Tag Archives: Public Bodies Reform Bill

Alex Marsh

Opinion: Should we be concerned about the Government’s attempted quangocide?

By Alex Marsh | Thu 13th January 2011 - 1:20 pm

Quangos – Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – occupy a strange place in the British political landscape. They tend to proliferate because governments can’t resist seeing new commissions for this or advisory panels for that as essential, while rarely deciding that existing bodies have outlived their usefulness. Yet, the term “quango” inhabits the same discursive space as “bureaucracy”. There is an engrained association with waste, inefficiency, red tape and pointless interfering. In many people’s minds, and frequently in political rhetoric, “quango = bad” by definition. (For a discussion of a similar equation regarding bureaucracy, see here on my blog.) So, the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    FS people. You clearly don't have any idea what getting a PhD involves. It took me 8 long years (part time) and everything I did was checked by my supervisors a...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    David, thank you, and I am asking the same question. The opportunity is biggest in the seats where we face the Conservatives, where the economy comes up on the ...
  • David Raw
    @ Nick Baird Well said, Nick, especially in your last paragraph. Some things have changed a fair old bit since I first joined the Liberal Party way back in 196...
  • Nick Baird
    @Peter Martin - the point I tried to make above is that comparison isn't fair or reasonable. If that same individual eligible for £25k to £27.5k of benefits m...
  • Simon McGrath
    This is a tragic event with a terrible outcome for Dr Arday and his family. On the issue about plagiarism in Dr Arday's PhD, people can judge for themselve...