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Unthinkable? Ministers learn from experience Unthinkable? Ministers learn from experience
(4 days later)
A book is published on Monday that all ministers and officials should read before doing anything else. The Blunders of our Governments, by two eminent professors, Anthony King and Ivor Crewe, gives a forensic account of how and why so many ministerial projects have crashed and burned since 1979, at huge expense – although rarely to those involved. As ministers never believe they're going to fail (that's the first mistake), here's how things in the pipeline may go wrong, and possibly why they already have. One, to the architects of universal credit: remember that desirability of an outcome doesn't guarantee its achievability. Encourage, challenge and be prepared to adapt. Consult. Listen closely to those implementing pilot schemes. Introduce very slowly. Two, NHS reform. Caution! Activist ministers make bad policy and scare their officials into silence. Beware of prejudice: private might easily be worse than public, and the market can be a force for harm at least as often as a force for good. Do not oversell, do not spin.Three, HS2. It is possible that if everyone agrees, you are all wrong. Infrastructure needs continuity but you must (really) work up all the options. It is so much easier to decide to do something than it is to do it. Just because some critics are nimbys doesn't mean they're necessarily wrong. Recall the dangers of asymmetry of expertise. Be precise. Be particular. Above all, consider how history will judge you and your ambition. Less is so often more.A book is published on Monday that all ministers and officials should read before doing anything else. The Blunders of our Governments, by two eminent professors, Anthony King and Ivor Crewe, gives a forensic account of how and why so many ministerial projects have crashed and burned since 1979, at huge expense – although rarely to those involved. As ministers never believe they're going to fail (that's the first mistake), here's how things in the pipeline may go wrong, and possibly why they already have. One, to the architects of universal credit: remember that desirability of an outcome doesn't guarantee its achievability. Encourage, challenge and be prepared to adapt. Consult. Listen closely to those implementing pilot schemes. Introduce very slowly. Two, NHS reform. Caution! Activist ministers make bad policy and scare their officials into silence. Beware of prejudice: private might easily be worse than public, and the market can be a force for harm at least as often as a force for good. Do not oversell, do not spin.Three, HS2. It is possible that if everyone agrees, you are all wrong. Infrastructure needs continuity but you must (really) work up all the options. It is so much easier to decide to do something than it is to do it. Just because some critics are nimbys doesn't mean they're necessarily wrong. Recall the dangers of asymmetry of expertise. Be precise. Be particular. Above all, consider how history will judge you and your ambition. Less is so often more.
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