Five years, £250 million and five Ministers later, Scotland’s so-called “National Mission on Drug Deaths” has achieved the rare distinction of failing in every measurable way while still congratulating itself on “progress.” It ends not with results but with excuses a bureaucratic wake where everyone delivers a eulogy for the corpse they helped create.
Unfortunately Scotland has now become infected with the public sector virus of: hype: ££: activity.. followed by periods of increasing silence & then finally, some FORMER Minister or public official, finally admits that the whole show was a farce which achieved nothing or very little (as per C. Matheson in Daily Record today). There are now so many "white elephants" in Scotland that cynicism is the rational response to every new announcement? Very sad State?
Exactly. Though in this case, it’s even worse than the usual white-elephant cycle, because Professor Matheson wasn’t a bystander, she was the architect. For years she chaired the Taskforce that designed the very National Mission she now calls “doomed from the start.”
When the cheques were clearing, she told Holyrood Magazine the Taskforce was “delivering concrete recommendations,” told BBC Scotland that “progress is being made,” and reassured The Scotsman that “systems change takes time.” Only now that the data’s grim and the funding cycle’s ending does she reappear as the enlightened critic.
It’s not a conversion, it’s self-preservation. This is the great Scottish ritual announce, applaud, avoid results, and when it collapses, publish a reflective essay about “lessons learned.” Meanwhile, families are still burying their loved ones and the same bureaucrats are already designing the sequel.
Unfortunately Scotland has now become infected with the public sector virus of: hype: ££: activity.. followed by periods of increasing silence & then finally, some FORMER Minister or public official, finally admits that the whole show was a farce which achieved nothing or very little (as per C. Matheson in Daily Record today). There are now so many "white elephants" in Scotland that cynicism is the rational response to every new announcement? Very sad State?
Exactly. Though in this case, it’s even worse than the usual white-elephant cycle, because Professor Matheson wasn’t a bystander, she was the architect. For years she chaired the Taskforce that designed the very National Mission she now calls “doomed from the start.”
When the cheques were clearing, she told Holyrood Magazine the Taskforce was “delivering concrete recommendations,” told BBC Scotland that “progress is being made,” and reassured The Scotsman that “systems change takes time.” Only now that the data’s grim and the funding cycle’s ending does she reappear as the enlightened critic.
It’s not a conversion, it’s self-preservation. This is the great Scottish ritual announce, applaud, avoid results, and when it collapses, publish a reflective essay about “lessons learned.” Meanwhile, families are still burying their loved ones and the same bureaucrats are already designing the sequel.