Our gobment - Part (the whatever)

So, I see that Claire Short has resigned again. (Link here for those outside B.Liar's Empire re this lady). She is becoming a serial quitter. I don't go along with the treachery bit; she has for a long time been a bit of a loose cannon and she certainly does not keep her feelings and opinions hidden.
Her Labour neighbour (rhymes at this hour!) makes his point from self-advancement motives as for sure the Party will send the heavyweights up to assassinate her when next they canvas for a General Election and he hopes they will come and show themselves in his fiefdom. I'll put my bigotry into the background beyond mentioning that he is Asian and she is a potential subject for veilling. The points she makes sum up the disaster that the latest NewLabour policies – should that be Thoughts for Today? - have inflicted upon this country. In fact, I think she would be a damned good leader of the Tories instead of that wet and slimy face flannel Dave.
In the context of governance, it seems as if the chickens are coming home to roost. I see it more as the vultures gathering. The National Audit Office has pulled out the plum that was farming controls and subsidies. Never mind the dreadful figures of money lost; the rate at which this Government is throwing away money makes this a small sum in the overall scheme of things. Just look at the reasons given and just see where the pounds poured down the plughole. For an even more eye-watering example of planning and control see what happened to the billions – yes billions of £ and not $ we normally see associated with that sort of sum – sluiced towards the National Health Service. All intended to improve patient care. When it got out to the Health Trusts they spent the majority on staff – more of them and better paid. I suppose there might be some vestigial improvement to me in a bed of pain and confusion to know that I would have three consultants arriving in their Rolls Royce cars very soon. Mind you – hardly any nurses on the wards. The 'patient benefits' did not reach down to the front line troops.
Ah – money for troops. Another funny story. Emperor Tony said that the elements of the British Army in Afghanistan would have all that their commanders asked for. Rumours of under-manning and shortages of fighting tools were not true and just idle talk from each of the 600 guys engaged there and their extended families back home. The Parachute Regiment has just swapped duty to be replaced by Royal Marines. One of the problems was that our grip on the country is so tenuous that resupply and troop movement has to be by air. We have no large cargo aircraft (the planning to fight Russia did not call for them) and helicopters are better suited for the task anyway. Beauty of a Marine unit is that it has it's own helicopters and do not have to rely on offcuts and leavings of the RAF. However, the spending limits imposed some while back are still in force and the gobment have ruled they can take more men or more choppers. Not both. They have taken the men. So much for Bullshine Blair's posturing when in the spotlight.
This apparent disaster to properly budget and then to control expenditure amazes me. The time overruns are incomprehensible. The best I did as a civilian was the preparation and control of an annual budget of about £5 million. On my own. Preparation included new work as well as maintaining what we had. This entailed co-ordination regarding what numerous departments wanted from me in the year ahead, getting estimated costs for those, deciding what would be essential work on the fabric and plant equipment of a large building and satellite offices, what would be nice work to have done. What gobment legislation would require. Having got this I was required to cost it to 10% plus or minus and set a time scale overall and individually. Then followed a Spanish Inquisition before my own Directors who focussed only on money and not physical requirement.
Having got authority to earmark the moneys required, I was Project Manager when the work started after detailed examination was made of that operation. The Finance department gave me monthly reports as to how the actual expenditure was comparing with estimated. Any overspend beyond +/- 10% led to a determined assault upon the globes in my private parts. Similar beating ensued if there was an underspend as my Budgethad tied up monies that could have been better employed elsewhere. The gobment has vastly greater resources far more qualified than I so why does it get into such a mess? Yes – the scale of disaster will be more but the basic principles are the same. Do not give large sums of money to teenagers as they head out to party on down.

Just one small detail re the cost of the NHS (Admired throughout the World). There is a drug which can slow down the progress of Altzheimers effecting old people. A review committee has decided that this medicine will not be made available in the first onset of the disease. Maybe a little later would be OK. So, the period when one is best lucent has to be shortened and it is only when things are desperate to the extent that the patient has totally lost functions and carers are most distressed that the NHS may extend this period of suffering prior to inevitable death. Now - where did I hide that Colt .45 revolver - better check it before I qualify for the helpful drug.