the start of the Conservative Party Conference – he’s no doubt hoping to make some dramatic “hand of history” type statement re. the completion of the Agreement. Given the squillions spent on bailing out the banks it may well be the case that Gordon will open Cameron’s cheque book for him.
The weasel words should end. There is no public demand for the devolution of policing and justice. It makes no economic or constitutional sense. It’s time for the Conservatives to make this much, much clearer in an era when everyone needs to be brushing up their common sense skills.
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