Good QTWAIN from Goodhart here. Britain's problem is that the ignorant have too much power. 1/
2/ The ignorant shouldn't be confused with the stupid. The ignorant are often very intelligent, just uninterested or too busy with life to learn much about public affairs.
3/ Government is complex and needs technical knowledge. It always did, but it's probably got more complex recently.
But Britain has a political culture that glorifies ignorance, instinct and innumeracy
But Britain has a political culture that glorifies ignorance, instinct and innumeracy
4/ See "we have had enough of experts"
The media, especially newspapers, TV and the Today Programme prefer political knockabout to serious discussion.
The media, especially newspapers, TV and the Today Programme prefer political knockabout to serious discussion.
5/ Understandable because it makes for better ratings.
This wasn't a problem when Britain had a strong civil service and a weak opinion polling industry.
This wasn't a problem when Britain had a strong civil service and a weak opinion polling industry.
6/ The civil service curbed politicians' instincts for populism, and scarce polling could not easily be misinterpreted by politicians.
7/ Finally, the problem is not actually that there was an elite out of touch with the people. It's that a different elite were able to persuade the people that they could have the impossible.
If Britain's to have government in the people's interests things will have to change.
If Britain's to have government in the people's interests things will have to change.
