There is huge public waste everywhere caused by inefficiency and failure to use joined up thinking. The NHS is a dreadful example. I am now blind in one eye following cessation of treatment that left me with some useful vision in it. The 8 weekly injections were costing the local NHS trust around £800 each. A court case against the suppliers three years ago cleared the way for the NHS to use an alternative at around £30 a time (from the same pharma firm) but hardly any NHS trusts have taken advantage of it. Medications are prescribed like sweeties irrespective of cost and if you have repeat prescriptions they are rarely reviewed to check if they are still necessary. It's not a question of cutting budgets but in improving management competence, sharing good practice and attention to detail but all the systems seem geared to prevent that happening.
The Ajax tank is a classic example of throwing good money after bad in the hope that somehow the situation can be retrieved. A proper engineering evaluation might have determined the the design was a lost cause but there would have been too much egg on face in high quarters so the project has been blindly continued. Many, many other examples can be cited and we are all individually literally the poorer for it. The'National Yacht' was an obvious turkey right from the start making no sense whatsoever in today's world. Boris Johnson just wanted an opportunity to swan around the world grandstanding.
Colin
