The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Daily Mail: No Longer Cheap Enough

The Daily Mail no longer sets the Government's agenda, according to the former Minister of Infant Repatriation, Liam Byrne. "What we have witnessed is a drop of the sale of tabloid newspapers, who now sell 22m fewer copies than in 1997, while viewers on TV news channels have collapsed," Byrne informed the Commons public administration committee. Well, if tabloid sales are dropping, that would certainly explain New New Labour's difficulty in appealing to anyone very much these days. "The growth is in the new media, with 100 million [people] on Facebook, YouTube and freesheets like Metro," Byrne continued, "and it is these people the government has to reach to deliver its services"; public relations and service delivery being, as usual, inseparable in the accommodationally straitened New New Labour mind.

Anyway, we should all rejoice to learn that Liam Byrne is planning a radical change in the delivery of Whitehall services over the next decade, or at least over that smallish part of the next decade during which New New Labour will remain in office. "I am only hesitating about this now because of the changed situation where, for example, we have had to hire people for front line jobs at Jobcentre Plus," Byrne said. Heaven forfend that New New Labour should not hesitate to provide work for people who are unemployed. "We will have a smaller core at the centre and be able to deliver better services," Byrne continued. If there is one thing that guarantees better services, it is having a core at the centre. "We are going to move from consultation to conversation and collaboration," Byrne predicted. This is obviously reassuring, and jolly meaningful into the bargain. Byrne also predicted that "in future, ministers would have a bigger role because they would have to oversee the public delivery of services as well as implementing policies", policy implementation and service delivery having been totally separate matters until now. Byrne also revealed that, in his opinion, the amount of time ministers take to get the hang of their jobs depends on their previous experience.

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