The Blob: How the civil service beat Boris

[@julieoxtoby2221]

If a 80 strong majority of Conservtatives cannot sort the blob out?? Boris is missing so many things like this his carelessness is breath taking he could do so much for the country i've lost my hope in him someone with a real sense of the country could do so much,

[@elizabethmackenzie5730]

Easier said than done. For example, the Chancellor is clearly a hostage of the remainiac Treasury which is trying to crash Brexit. There are ten thousand permanent staff there, and only a handful of temporary Ministers. Mrs T was frequently sabotaged by the civil servants. E.g. the Department of Education refused to implement her National Curriculum as she wished, making it instead a complete dogs dinner to alienate teachers and parents alike. It worked.

[@elizabethmackenzie5730]

We know all this but it is the first time someone has set it out and published it. Well done DT.

[@uritzur5772]

Curtis yarvin is talking about this simce 2007

[@thavaseelannarayanan4581]

The civil servant look like a secrets state that is running country rather than the politician.

[@nathilism]

This video is contradictory. First it states that the civil service is lacking in diversity, then the narrator and civil servants start complaining about the promotion of diversity and inclusion. Make up your mind.

[@morsmagne]

I work for NICE and 'the blob' doesn't exist there. I think that's because the official tasks we're given give our lives sufficient meaning. I can imagine that the purpose of other government departments isn't so well defined, so that vaccume gets filled with other things.

[@Ben-db5re]

Good god, what utter Tory nonsense!

[@aimanalam4795]

time to rewatch Yes, Minister

[@jon636374]

Watching season 1 now!

[@melanie-kr6ng]

I think ALL UK media outlets should have a blanket ban on Harry & Meghan for the next couple of weeks to make a statement, and out of respect for the Queen. What better way of showing love and support for the service she’s devoted to our country. Focus on her only. Make it all about her, as it should be. Show her that we, as a country are all behind her. Let’s get patriot! PLEASE! 🙏🏼👑🇬🇧

[@sungpo-yu4662]

How the civil service revealed a liar and rule breaker.

[@yardy88]

Fire the blob. It is unelected.

[@alecnorton9948]

Great expose. But only really scratches the surface unfortunately. These people are evil.

[@Ventura2050]

This is really astonishingly biased and doesn´t mention any other explanations for the failures of the tory party which might have something to do with tory politics.

[@achilleasmavrellis740]

Astonishing is the word. The Blob is clearly the British version of the Deep State, a conspiracy theory for the uninformed and gullible. Whether or not folk like it, we live in a modern democracy, in which elected politicians should not behave like petty monarchs, but ought to be guided by the voice of reason. The civil service is not simply there to bow to ministers' every whims. It is there to advise on the feasibility and propriety of potential decisions. And to ensure that those decisions are made on the basis of evidence rather than opinons, lessons learned from the past rather than inexperience, and with medium to long term beneficial outcomes in mind rather short-term political goals. The assertions in this video, like the ridiculous footage (clips from computers and offices in the 80s!), bear absolutely no resemblance to civil service staff and the way in which they operate. I have been in the general workforce for close on 35 years and I have never come across a cadre of professionals with such integrity and devotion to doing what is right: for the nation, rather than purely for profit or ambition.

[@michaelbayer5094]

To an outsider (I'm American) it seems the British Civil Service is a meritocracy since it recruits the best (they can find) from universities on promotes based on standards. While I support democracy, it also seems British politicians are hardly representative as they come from wealthy, established families and attended more prestigious and exclusive schools, yet these politicians only play at populism. Sorry, but I have more faith in institutions than politicians. Also, Mr. Davis states the civil service "did not know where Brexit came from". I think we know now. It came from Moscow.

[@jamsteracton]

"Most civil servants are London based, they're Whitehall based". No, actually, only 1 in 10 civil servants are london based.

[@jennygw1883]

Great report.

[@carolinian2009]

12:25 of grievance and whining.

[@al9709]

It's worth saying here that research has shown that a govement only needs a tax take of around 15% GDP to run a country far more efficiently than ours is today. This is evidenced from experience in Asia particularly Singapore, and organisation manpower studies carried out for running an army which parallels running a country. Our tax take is currently running at around 45% GDP, so we know we are wasting around 30% of the nation's resources every year through misallocation of resources by the Civil service. What we should be doing is investing that money for the population in a wealth fund like Finland has done to support our futures, then there would be plenty of money for everyone.

