He Gives - He
Gave – He Gove…
It’s the technocrats –
those who scorned public opinion and asked us to trust their expertise – who have
brought us the disaster of the euro, and a failure to prevent the financial
crisis of 2008. (Michael Gove, Times - quoted
in i 22.10.16)
‘Ah yes,’ said
Dr Fritz von Heldenleben with a wicked glint from his pebble lenses, ‘the late Führer Adolf Hitler despised all expert
technocrats (with the exception of Albert Speer) and especially those military experts of the Wehrmacht General
Staff who would have sought to dispute his judgment as the greatest war leader
of all time!’
I’m not
thinking about education, said Jack Blanchard, impatiently. I mean the euro:
what about the euro?
‘The success of
the euro will depend upon the political unity established by Europe’s
politicians. However devised by experts, the euro cannot function optimally
without closer political union, which is not in the experts’ domain, nor did we
ever assume it was. We experts and technocrats devise plans and outline
detailed objectives (since this the politicians cannot do) but we would expect
fully the politicians to order the fundamental priorities. When they – as like
Hitler, really – do not know what to do, they blame the experts advising them,
and when we all do not know what to
do we must of course all blame the media.
‘- And it was
speculators who caused the financial crisis of 2008, not economists as such.’
Hardly any of
the economists predicted it, countered our reporter.
‘Experts do not
access crystal balls amongst their sources,’ said the good Doctor. ‘We are not
astrologicians.’
Astrologers?
‘Just so. We
draw up simply the blueprints as directed by our political and business
masters.’
Speaking of
education, said Jack, Mr Gove was at one time in charge of it, in our country.
‘I know nothing
of education,’ replied Dr von Heldenleben, ‘but again I would suggest that it,
too, is a field whose priorities are best set by elected representatives in
response to perceived needs. The experts can only implement (and of course
attempt to influence) a policy determined by a vision of what should be done,
an objective. What do your people want and need from education? And the
children? Experts can help to find out but it is not for them to lay down the
fundamentals.
‘It is like
directing a lawyer in proceeding on your business. The lawyer needs first to
know what you want. He or she can propose alternatives but whether it is a
matter of disinheriting certain relatives or removing pensions or of pleading
guilty or not guilty, any lawyer must know your mind before taking action on
your behalf. How clear were Herr Gove’s own educational priorities? How close
was he towards balancing priorities against practicalities?’
Nobody knows what Gove thought he was up to, said
Jack. He certainly roused the whole Blob against him.
‘Blob? What is
this – Blob?’
It would take
too long to explain, sighed Jack. It’s beyond satire to try.
* * * *
With
the bonfire of expertise that spread across Britain in the wake of Mr Gove’s
remarks, technocrats were purged from positions in education, atomic energy,
the Prison Service, operating theatres in the NHS, food and drug
administration, sanitation, town planning, agronomy, National Parks and nature
conservancy and veterinary services, and a whole host of other elitist
enclaves, while educational training in these spheres of so-called expertise was
gradually and economically dismantled (or privatised, which amounted to the
same thing). The nation experienced a robust return to the 16th century
– the age of Good Queen Bess, Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake – and became
amongst other things a great Time Capsule and obvious magnate for
time-travelling tourists from all over the world. After four hundred years people
actually or vicariously could revel again in the poverty, ignorance, disease
and bloodshed of our glorious ancestors…
No comments:
Post a Comment