For decades now, probably even before the Blair Government, we had Government policy influenced by Focus Groups.
The John Major Government really started it, but Blair really went to town using focus groups to influence Government policy. Successive governments have followed suit, slavishly following fads as suggested by focus groups.
For instance, take Diesel cars.
Focus groups insisted that if Diesel cars were more economical and used less fuel, shouldn't government promote their use?
So in the Nineties and Noughties, we got incentives through reduced taxation to move to Diesel cars. If you try and buy a car from the noughties, then it's hard to find a Petrol-powered car, most are Dirty Diesels.
And it wasn't long for focus groups to class Diesels as dirty, once there were so many of them the problems with Diesel engined vehicles became a serious enough issue. So government policy went hard on cleaning up the engines with particulate filters.
But then the engines and emissions system became so complex, they started to become unreliable.
The particulate filters did nothing to reduce Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) emissions. So we then went to adding extra stuff into the exhaust to reduce NOX. Hence the rise of "Adblue" tanks on cars. Some easily filled, some tucked away and essentially unfillable.
This adblue additive was so important that manufacturers made it impossible to start the car if the tank was empty. A tank on some cars you can't fill yourself without dismantling the car or getting it up on a ramp. Hardly a good idea on something that is a normal consumable like washer fluid.
Then the Diesel cars got older and dirtier as they wore out and focus groups really, really didn't like the amount of black smoke they chucked out. Focus groups wanted government to protect the lungs of the little ones. so now Diesel engined vehicles are fined if they enter our cities and their Ultra Low Emission Zones.
Now we are in the strange situation that Diesel cars attract less vehicle excise duty, because the old incentives are still in place, but will be fined if they enter a city because they're not welcome.
This is how governments making policy based on focus groups and fads can seriously fuck up things for people.
Governments should not be social engineering. They should not be flip-flopping according to the latest fads.
The same goes for current fads like gender ideology, so-called climate change, net zero and the rest.
Stop following fads and start governing. Government should be above fads, above public expressions of fashion.
Government should govern, which means consistency, reliability, steering a steady ship, so that there are no shocks to the system. There are no u-turns. The country has a long-term strategy rather than the short-termism we see these days.
The Conservative government has been in power now for 13 years. The last three with a 80-seat majority. You'd think there would be consistency across those 13 years, but no, there hasn't been any consistency in policy as the Conservatives have bickered constantly, we've had several Prime Ministers as their approval waxes and wanes according to public opinion. We've had policies and u-turns on policy.
This flip-flopping on policy based on public opinion really has to stop. Government's are not in place to be likeable, they are in place to govern.
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