I have worked in government for 28 years as an economist, and for the last 20 years I have worked on environmental programs. In that time I have not seen a shred of evidence to justify global warming, let alone man made global warming and I have not seen a shred of evidence that there is going to be a green economic boom. The only evidence I have seen is that there is a green economic bust, that money invested in green technologies is usually wasted and simply consumes investment that could be better used elsewhere. I think that anybody in government or industry who can not understand this is either dishonest, stupid, or both. That applies to Cameron – I think he is both.
– A comment on a Christopher Booker article. Bishop Hill already has this as his quote of the day, but I think it really deserves to get around.
It is often assumed by opponents of big government that all those on the government payroll are automatic believers in big government, because it suits them to be. But it just doesn’t follow. They may start out believing in big government, but what they then learn when part of big government may cause them to have second thoughts.
LATER: Yes, I have demoted this posting, as it were, basically by pretending that this went up an hour sooner than it really did. This is because I have been updating the posting that is now next, and because I consider that posting, although no more important than this one, to be be more urgent.
It may be that not all members of big government are believers in big government, but I still suspect the recruitment and promotion procedures try to ensure that they are.
Perhaps it’s another example of Big Government inefficiency. They can’t even convince their own apparatchiks of the benefits of a system which keeps those apparatchiks in bread.
Did the commenter have a proper name, or at least, a silly made-up name?
My concern is that anyone who had a more or less realistic view of things, who has put in 28 years with the Government, as an economist, and then 20 years on environmental matters, must by now be totally gaga insane. Probably raving and muttering and slobbering into his tea.
Can you trust him?
LOL!
I’ve worked in a government office. There were plenty of hard working people in there and many of them were disgusted at the laziness and inefficiency of the majority of staff and the refusal of what passes for management to do anything about it.
Where I worked the diligent minority just got on with it and tried to ignore the shirkers, although their presence was demoralising.
On the plus side overstaffing was so appalling that the prescence of lots of people doing next to no work every day didn’t mean much work went undone.
Sorry, pete, I did not mean to be insulting whatsoever.
In fact to have come through such an environment indicates courage and a clarity of mind not to be despised!
Just one point for now, but I think that what the commenter is saying is that he has worked for the Govt for a total of 28 years, the last 20 being on environmental matters, not 48 years. On that figure he would be retired already.
mike, the name used by the commenter was “hospitaller”. Posted “yesterday” at 04:34 AM.
In my youth, I too have worked in a Government Department, which was Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution (part of the Department of the Environment during the early 1990’s).
As was mentioned above, there were a lot of slackers, but apparently less than most other sections of the DOE (since this was an agency). The prevailing attitude was that it was better than the dole, provided a nice easy job with cushy hours (core hours being 10:00 – 12:00 and 14:00 – 16:00, which was a struggle for some of them).
By and large the manager were the ones who had striven in the past under a different climate, but since there is a certain amount of stagnation within the ranks once you reach a certain level, this led to managers being more resigned than commited.
The managers as well as being demoralized were constrained by the twin barriers of civil service rules and the public sector unions. It was almost impossible to get rid of anyone unless they had actually pissed off the union leadership and vomited on Minister / Secretary of States’ shoes. Even then it would be a struggle.
Time and again the Serv’s (as we externals called them), would bugger off to lunch (i.e. the Civil Service Bar), have 4-double vodka’s at 30p a shot and either come back at 14:30 pissed or not at all.
This was why they had outsourced the actual work to 3rd parties like the consultancy company that I worked for at the time, because the work still needed doing and the Serv’s were incapable of delivering anything to a time-scale or budget.
After 14-months I was glad to escape to another client.
Cheers Laird – you must have had more time than me to go through all those comments…
I’m not sure what an economist’s views on the reality of AGW have to do with anything, but it does bear repeating for the persistent group that hasn’t realised yet that governments tend to make bad decisions and invest money unwisely.
How can we believe him when he lies from the third word on? ‘Worked’ is not a truthful description of being hired by the government! He’ll be sprouting statistics next!