WHAT A WASTE..

Re-branding has been seeping through the whole political dung heap for a while now, often under the guise of real restructuring... but in the main what has really been happening has been a complete waste of taxpayers money on new logos, new stationery, making government e-ready, etc etc. spin spin spin.. Look we're really busy restructuring.. what? we are supposed to deliver policy? No mate. Do something mate? Not me mate. I'm in New Labour. I mainly just talk about it.

Here's just one among a myriad of examples. Hold on tight to your seats as it gets extremely messy.

But first, switch on your speakers and click here if you want a nice soundtrack to the whole sad sorry affair.."

In a feat of mayhem mathematics when Gordon Brown came to power in 2007 he re-branded (sorry 're-structured') two government departments in the name of streamlining into three. See diagram below. The DES and DTI were re-divided into DCSF and DBERR with a third department created from the University and Skills functions (of DES) and Science and Innovation functions (of DTI) to be known as the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills, the DIUS.

Now DIUS went about their business getting ready their new logos, stationery, website, the mechanisms of modern government... getting exciting isn't it?


Everything was going to be different from hereon in. The country was heading into the brave new modern world of 'knowledge transfer', 'innovation', 'competitiveness', even 'advanced manufacturing'.. (Q: what do these spin concepts really cover?)

Only in June this year Gordon decided to stop the process, disband DIUS and create a new department.. the Department for Business Innovation and Skils.. clearly the University bit was getting in the way of acceptance by business.. surprise, surprise.

Trouble is DIUS has spent £953,911 on building their website alone and god knows how much more on the other goodies of empire building.. Leaks are coming out of the DIUS Commons Select Committee that the final bill for DIUS alone is around £7.1 million. And thats a minimum estimate.

Worryingly, this is just one story in the naked city of New Labour..

Continuous rebranding is clearly a waste of money. If politicans took the time to stick their head in the real world they'd notice business doesn't rebrand or restructure itself that often.

What has been happening in these latter days of the New Labour 'modernisation campaign' is a concentration on selling the product rather than having any decent product to sell. When you really dig deep it appears that most of it is generally about selling a con (spin) or wishlist rather than being based on anything solid. There appears to be a belief in the present government that if you say something often enough it will become true. And Gordon this week is repeatedly saying 'it's not over yet..' From where I'm sat he appears to have fallen foul of his own spin machine.

God Bless New Labour and all who sail in her.. only to the other side of the world please!