There’s an absolutely brilliant article about the British public sector that’s gone up on the CapX site. It’s all about how those who work in Britain’s public services are not saints but are individuals who can be as venal, cruel and lazy as can be found in other sectors of British life.

Here’s an excerpt from the CapX article and anyone who has ever had the misfortune to have to rely on British state provided services such as the Healthcare system, will recognise the faults in the UK public sector which the writer Dr David James describes.

Dr James said:

Any profession which is incapable of accepting criticism becomes increasingly less effective and soon ends up being at odds with the changing society it serves, viewing all attempts at reform with suspicion. The consequences are real and disastrous because anyone who has had any dealings with the police, schools or the NHS know that they are far from perfect, and are quite capable of getting things wrong, and quite often disastrously so. 

Despite all evidence to the contrary we persist in claiming the NHS is world class when it is only mediocre compared to other rich nations’ health services. This isn’t just incorrect, but seriously damaging. By insisting on defending the NHS and everyone who works for it, we actually make improvement difficult and keep its failings in place. The same goes for teaching: unless we accept the weaknesses of our educational system we will unintentionally limit the prospects of too many of our children.

Dr James is correct. We should not make an idol out of the NHS or any other public service because when we make an idol of something we make it less receptive of constructive criticism. He’s bang on about his statements on how bad many of Britain’s public services are. Our police are not exactly paragons of efficiency or probity when it comes to providing crime fighting services and Britain’s NHS lags way behind in terms of quality and in outcomes the healthcare systems of either other European nations or even the American private system.

Britons spend an awful lot money that is taken off of them by taxation to fund public services. The problem is the services that we get are too often substandard. We deserve better services, after all we pay for the damned things and as Dr James said the first step to getting better services is to subject the services we have to constructive criticism.