Global Warning

17 January 2009

Theodore Dalrymple delivers a Global Warning

I maintained my level of pettiness by attending the meeting of the town council in the evening. I had never taken an interest in local affairs before, considering them below me. The unaccustomed presence of members of the public (my neighbour and me) galvanised some of the councillors into asking questions about the budget. Why, for example, were the surveyor’s fees set at 10 per cent of whatever the cost of the work he recommended? This was hardly a recipe for economy and what is known in bureaucratic circles as ‘best value’.

I discovered later that our town council had had scandals before. In the 1970s, the town clerk was sent to prison for arson when he burnt the records of his financial irregularities in a general conflagration. But the question about the surveyor’s fees took me back in my mind to Africa, when I worked as the doctor to a construction project financed by British aid.

The contract was on a cost plus basis: that is to say, the construction company could charge a percentage on top of whatever it cost to complete the vitally unnecessary construction work.

This led to general drunkenness, wastefulness and irresponsibility all round, but when one worker, six and a half feet tall, who looked like a cross between Tyrannosaurus rex and a haystack, wrecked a bulldozer, costing £250,000, because he was still drunk at nine in the morning, this was an irresponsibility too far, and he was sacked. He refused, however, to get in the company light aircraft to take him back to the capital, and he threatened to break off its wings, unless he were given a case of two dozen bottles of beer and a bottle of Drambuie for the three-hour journey.

The company agreed, and since then I have never really been a libertarian, or in favour of foreign aid come to that.

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john problem

January 15th, 2009 6:32pm Report this comment

Wish I lived near a cafe like that. Does one have to live near academe? I live near agriculture and the talk is always of sprouts et al. I've tried to get the conversation round to the early renaissance, and its love of fresh veg. but it never works.

JohnAnt

January 16th, 2009 12:42pm Report this comment

Score the base of sprouts? No. The base should be al dente. Remove Outer leaves (minimum necessary) and trim the base (ditto). And steam, not boil, until barely cooked. Finish by rolling 2 minutes in butter or olive oil and garlic and green pumpkin seeds and (if liked) some finely chopped hot red or green chili pepper. That's it.

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