While driving home on the M4 a couple of weeks ago, I heard a story on the radio that the department of transport is extending use of the hard shoulder to more motorways up and down the UK, in an attempt to reduce congestion.

A week later the news reported that an increasing number of prisoners are now being released earlier than expected, in an effort to reduce overcrowding. An recently, the Ministry of Justice reported that The prison population in England and Wales has exceeded its highest normal level for the first time.

Just before Easter, the Beeb broadcast a story about many hospitals across England turning away women in labour because they were full. The same day they also ran a story based on reports from an ex-air traffic controller who claims passenger safety is being put at risk in the skies over London, because air traffic controllers are under so much pressure to maximise the number of landings.

On Easter Sunday, delegates at the annual National Union of Teachers conference in Manchester said excessive class sizes were a "national scandal". There have been proposals for class sizes of up to 70 students...

Why do the authorities suddently seem to have decided that we need to use every ounce of spare capacity in the system?

There's a reason we have a small amount of spare capacity built into almost all our key infrastructure; it's called MoE; Margin of Error. Humans are highly fallible and make a great many mistakes. When we have a little bit of MoE, we often have the opportunity to extricate ourselves from our mistakes without at least killing anyone in the process.

What the hell happens if you breakdown on the motorway now? Or if emergency vehicles need to get to an accident scene in heavy traffic? Without the hard shoulder, neither we nor they have anywhere to go. Doesn't releasing prisoners early not only jeopardize public safety, but also make the threat of prison terms somewhat laughable? Will this act as a deterent? Do we want our babies born on roadsides or in WC's? And when they are old enough for school do we want them "taught" in monster class sizes?

Do we want to have a mid-air collision with another aircraft while returning from our cheap holiday in Spain?

So why are we letting the government and Civil service get away with this cheap con? Well, probably because in a shaky world economy, we don't want to be faced with an even higher tax burden that the government would undoubtedly claim was necessary to deal with these issues properly.

Remember that this is the same bunch that are contributing to the $100million-a-day military/security bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. The same bunch that are forking out our taxes left right and centre to bail out Northern Rock and other short-sighted greedy bastards who got their fingers burned on dodgy deals that no self-respecting student of finance would have touched with a barge pole.

And how do they get away with this? Because we are all too lazy to stop them...and the worst part is that it will probably take a major calamity to wake us up to the stunts that these slimy little shits are pulling.

*sigh*

On my way into work this week, I was listening to an interview on Radio 4.

The interviewee was talking about the US primary candidate elections and was singing the praises of the US system for it's ability to make politics "Exciting to the masses". he even favoured the idea of a similar system in the UK, which he felt might re-engage people in the political process.

Hmmm....

Last night I was sitting at home, watching an interesting political performance...

It occurs against the backdrop of a large auditorium, which is bedecked with red and white streamers interspersed with silk flags. The room is packed full of adoring faces, hanging on the speaker's every word (and cheering wildly every time the speaker paused).

The speaker stands before a podium, which is draped with a flag and set against a brightly lit backdrop. In the background a number of key associates and colleagues stand shoulder shoulder to shoulder in obvious support of the speaker, whom they too are totally focused on. The crowd knows them all and respects them, but it's the speaker who has really drawn them here.

The speaker talks with the talent of a trained orator, raising and lowering vocal pitch to emphasise particular points. The speech itself touches on a range of topics, but only in a broad, general way which is designed to appeal to the lowest common intellectual denominator. The topics cover issues such as patriotism, race relations, the economy and unemployment. The obligatory accusations against the incompetance of the current administration are also hurled. The crowd cheers especially loudly.

The speaker builds to a cresendo and at exactly the right moment, an unseen stage manager plays music over the tannoy; music that has been shown in focus groups and polls to provoke an especially strong emotional response. The crowd almost weeps in adulation as the speaker takes a step back from the podium, arms spread wide in an almost mesiah-like gesture and the crowd roars it's approval.

...then a uniformed associate steps up to the podium, thrusts his right arm out and shouts: "SEIG HEIL!"

...and as one voice, the crowd return the salute.