Sidetracked from the seminar
I am a bad, bad blogger. I have quite got out of the habit recently. My excuse, reason, I mean, is that I am writing all the time anyway and so by the time I've finished, there is no brain matter left with which to blog. So what have I been so busy writing?
Well, last week I attended a Chamber of Commerce seminar on trading with India. It was held at Fistral Blu, the trendy restaurant in the new complex on Fistral Beach in Newquay, with a stunning view of the surf and headland. There were about thirty delegates from various Cornish businesses plus the speakers and the usual hangers-on from publically-funded organisations. I've been on that side of the fence too, so I know what it's like to get a pleasantly regular salary and attend functions for PR reasons. And to have to bargain yearly to justify your funding and jump through hoops to achieve 'targets' and 'outcomes.' So I know now which side I'm on, despite the uncertainty of the patchy local economy.
Still at least now I understand why the ridiculous targets and outcomes exist in the first place, having watched the BBC2 programme about freedom (sic) over the last few Sundays. Turns out it all comes down to Game Theory, dreamt up during the Cold War by a very clever but at that stage undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who now says he got it wrong.
His theory was that human beings are entirely motivated by selfish gain and are always plotting against their fellow humans to achieve maximum payoff. The neat thing about this is that you can conveniently reduce all human activity to numbers and measure how well they are doing in all kinds of ways.
Despite the fact any reasonably experienced adult will tell you this is nonsense, it has been taken on by successive generations of politicians until we find ourselves in 21st century Britain, where all public servants, police, teachers, medical staff etc etc, are bound hand and foot by targets and red tape. So what do we all do, bearing in mind we have to meet the targets if we want to keep our jobs? We make damn sure we achieve them, of course, even if it means neglecting our real duties to do so. Congratulations, Blair, Brown et al.
Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes, back at Fistral Blu. So anyway, I was there on behalf of Business Cornwall magazine, so I could write up the event for the next issue of the mag. I think that had better wait till next time.
Well, last week I attended a Chamber of Commerce seminar on trading with India. It was held at Fistral Blu, the trendy restaurant in the new complex on Fistral Beach in Newquay, with a stunning view of the surf and headland. There were about thirty delegates from various Cornish businesses plus the speakers and the usual hangers-on from publically-funded organisations. I've been on that side of the fence too, so I know what it's like to get a pleasantly regular salary and attend functions for PR reasons. And to have to bargain yearly to justify your funding and jump through hoops to achieve 'targets' and 'outcomes.' So I know now which side I'm on, despite the uncertainty of the patchy local economy.
Still at least now I understand why the ridiculous targets and outcomes exist in the first place, having watched the BBC2 programme about freedom (sic) over the last few Sundays. Turns out it all comes down to Game Theory, dreamt up during the Cold War by a very clever but at that stage undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who now says he got it wrong.
His theory was that human beings are entirely motivated by selfish gain and are always plotting against their fellow humans to achieve maximum payoff. The neat thing about this is that you can conveniently reduce all human activity to numbers and measure how well they are doing in all kinds of ways.
Despite the fact any reasonably experienced adult will tell you this is nonsense, it has been taken on by successive generations of politicians until we find ourselves in 21st century Britain, where all public servants, police, teachers, medical staff etc etc, are bound hand and foot by targets and red tape. So what do we all do, bearing in mind we have to meet the targets if we want to keep our jobs? We make damn sure we achieve them, of course, even if it means neglecting our real duties to do so. Congratulations, Blair, Brown et al.
Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes, back at Fistral Blu. So anyway, I was there on behalf of Business Cornwall magazine, so I could write up the event for the next issue of the mag. I think that had better wait till next time.
posted by A Bed and a Toothbrush at 5:08 AM
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