Hoops

When I was a kid (child, sub-teen) I used to love spaghetti hoops. That was when hoops were real hoops and not man made regulatory monstrosities (Is this the start of another rantette (small rant) this time about government regulations? - ed). Perhaps, I will see where this vein takes me.

Da Government (tm) always have to be seen to be doing something for each and every difficult question that is raised by Da Meeja (tm) or by Da Peeple (tm).

Now, in my head, I see the inner workings of Da Government (tm) in terms of the Industrial Revolution (Victorian era), where there is a cavernous central room with huge dials, levers, sirens, steam issuing forth from pipes (for no apparent reason but it looks and sounds great), with large numbers of men with overalls and soot on their faces (to show that they are labouring) and behind them a set of pin-striped, bowler hatted, umbrella wielding managers directing which levers should be pulled and how far. (Note there are no women in this picture - as at that time in the UK and most of the world they were down-trodden, ignored and irrelevant to power.  We do appear to have progressed since then).

(Now what has any of this to do with hoops? - ed). Don't rush me, I am setting a scene, building a threads of thought to weave into a rich tapestry.....

OK, what was it, ah yes hoops. Since they, 'Da Goverment' (tm), have to been seen to be doing  something for every problem or issue that occurs each and every day that has caused or will cause headlines in the papers or even makes the six or ten o'clock TV news. So what is it that they do to be seen to be doing something....

This something generally this involves the current Speaking Dead (surely Head - ed) Minister (SDM) rabbiting on about investigating this, getting to the bottom of that, reviewing the current legislation, generally the word 'thorough' is used to show how seriously this is being taken, The Dead Minister will nod sagely to the reporters incisive questioning on the topic and do their best to say absolutely nothing of any value.

If the reporter happens to be one Jeremy Paxman - then he might just ask the same question again and again like a broken record, until the politician actually breaks down and tells the truth (that would be a first - ed). [BTW - worth looking up and listening to John Humphrys destruction of the last Director General of the BBC in a Today radio interview last year, not only did the DG drown, Mr. Humphrys kept throwing him heavier and heavier weights to help him go under. There was not a life belt in sight!]

Now of late, rather than actually do something, SDMs are seen to be doing something (Yes Minister flashback - ed) by spending our (hard-earned) money on reports, investigations by learned judges, commissions, some of them Royal, which can kick most of the problems into the long grass (after the next General Election), or be safely ignored or buried when they report, as the news-cycle has rotated on to the next issue of the day, week, month.

[Hoops - what about the hoops - ed) Sudden thought that makes me think of one of Newton's Laws - "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" - apparently his Third Law of Motion. Maybe this is also a profound Political Law - maybe it is David's First Law of Politics - "For every real issue, there is an equal and opposite bit of legislation that totally fails to address that issue"

Look I am getting to the hoops, just that the thoughts are wandering down the rich seams of precious ideas foaming (frothing - ed) in my mind.

Definition: Hoops -  pieces of legislation, of any size, that causes the the public to have to follow them to get something done, but which totally fail in to meet their original purpose, and/or intent. A real hoop must make going about your daily life harder. Hoops can be of any size and positioned at any height; generally the higher and the smaller the better.  The important point is they have to make life harder and more complex  (excluding the wealthy or those with power - sometimes they are one and the same) for the man on the Clapham Omnibus than it needs to be. Hoops are a main cause of the increase in stress in modern life cf fnords.

There are many hoops to be found whilst trying to access government services. There are large numbers of hoops in Big Businesses.