It's enough to make even Rishi Sunak cry....

THERE is a mantra that may have been heard a lot in the corridors of Whitehall and Westminster this past year. And it is a mantra that has always cost the public purse dear.

It is the eternal cry of the embattled politician, administrator or legislator and it is music to the ears of Public Relations men the world over:

“We must be seen to be doing something...”

It may go a long way to explain why our dear government, backs to the wall in the Covid crisis, has been so busy throwing vast sums of taxpayers' money – this generation and the next two – into the corporate whirlpool run and controlled by their chums in the City and the Corporate headquarters of the world. The place where the politicians themselves hope to end up, guzzling greedily in their declining years.

What the mantra means is never mind what exists we need something new, bigger, shinier that we can “announce” to our public.

So, faced with the disaster that the stocks of PPE so willingly dumped during 'austerity' turned out fundamental when the chips were down, had to be resurrected by spewing dodgy contracts in the direction of any persuasive tycoon willing to swallow a few million of tax money.

So it was that faced with a similar and sudden realisation that actually having a few score spare ITC/HDU wards in mothballs was essential really not just extravagant that cash had to be hurled into the private sector to secure what should have been there already.

And when the shortage of what used to be called Iron Lungs, dumped due to 'austerity' became an issue yet more public money was found to persuade sharp eyed dealers to get busy. Or not very.

So it is that those pointless, unstaffable but hugely impressive and expensive and brilliantly mis-named Nightingale Hospitals came to be built, or at least 'created'. And then dumped, unused.

The list goes on and has now reached its zenith, although to be fair this time the effect has been impressive if arguably over priced.

I refer here to the the fact that, if you throw vast sums of money and promissory notes at organisations used to working in these difficult fields they will come up trumps in short order. I refer to 'Big Pharma' and its truly impressive ability to get brand new vaccines to jab-ready condition in a matter of months.

But there is more, for we have also witnessed the sudden development, construction and staffing of scores of vaccination hubs to deliver the inoculation that will, in the end drive coronavirus down to influenza status. When the job will be handed back to the systems already in place for the job, if tragically under-funded before the sudden need.

Exactly what all this will cost us, the taxpayer, down the line is a closely guarded secret just now. I have noticed that even Rishi Sunak's eyes appear to be watering at times. It will be a lot and take decades to amortise.

Yep, they sure have been seen to be doing something. When not justified by emergency as they are here many of these grand designs would be called vanity projects. Like HS2. What was needed was more investment in the northern transport services, especially east-west. What we have got is a more comfy ride for 20 minutes less for the London-Manchester brigade, usefully passing Birmingham en route. And a chance to charge a lot more for it.

The real problem is that after any period in which Government thinks it has to be able to announce big solutions to urgent problems the same old, same old cry goes up: Can't do that; no money, austerity... all is austerity.