Or, am I just suffering from Liberal-Left myopia in thinking that a column in the Independent is ‘”enhanced stature”?

As for Sir Ian Blair, he needs to reflect on Gavyn Davies’ words when resigning as Chairman of the BBC:
“There is an honourable tradition in British public life that those charged with authority at the top of an organisation should accept responsibility for what happens in that organisation:”

Unless. of course, Sir Ian does not take responsibility for his organisation.

What bothers me is the way all kinds of accountability have been systematically edited out of public life and the public sector.

‘People’ do not make ‘mistakes’. Serial failure runs through so many levels in so many departments of so many agencies that it is no longer possible to point a finger.

And if you did, you’d probably get into trouble anyway for something that risks accusations of harassment. Even serious errors are now viewed as ‘opportunities to improve’. There are now so many ‘opportunities’ like this that only wholesale reorganisation of an authority/agency can overcome the underlying failure (sound familiar?).

We all know that there are now certain sections of government where failure is a certainty: Ministry of Defence spending, Government IT procurement, Government statistical analysis, Private Finance Initiatives…the list is not endless, but it is growing.

One final example. I’m not, as a rule, a particular fan of the ego known as Jeremy Clarkson, but he made a striking claim in a newspaper column: that the Traffic Safety Officers who now patrol motorways instead of trained police drivers have led to an increase in motorway closures because they routinely shut all lanes to remove minor debris where police would usually keep them open. I didn’t believe it; I’m now told it’s true. If so, it is costing the economy millions. But that would be a mistake, so it can’t be.

It is growing because, of course, the only failure is in my argument. The only time the Government will ever use words like failure, mistake or error is to describe the views or perceptions of those who point out what appear to be cock-ups.

They are clearly mistaken. Or would be if such a word existed.

I’m going off to a dark room now.