Quote of the day 24th May 2021

 "I am not impugning the entire BBC - which has many brilliant journalists - or the NHS, which has thousands of dutiful staff, or any other of the bodies listed above. All have a comprehensive ledger of good works as well as my admiration. I am also not making a case for the rectitude of the private sector. No, the point is that we need to wake up  to why organisations devoted to public service, which attract upstanding people, incubate so many scandals with the recurring themes of obfuscation and moral self-entitlement.

You might suppose that the answer was to be found in more rules and regulations. More checks and balances. But I would argue that these are, in a sense, peripheral.

the most important thing is to stop deifying bodies such as the NHS and the other sacred cows of our culture, placing them above debate and criticism. For it is this, above all else, that leads to organisational narcissism. And this isn't just dangerous for the public. It is a tragedy for the institutions themselves.


(Matthew Syed, conclusion of a Sunday Times article yesterday about why institutions like the BBC, the NHS, charities and churches can all too easily develop patterns of behavior which are both harmful and completely contrary to tier core mission if they are placed on a pedestal and encouraged to regard themselves as above criticism. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's a British Disease, other countries resolve the issues we just carry on regardless.
7:03 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
To be honest that is UK exceptionalism.

Britain is not the only part of the world where inertia and ignoring issues rather than doing something about them takes place.
9:17 am
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