Tim Worstall

Read and Weep

Christopher Booker carries a story which shows just how we are governed today:

One paragraph I wish I had space to quote in full, because it shines
such dazzling light on the strange way we are now governed. It explains
how the agency could not have been expected to give Mr Donovan reliable
advice on what the EC rules meant because its officials had to spend
months in meetings and "workshops" trying to puzzle it out themselves.
Indeed several times they had to change their mind. It would therefore
have been quite wrong for Mr Donovan to depend on what they said at any
given time. There is no way they can be blamed. The role of the
Ombudsman, it seems, is not to protect the citizen against the system
but, as some of us have long suspected, the other way round.

If, confused by what the law does or does not allow you to do, you ask the bureaucrats, they don’t know either, and you cannot rely upon theor formal guidance. You most certainly have no comeback as and when they screw up.

If no one knows what the law is then we don’t actually have a system of law. Scary, isn’t it?

There’s also an economic point to be made. We’ll never even notice the new products and services we don’t get because no one brings them to market. But the lack of them will, in the long term, make us vastly poorer than we would have been without such regulation.

Can we leave yet?

In

3 responses

  1. MarkS Avatar
    MarkS

    The more I learn about the EU, the more I despair. Imagine taking the wrong turning off a motorway more than 30 years ago and you’re still driving on hoping things are going to come right. Problem is you have no map or compass and are entirely lost.
    That seems to be about the state we’re in. The EU corrupts its servants and acolytes with benefits and trappings of the first-class carriage of a gravy train. Even if 99% of us wanted to leave, the civil servants and politicians would never allow it.
    There’s a big blockage to debating the EU at the moment. If you are anti-EU one is almost accused of racism and being hostile to other nations. Not at all. You can respect the other countries of the EU without having to bow down to the Commission. Perhaps we should have a poll on here: “Will we ever leave the EU?”

    Reply
  2. Marcin Tustin Avatar
    Marcin Tustin

    We do have a system of laws, and a constitution, and it’s all very simple: We have various bodies that legislate, and we have others that adjudicate the exact meaning of that legislation (courts), and if you want to know what the law is, you can consult a good textbook, or failing that, pay a lawyer. It’s a private service, see? I thought you were in favur of the private provision of services, rather than having people rely unnecessarily on the state.

    Reply
  3. Not Saussure Avatar
    Not Saussure

    Completely agree with Marcin Tustin. It’s up the courts to interpret the law; the alternative — the law is what the relevant civil service department says it is — really isn’t a good idea.
    You say, If, confused by what the law does or does not allow you to do, you ask the bureaucrats, they don’t know either, and you cannot rely upon their formal guidance. You most certainly have no comeback as and when they screw up.
    Well, if I’m confused by what the law does or doesn’t allow me to do, I don’t consult a bureaucrat; or at least not for an opinion on which I intend to rely. I consult a solicitor and he may well consult specialist counsel. They may well tell me that, while the law on the subject is unclear, they think it means such-and-such but if I want to go ahead with my project I should be aware that we might have to ask the courts to tell us what it means. That’s the nature of legislation, not the EU.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Tim Worstall

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading