Dubious Functions

The Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing think-cistern whose name is apparently what serves Iain Duncan Smith for a sense of humour, is wrinkling its forehead over the Government's destruction of the public sector. The Centre's latest report suggests that the civil service has no incentive to be efficient, only to cut spending (gosh!), that ministers tend to be more interested in making good headlines than in any effect their policies might have (golly!) and that Daveybloke's Cuddly Coalition may not be planning its cuts programme in quite the proper way to minimise inconvenience for the little people (golly gosh with knobs on!). As if all that were not good for sniggers enough in Daveybloke's Cuddly Cabinet, the report defines this culture as a "dysfunction"; which raises serious questions about the sort of judgement being practised at the Centre for Social Justice. There are plenty of people who no longer know the purpose of the Liberal Democrats' existence, and it is perfectly possible that Duncan Smith is stupid enough to imagine that his party is there to get Britain working and feed the proles; but for a think-thingy with a Conservative minister as its patron to have so little idea of what the Conservatives are for is a little too much even for the Not Particularly Bright Party.