Such ignorance and incompetence are now so systematic and widespread in the British public service that if they are not the result of deliberate policy, they might as well be. In fact, there is now a profoundly catalytic relationship between the intellectual, moral, and economic corruption of the British public service and the degeneration of the national character. Which among all the various factors came first and is therefore ultimately causative is not easy to say; as usual, I suspect that intellectual error is at the root of most evil.

When I was a civil servant, I devised my ‘rule of three’.

A third of civil servants do useful work (and they are extremely good at what they do).
A third of civil servants do useless work (work which does not need to be done).
A third of civil servants do not work.