Cut and Grow

 

Hi to you all

That’s been a tough day.

Note from the Welsh gang at B.H., it’s a bit chewed but here it is:

Notes for discussion with young D. .......

CUT AND GROW

Rule 1.  Think of the problem as gardening rather than engineering.  The place has been allowed to run wild for years.  Not just for the last two or three years, but throughout my time, my father’s time and my grandfather’s time, it is now the tangled undergrowth, weeds and overgrowth of a hundred years.  Spanner and micrometer are useless.  Get to work with pickaxe, spade and chainsaw.

Rule 2.  Find some things that everyone dislikes.  Old trees and shrubs, that have been there forever, that produce little, that consume much, that choke off the good new stuff, get rid of them.  Lopping and pruning is wasted time and effort.  Cut them down root and branch; burn them.  Let in light and energy.

There is, at least, one such rotten tree. 
Old fogeys have been propping it up and calling it new names for nearly a thousand years.  They now call it Council Tax (a.k.a. Rates, Business Rates, Window Tax.)  Over those centuries it has grown a vast bureaucracy, central and local, public sector and private sector, greedy, hated and counter- productive.   Replace it with some of the effective new plants you already have.

Everyone will cheer.  But, more important, everyone will recognise that you are serious and that you know what you are doing.

Rule 3.   Lead by example.  Cut the top payroll.  One Prime Minister, plus four Secretaries of State and a Chancellor is enough.  You then need “up and comers”, Ministers, two for your office and twenty five spread between the others.  Thirty three in total is a big enough political team to run anything.

You can then look everyone, politicians, councillors, generals, administrators, permanent secretaries, in the eye and require them to follow your lead.  Cut deeply at the top; cut lightly at the grassroots.

Be seen to lead.  Out of four, I’m putting two out to grass.

Rule 4.  Make no exceptions.

A Welsh puppy seems to have eaten the rest, so

Paws4Now

Jock.