100 or so celebs, sportspeople, public figures to hide from the public the 900 time serving civil servants and politicians.

Just for clarification are you saying the civil service isnt part of the government?

How amusing. I absolutely agree with that statement. And parents should 100% accountable for their kids actions. I dont have kids by the way and I'm in my mid 40s. A conscious desison for all sorts of reasons. Next!

Errrr....For many of us (dependent upon the reason) this isn't something that just passes without recourse to criticism.....For a certain demographic it's self absorbed selfish individualism and those people are societal fungi and dead ends...though no doubt you aren't among them.

Also, how typical that someone without kids would support that absolutist statement.

Of course parents bare enormous responsibility (perhaps something you seem to shrug off for yourself)...and holistically conclusions can be drawn....However, at the individual level, each situation is its own case and it deserves that caveat.

Edited by Stirlingsays (29 Dec 2019 1.57pm)

In practice, the elected government, whilst obviously responsible for the civil service, is completely at its mercy. Governments come and go - the civil service is the one constant factor in the mechanism of government itself. All civil service appointments are decided internally and not by ministers. Ministers are advised by their officials and obstructed if the minister disagrees. The convention has always been that the minister takes the credit for success and takes the bullet for civil service f*ck ups.

Never lose sight of the fact that what we see as government policy is in reality civil service policy. Stronger PMs (Thatcher, Wilson etc) have tried to reform it. All have failed.