Keep Releasing Those Bagged Up Felines, Digby-Jones

Labour must rue the day they ever decided to let Lord Digby-Jones see the insides of their rotten administration by appointing him Trade Minister in Gordon's 'government of all talents'.

He's having a dig[by] again.

In this election campaign, I haven't heard one word about how it is we intend to achieve a reduction in unemployment when 20% of the adult population is functionally illiterate and a third cannot add up two three-figure numbers.

Illiteracy and innumeracy are our country's dirty little secrets, not mentioned at any of the leaders' debates.

20% illiterate, a third not able to calculate more than their bill at Maccy D's. How's that education, education, education working for ya, Gordon?

Quite well, actually. As anyone with kids in the appalling system Blair built will tell you.

They're learning exactly what Labour wish to teach them, and it ain't reading and maths to any level of excellence. Primary school kids are quite able to give you a critique of the works of Benjamin Zephahniah; to describe the religious festivals of Hinduism; or to list the achievements of Nelson Mandela. But multiplying 7 x 6 gets 'em every time.

So, of course Labour aren't going to mention the abject failure of their euphoric 1997 future vision. In the present, it's a verifiable disaster.

But where are the Tories on this? Where is their game-changer policy of sweeping out all the diversity and equality crap from schools and installing, in its place, an education unencumbered by righteous bullcrap? Or the Lib Dems? Where are their 'liberal' plans to unshackle teachers from promoting politically-correct nonsense which doesn't belong in schools?

You can almost hear their sphincters loosening at the very thought of the righteous backlash were they even to suggest such a thing. So they just keep quiet and hope no-one will notice.

It's not the first time Digby-Jones has highlighted the bleeding obvious.

[Digby-Jones] described the civil service as "honest, stuffed full of decent people who work hard".

But he added: "Frankly the job could be done with half as many, it could be more productive, more efficient, it could deliver a lot more value for money for the taxpayer.

"I was amazed, quite frankly, at how many people deserved the sack and yet that was the one threat that they never ever worked under, because it doesn't exist."

Those efficiency savings - that all three parties agonise over and declare will be extremely difficult to implement - would be greatly boosted by reducing the civil service wages bill by 50%, would they not?

Anything else you saw when you were 'on the inside', Lord D? Come on, spill the beans, we're loving this.