Quote of the day 1st August 2017


Comments

Jim said…
do you stand like a rock so governments can U turn around them faster? dont really get that one.

National Insurance Increase
Taking In Refugee Children
Foreign Worker Quotas.
Hinkley Point
New London Airport
Social Care
European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)
Energy Price Caps.

Now I may indeed agree with a lot of the U turns, but why U turn? why not just get it right first time?

See U turns like that dont fit with "stand like a rock"
Chris Whiteside said…
Jefferson's point was about the difference in approach as between matters of style and matters of principle.

The details of policy are something else again, which will be influenced by style, principle, the evidence base available to you about relevant circumstances, and bluntly, whether you have the votes to get it through.

You are of course right that it's best to get the policy right first time.

Nevertheless, it is a simple fact of life that governments which have slim majorities (or none at all) will sometimes be forced into U turns.

This sad reality does not invalidate Jefferson's point that consistency is more important in matters of principle than in matters of style.
Anonymous said…
Is not being overseen by the ECJ a matter of principle?
Jim said…
thinking agbout that then, is is a matter of principle to take from a pension fund that is not in deficit, or is that a matter of style?

and why is it a matter of principle to leave the EEA? that is not what the quetion asked. i think style would be staying within theEEA whist leaving the EU, its simple logic
Chris Whiteside said…
Other people might have a different opinion on both those questions.

I would consider it a matter of principle not to take money from a pension fund which left it unable to meet the commitments of that fund but I presume from the words in Jim's question "which is not in deficit" that this isn't the case which was meant.

The calculation of how much money you need to put into or leave in a pension fund to meet its liabilities, PROVIDED that you DO intend to honour those liabilities, is clearly more than a matter of style but is not a matter of principle. I would call it a matter of policy.

Reasonable people could differ about whether membership of the EEA or being subject to the ECJ is a matter of principle. Both of these are - rightly - absent from Jim's list of things on which the government has changed policy.

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