Customer Reviews
The Large State Indicted - By: T. Macfarlane, 17 Dec 2006 
The other reviewers have done justice to the very disturbing contents of this comprehensive survey, & this is a book that everyone interested in politics - & the process of government - needs to read.
However, there is a huge item of government waste which seems to have been missed: the Private Finance Initiative.
The Conservative Party has recently claimed that hospital projects which would have cost the public sector £8 billion, will in fact cost £53 billion over the 30-year lifetime of the PFIs concerned.
Worse, the private sector gets paid in full even if the hospital closes, or is merged with another one. This, of course, is not the fault of the private sector but it IS an example of government waste.
Then there is waste caused by the injection of bogus competition into the NHS.
The example of the impact of the new Horton Capio ISTC (Independent Sector Treatment Centre) on the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxfordshire illustrates the problem.
The Nuffield Centre is locked into a 30-year PFI contract, but is losing income to the ISTC which only undertakes "easier" procedures. So the Nuffield's debts will mount, & it faces merger into another hospital trust.
Even if it closed, the PFI debt will remain.
Having missed one spectacular example of "waste" - a deliberate ruse by Gordon Brown to massage the PSBR - the book goes on to attack the spending of £400 million on anti-depressants.
This is an excellent example of "tabloid" journalism: an attack on a soft target, probably made without detailed evidence, since some people who need anti-depressants are thereby enabled to continue working. Depression is an illness, not a crime.
More than 400 people have been killed by `mentallly ill' patients released into the community in the past eight years, largely due to the fact that - thanks to this kind of prejudice - spending on "mental health" services have been cut, & cut again since 1979.
The policy of "Care in the community" - in plain English "dumped on the street" - might usefully be investigated on the basis of "penny wise & pound foolish".
A few months ago a Lancashire man set fire to a shop in St Anne's-on-Sea, & was subsequently imprisoned for three years for arson.
A few hours before he caused the fire he had been turned out of his local psychiatric unit & left to fend for himself. He was abandoned by both the unit, & by social services, both of whom will almost certainly have had larger caseloads than they could be expected to deal with relative to the massive needs of their clients.
The shop suffered £75k of damage, & then there is the cost of three years in gaol. He will probably be released early into the care of the same inadequate services, & the whole sorry saga may well be repeated.
The waste is not only financial, which leads to the bigger issue.
This government tries to do everything, & does alll of it badly.
Bureaucracies are inherently wasteful. All this is agreed.
However, there are some jobs the private sector is unlikely to want to take on, & the more problematic procedures undertaken by the Nuffield Centre - such as Lady Tebbitt benefited from - are but one example.
The proper care for the mentallly ill is another.
There is an even bigger issue: do we as a society any longer believe that those of us who are fit & well - & not in need of state support - should contribute to the welfare of those less fortunate?
Or are the less fortunate simply "scroungers" to be punished?
Essential Reading!!! - By: Markie, 13 Oct 2006 
This book is definitely essential reading. You get the impression that our government wastes money anyway, but this handy little classic of a book puts it alll in perspective. I agree with what some other reviewers have already written, alll tax payers should be made to read this book, most certainly before any election.
All in alll finely written, sharp, witty & to the point, Genius. It directs a firm two fingers in the direction of our tax wasting "betters", & I say well done!!!
Outstanding - By: D. V. GATENBY, 19 Jul 2006 Superb book. Touch of Robin Cooper's Timewaster Letters, which makes it informative & entertaining.
Did they ever get a reply from the President of North Korea?
Government at its 'out of control' best. - By: , 22 Mar 2006 Having just watched series one & two of Yes, Prime Minister, a review of the book, The Bumper Book of Government Waste, in the weekend papers caught my attention. On reading the review I immediately went out & bought a copy & read it cover to cover over a couple of evenings. As well as bringing a smile to my face on numerous occasions it also made my blood boil to think that the Government & its ministers can calll upon money which isn't theirs & waste it, on seemingly, whatever takes their fancy.
Every tax payer in the land should read this book; how the Government gets away with what it does beggars belief. As a business owner I find the whole thing infuriating as there is now no incentive at alll to run a business & employ people. It makes me want to throw in the towel & go & get a job as a civil servant, knowing fully well that I will be looked after, have a great pension & never have to worry about getting the sack from my job, no matter how badly I screw up!
The sooner the whole system of Government comes crashing to its knees the better.
A fantastic book – if only it wasn't necessary though! - By: , 15 Mar 2006 The TaxPayers' Alliance has been getting some fantastic coverage in the media for its low tax campaign, not least due to the publication of the Bumper Book of Government Waste. The book is a comprehensive review of Government spending & how big government leads to high taxes which lead to huge waste & inefficiency. As a taxpayer, it is sometimes painful to read the examples of waste highlighted by Matthew Elliott & Lee Rotherham. It would be nice to think that there won't be a need for further editions of this book -- I somehow doubt it though!
