Tim Worstall

Well, Yes Bob

You never know, we might actually get Councillor Bob Piper on the correct side of this argument one day:

When public money is misused on a grand scale, and then the person
who blows the whistle gets bullied to such an extent that he may never
work again, resulting in a compensation payment to him of anything up
to three-quarters of a million pounds of council tax payers money…. someone should be held to account.

The chances of that happening are somewhere between slim and none…

Precisely because there is no such accountability is a damn good reason not to let the politicians take our money to waste in the first place.

Small government anyone?

In

6 responses

  1. Bob Piper Avatar
    Bob Piper

    Which is a good soundbite… but not everyone wants to empty their own dustbin, build their own streetlights, educate their own children, mend the potholes in the highways, take the neighbours children into their homes after they’ve been abused, look after their elderly parents 24-hours a day, or be held responsible for deciding planning applications, regeneration projects, providing respite for people with children with learning disabilities….etc, etc.
    Small government everyone? At least if you do all of those things yourself you won’t have to pay council tax.
    Tim adds: The idea is small government, not none. That’s the anarcho capitalists of whom I am not one.

    Reply
  2. AntiCitizenOne Avatar
    AntiCitizenOne

    but if whole streets could have a referendum and opt out of receiving and paying for coucil “services” such as road mending, rubbish collection etc. It might put the wind of competetion back in the (now formerly) extortion funded sector.

    Reply
  3. Bob Piper Avatar
    Bob Piper

    Yes, we learnt that painful lesson in the 1980’s and then even the Tories realised the madness of bidding for contracts, monitoring contracts, competitive tendering which squeezed down the price… and with it the quality.
    Also, if you live in a street and you and your neighbours think you can cope without streetlighting and with holes in the road and rickety paving stones… but I have to walk down your street on the way to mine, pushing my child in a pushchair, you would soon realise that your system was not only wasteful… but also bloody stupid!

    Reply
  4. JuliaM Avatar
    JuliaM

    “…but I have to walk down your street on the way to mine, pushing my child in a pushchair, you would soon realise that your system was not only wasteful… but also bloody stupid!”
    They might not….if their system kept out undesirables as a result! 😉

    Reply
  5. Bob Piper Avatar
    Bob Piper

    I would have though streets without streetlights would probably be more than welcome by undesirables… but look, boys and girls, life’s moved on since the days of no such thing as society. I don’t have a child in a pushchair or a granny in a wheelchair, but I accept that one has paid taxes in her life, and one will keep me when I’m dribbling in the corner of an old people’s home.
    This me, me, me stuff is typical reactionary crap.

    Reply
  6. JuliaM Avatar
    JuliaM

    Reply

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