[@daijones5558]

So basically "Yes, Minister" is true.

[@julianshepherd2038]

The Civil Service warned that the Poll Tax would be a shambles. And stop quoting yes Minister. Its satire. A deliberate exaggeration to make a point not a effing documentary.

[@caocao2339]

Nah it’s a documentary alright.

[@georgesdelatour]

The Poll Tax dates from 35 years ago. It was included in the 1987 Conservative manifesto. It was introduced in 1989 in Scotland and 1990 in England. Subsequent voter hostility to it led the Conservative Party to get rid of Margaret Thatcher and replace her with John Major in November 1990. Major immediately introduced legislation to repeal the tax before he had to face voters in the next election. The tax was effectively gone within months of its introduction. It’s actually an excellent example of democracy in action, of strong, rapid, responsive political feedback to strong voter opinion. Even the campaign to repeal the Corn Laws took longer to achieve its goals than the campaign to scrap the Poll Tax. For comparison, the EEC Common Agricultural Policy was introduced in 1962. Problems with it soon became obvious. Reforms were first proposed in 1968, but to no avail. By 1985 the CAP ate up three quarters of the EEC’s total budget. The first meaningful reform occurred in 1992, largely forced on the EEC from outside by the USA and other countries in the Uruguay Round of GATT.

[@esiotrot55]

@@georgesdelatour the Poll Tax would have been successful, if it was enacted as originally envisaged. Its downfall was - to a fair extent - caused by the Treasury mandarins, who added layers of finance to the original idea. Thus, instead of the majority of households paying less, the majority ended up paying more, and much more than the old Rates system. Margaret Thatcher's error was not to see how this scheme was being altered - had she done so, the Poll Tax would have been accepted, and she would not have been ousted.

[@georgesdelatour]

@@esiotrot55 I could certainly believe that the mandarins might have adopted a strategy of “the worse the better” towards the poll tax.

[@jennygw1883]

If the Civil Service want something to be a shambles they will make sure of it. The poll tax was a much needed system for fairly taxing.

[@MrDavidht]

I was seconded into an MoD office for 2 years, the civil servants were very ordinary and work shy. Their manager was spending office time working on his investment portfolio and setting up a property company. I thought them wholly unprofessional, totally vindicated by the goings on in number 10.

[@sjt4225]

I'm most interested to know when Boris gets beaten by a bat.

[@GT-tj1qg]

Gosh, it's worse than I thought!

[@mystero9714]

To be fair to the telegraph, they have to choose a new boogeyman now they can’t blame all this on the EU.

[@daveleddy2877]

What a load of tory bilge

[@georgesdelatour]

"Shut up", he explained.

[@megapangolin1093]

So says the man from 1984, or is it Animal Farm?

[@Ben-db5re]

Agree!

[@Charlie-gq9vu]

Totally uninformed

[@cizlerable]

Some oppinions on what is progress are wrong. There is no upside to Brexit that weighs up to the downside. A civil service is about what is correct. How does society work optimally. The problem is not the Blob. The problem is the politician.

[@GurungyNoHamuster]

I would suggest, in a democracy, the civil service must serve the will of the people, through its elected representatives.

[@georgesdelatour]

When the people of the UK voted to leave the EU, the Prime Minister, most of the Cabinet, and most MPs wanted the UK to remain in the EU. So, by your reasoning, the problem was not the politicians, it was the voters.

[@julianshepherd2038]

@@georgesdelatour I didn't see the civil service stop Brexit.

[@georgesdelatour]

@@julianshepherd2038 Ollie Robbins (the main civil servant supposedly negotiating for the UK against the EU when Theresa May was Prime Minister) was filmed trying to secure an EU passport for himself from EU representatives. When Boris Johnson became PM, Robbins stepped down and took a job working for Goldman Sachs, where his boss was/is former EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Goldman Sachs was the largest single financial contributor to the 2016 Remain campaign.

[@elizabethmackenzie5730]

@@julianshepherd2038 It wasn't just the Civil service: it was also Parliament, the Judges, and the Media. We still aren't properly out even now. Six years of sabotage.