Just how the Ministry of Defence and Silly Walks managed to spend £22 on a lightbulb that could have been bought for £1.50 down the local supermarket is the most gobsmacking mystery since … well since the MoD managed to spent £103 to buy a screw.
What’s wrong with a screw for £103 you might well ask, after all Belle du Jour charges £250 and although that is top end of the market we can’t ask the lads who are putting their lives on the line as they defend the realm to be making do with a tupenny upright in a back alley can we?
Ah, someone has just corrected me. It was the metal type of screw which cost the Ministry over £100 not an erotic one.
This kind of insane overspending has been a feature of government procurement departments for ever. When I got my whelchair back in 1997 I was told they cost the NHS £1500 each.
Fifteen hundred quid for a couple of bike wheels, two trolley wheels, about twenty five feet of bent tubing, a few catches, screws, plasticky bits and eighteen inches square of tarp for a seat? My daughter’s car cost less than £1,500 and it has taken her all over Europe in the past five years.
FFS how do the public sector do it. Do these overpaid, underrworked civil sdervants with their degrees in Public Administration with Flower Arranging and such not understand about sending out a specification, getting some quotes in, comparing prices and quality and choosing the one that offers the best value.
Perhaps they find the more public money they can spend the easier it becomes to delude themselves they are real people.
Dave, Nick, George, Vince, if any of you read Boggart Blog (and we’ll be mightily pissed off to find you don’t) here’s a idea. Sack all public sector purchasing officers and hire some Meerkats. It would save a fortune and wipe out the deficit at a stroke.
Simples.
RELATED POSTS:
Public Sector Fat Cats
Fuel Tax Break
It’s The Sovereignty, Stupid
The Original Boggart Blog 
What a great post in your clever, unique, satirical style. I know from experience that meerkats only buy 40W bulbs from Shoprite at 8p per bulb. Unlike us they never pay for a screw and they do it twenty times a day!
LikeLike
Thanks, as I said to someone else recently I wish I could just post a couple of times a week for the sake of quality. Unfortunately Google rates frequency of posting very highly.
Update a blog only once a day and you’re struggling unless new links to it are being set up all the time.
Post utter arse dribble ten times a day and Google will love you and send lots of traffic your way.
LikeLike
I might email my MP a link with the message: ‘Please Read’.
LikeLike
Please do. And ask all your friends to do the same (even if they are French). If we can cut the government waste we are in not bad shape.
LikeLike
Nice one, Ian. These arseholes live in some sort of ivory tower in which money is regarded as the kind of paper stuff you play with in a game of Monopoly.
And I’m sure the retailers can see them coming and are laughing all the way to the bank. Note: I use the present tense; I bet in some departments nothing has changed.
LikeLike
Nothing will change as long as we have the current political system. I’m not talking about AV, I mean we should abolish parties and remind the buggers their job is to represent their consituents not protect the establishment from our anger.
LikeLike
It helps me to know about this. You have been shown importance topic in your content. It will inspire me always. This is very nice post! I will bookmark this blog as I have These are the fitting to have in your home. Ideal for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom whether you choose fixed or adjustable to highlight a favourite piece of recessed ceiling lights, Bedside Lights and Bedside Reading Lights
LikeLike
Nice post on The £22 Light Bulb And The Man From The Ministry Hi, I see your blog. It is very good I hope you will see my blog. You show some very valuable information. So, nice! This is very nice post! I will bookmark this blog. These are the fitting to have in your home. Ideal for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom whether you choose fixed or adjustable to highlight a favourite piece of recessed ceiling lights, Bedside Lights, Bedside Reading Lights and Bedside Wall Lights
LikeLike
it’s always been politics.the comparison of the light bulbs is really big. i rather just buy a chandelier from hinkley lighting, cheaper and a great deal.
LikeLike