The Incompetocracy - reassuringly consistent in their utter uselessness
The Barrie Hudson column
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The Barrie Hudson Column
Barrie Hudson is a known quantity when it comes to writing words. Sometimes he even spells them correctly. In fact he has been writing words in the Swindon area for more than two decades. First of all for the Swindon Advertiser and then for Swindon Link and now for The Ink. Here are some of his words…
In an ever-changing world, at least we can rely on the people in charge to get us ripped off or killed year after year
Did you read the news the other day about the gang of Bulgarian criminals who stole £54m in taxpayers' money by making 6,000 false benefit claims through the Universal Credit system?
Some of you may be wondering how this was possible, especially as they were at it for about five years without anybody in charge noticing, and meanwhile countless ordinary and often desperate people with genuine claims were forced to jump through every hoop imaginable.
Well, the answer is simple. You see, catching criminals, even fairly unsophisticated ones such as the gang who nevertheless managed to nick more than £50m, is hard work which requires intelligence, ability, commitment and dedication from those in ultimate charge.
In contrast, bullying vulnerable people and leaving them to rot in freezing slums with deadly black mould climbing up the walls does not require any intelligence, ability, commitment or dedication from those in ultimate charge.
It merely requires an utter inability to do one's job, together with a belief that one is innately superior to one's victims.
Oh, and being completely unsackable, ever, for any reason, because one has the right connections.
This is handy for those in ultimate charge, as they are drawn almost without exception from one of the oldest and most protected groups in society - the Incompetocracy.
How does one become an Incompetocrat? Obviously, incompetence is a vital prerequisite, but mere run-of-the mill incompetence simply will not do.
There is a level of uselessness to which mere ordinary useless people only can gaze upon with unfulfillable desire and envy. To compare the uselessness of an Incompetocrat with the uselessness of a mere incompetent is akin to comparing the skill of the architect of a Gothic cathedral with that of a parent with a hangover trying to put up a Wendy House on a breezy Saturday morning.