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Which parts of the UK Civil Service would you say are more competent / effective in your personal experience? From the outside (US) perspective it's hard to see

Which parts of the UK Civil Service would you say are more competent / effective in your personal experience? From the outside (US) perspective it's hard to see it as anything except the same-old bureaucracy and crazy rules that make it impossible to have any positive impact in America. (For example, the UK rules for getting a passport basically make it impossible to find somebody to countersign your application unless you happen to know a lot of lawyers / doctors professionally)

nonrandomstring 3y ago
That's a good question, because I'm speaking now as a regular citizen, civilian, and discounting any "professional" contact I have with government. A lot of it is feel, and also by comparison to how _bad_ it once was, and the kind of thing I've experienced in mainland Europe. In Britain the cs are basically providing long-term continuity regardless of how chaotic and volatile party politics becomes. What we see is that most of the machinery of state keeps working, despite the circus in the Commons. Despite Covid. Despite Brexit. So, without subscribing to an anarchic take, we somehow concede that somebody, somewhere, must be doing some work :) Most people's contact is through online, if you can fire up even the most basic browser almost every interaction is clear, fast and smooth. When you start dealing at a higher level (business and contracting) then you see behind the Wizard of Oz's curtain a bit. Things go more smoothly if you have the right documents and history. Isn't that the same in every country though? So, it serves regular citizens very well, but less considerately as your needs are more complex. Effective maybe, but I didn't say "fair" :) Certainly there must be many people find it harder, and I'm probably showing my privilege.
nmca 3y ago
GDS - government digital services - always seems shockingly sane, a d it shows in lots of online forms etc.

nonrandomstring 3y ago

That's a good question, because I'm speaking now as a regular citizen, civilian, and discounting any "professional" contact I have with government. A lot of it is feel, and also by comparison to how _bad_ it once was, and the kind of thing I've experienced in mainland Europe. In Britain the cs are basically providing long-term continuity regardless of how chaotic and volatile party politics becomes. What we see is that most of the machinery of state keeps working, despite the circus in the Commons. Despite Covid. Despite Brexit. So, without subscribing to an anarchic take, we somehow concede that somebody, somewhere, must be doing some work :) Most people's contact is through online, if you can fire up even the most basic browser almost every interaction is clear, fast and smooth. When you start dealing at a higher level (business and contracting) then you see behind the Wizard of Oz's curtain a bit. Things go more smoothly if you have the right documents and history. Isn't that the same in every country though? So, it serves regular citizens very well, but less considerately as your needs are more complex. Effective maybe, but I didn't say "fair" :) Certainly there must be many people find it harder, and I'm probably showing my privilege.

nmca 3y ago

GDS - government digital services - always seems shockingly sane, a d it shows in lots of online forms etc.