Degrees of purgatory

摘要

Readers outside the UK will have noted that, in England, our Government is in the process of rediscovering how to do regional planning. The machinery was destroyed, and the skills dispersed, in the 1970s. We have been living off the plans produced up to that time, and they are now either complete or obsolete. Our Government is making the journey of rediscovery extraordinarily difficult for itself. It has decided it cannot use the words 'regional plan', and that there should be practically no staff or money available. The Government has also decided that it must not show any hint of leadership or vision, and will not look very far ahead other than in the most vague terms. An element of certainty is allowed only in five-year increments.