The right road to reform
LETTERS
From Paul J. Johnston, John Alexander- Sinclair, J. R. L. Cuningham, Senator Nelson Elder, Sir Denis Brogan, Professor A. D. Bain. Christopher W helen, Tibor Szatnuely, Professor I. H. Plumb, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Anthony Sampson, David Kunzie, Norman White.
Sir: Mr Quintin Hogg's apparent failure to see a cure for the evident lack of public faith in politicians in any but geographical terms (10 January) is most alarming. Surely the major causes of the trouble are twofold, namely: (a) we are overgoverned: and (b) the apparent attachment to 'consensus politics' of the party leaderships precludes the possibility of a remedy to this situation by normal political means.
On this analysis the idea of regional devolu- tion of the bloated powers of government (without any fundamental alteration of the nature of those powers) is shown up for the monstrous irrelevance it really is. For, just as 'big government' from Whitehall is at present objectionable, so would 'big government' from, say, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Manchester soon become, once the novelty of the new regional institutions had worn off. 'Regional govern- ments' of a crude sort we have already in the shape of county councils. The turnout at the triennial elections to these bodies (which are geographically closer to the electorate than any regional assembly would be) shows how little interest the average elector has in them.
Furthermore, the experience of other nations, notably of the United States, is not very en- couraging. From the very beginning of the history of this vastly larger country squabbles have frequently taken place over some aspect or other of 'States rights' between the Federal and state administrations, the former invari- ably emerging triumphant. There is nothing whatever to suggest that the same process would not happen here, and the regional ad- ministrations quickly descend to the status of not-very-glorified county councils on the exist- ing model.
Mr Hogg has certainly selected a non-starter here—the problems are too deep to be solved by any irrelevant tinkering with the adminis- trative system. May I be so bold as to suggest that he thinks again upon the subject, and that he takes as a theme for his meditations the slogan of the Jacksonian Democrats of old, 'The best government is that which governs least.'
Paul J. Johnston Moberly Tower. University of Manchester,.Bur- lington Street, Manchester 15
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