I have some sympathy for the Prime Minister's former Enterprise Adviser, Lord Young (now 78). The business banking adviser in my local branch of one of the UK major financial institutions expressed similar sentiments to those of the good Lord, to the effect that most people have never had it so good and what's all the fuss about. Indeed, I'm sure that many people, by reason of some insulation from the wider world - wealth, stupidity, some combination of the two, university vice-chancellors, people who run "difficult conversation" workshops for the Cabinet Office etc, etc - feel the same. The question is do we want such people running, or helping to run, the country or advising businesses on their banking. No, but they will continue to do so.
This is precisely why it is important that politicians, business people and bureaucrats are constantly reality-checked, and every citizen should regard this function as a basic duty. So last week I wrote, for the second time, to Bob Neill, the Minister for Local Government and Planning: please see http://janetmackinnon.wordpress.com/
My letter was prompted by a legal judgement against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, to the effect that his over-hasty abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) earlier in the year was unlawful. I anticipated this judgement, although - and I'm sure that Mr Pickles would agree with me - the law can be just as much of an ass as anyone else. In fact, Mr Bob Neill may well be right when he describes this judgment against the Secretary of State as a Pyrrhic Victory for house-builders. My legal verdict, which may be as good as that of anyone else, is that whilst the Pickles was "ultra vires" in his abolition of the RSS, the development targets set during the previous administration's revision of these are a matter of government policy, which has now been superseded.
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