MORE RED TAPE THAN RUSSIA

Sadly, the British comedy surreptitiously referred to here is nothing but a rollicking romp that extracts urine from the British lad culture of its time. Before you can laugh at the raunchy antics it helps if you actually care about the characters. Quite dour and obviously uncomfortable, is a character very difficult to like. However, with the arrival of another there is a perfect double act, meaning that the series really hit its straps. But, even if the antics at Launceston’s council mimic this pair, and even seems a tad comedic in some way, actually it is just bloody awful stuff. 

It would be the makings of a not so comedic horror show for late night TV. The recordings of Launceston’s council meetings could also be mined for the script of out an of this world farse. Either way you would be insulting any possible audience if anyone were to lend any credibility at all to these shenanigans. They are an insult and an assault on anyone’s intelligence.

Since the publishing of Parkinson’s Law in the 50s we have had a reference that says something along the lines that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. It applies to the growth of bureaucracy and it is applicable to all forms of work. While this book speaks to the British Civil Service the book was most popular in Russia unsurprisingly as it talks about things like an official wanting to multiply subordinates, rather than rivals and officials making work for each other. The book even notes that the number employed in a bureaucracy increased by a certain per cent each year irrespective of any variation in the amount of work, if in fact there is any more at all. 

The Soviet Union fell apart because of the red tap it manufactured, ton upon ton of it, with internal critics complaining about the swollen and overblown self-serving bureaucracy. Mikhail Gorbachev is now famous for saying that Parkinson's law works everywhere and we all know what that led to and even its consequences right now in Ukraine. 

So when my bullshit detector’s bells ring so very loud whenever I am anywhere near Launceston’s Town Hall I scurry on for fear of being overwhelmed by the swirling river of red tape flowing from every opening. 

Commiserations Launceston, March 10 was a very good day to be halfway between Launceston and Hobart mowing grass and brushing off pesky hay seeds. 

Luther Blissett Commentator@large Tunbridge

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