I was having a conversation with my Dad the other day about the state of today's newspapers. Although not a daily reader, his preferred read is the Telegraph.
It's not a paper that appeals to me because it appears to be written by, and for, people who live in a different society to me and pretty much everyone else I know (sorry Dad).
My attention was drawn (thanks once again Nobby) to a comment piece by Richard Wilson (Lord Wilson of Dinton was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service from 1998 to 2002).
Lord Wilson explains that the:
"The Service has done its best to change while remaining true to its traditional values of integrity, selection on merit and political impartiality. Work by Mori shows that over the past two decades, when trust in most professions has not changed, there has been a noticeable rise in trust in civil servants."
"Hordes of visitors come from overseas to learn how we do it."
Who is he trying to kid? And what about his assertion that the Civil Service is now smaller than in the 1970s.
Having read the article in full, I was at least pleased to see that he has the good grace to finish on a joke:
"Civil Service reform is important, but it needs to be accompanied by a hard look at the role of central government. As Gordon Brown has said: ''The British way is to break up centralised institutions that are too remote and insensitive and so devolve power." We live in hope."
As another famous Richard Wilson might put it, "I don't believe it."
Rebuilding trust in civil servants
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