Trudeau, Orwell and ‘Deliverology’
PM embraces a political fad that promises accountability and delivers — well, nothing.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at this month’s ‘Women Deliver’ event in Vancouver. Canadian government photo.
Schacter then asks an important question — is there any evidence that deliverology works?
Barber, of course, swears it does, and so does Tony Blair. But that’s like Donald Trump saying he’s the greatest president ever.
The evidence indicates that deliverology hasn’t really delivered anything amazing, different or special.
Schacter notes that British hospitals tried it and improved some emergency room waiting times, but managers often gamed the system to reach targets. Researchers were unable to conclude “that the net impact of deliverology was positive.”
The British police service in England and Wales also tried the approach and collected some better data on complaints and sickness rates. But curiously “the data required did not refer to quality of service,” a study found.
Punjabi educators applied the elixir to its schools, but reviews found institutions untouched by the magic of deliverology did better than neighbouring schools pursuing true deliverance.
As one evaluator put it: “The lack of credible public data and the lack of third-party evaluations of the program make it difficult to go to bat for the deliverologists at this time.”
The last word on deliverology should go to Mark Johnson, a thoughtful British blogger and educational technologist.
When asked what he thought about the political tool, Johnson offered this cogent critique.
“Whose problem does ‘deliverology’ solve? The answer, to me at least, is obvious. It is the politician’s problem. They want to get re-elected. Moreover, they don’t want to think too hard and have a clear ‘position’ on any of the immensely complex issues they have power over. So if they can bluff their way along without upsetting anyone, regularly taking the political temperature, that’ll do nicely,” he wrote.
“What this means for the rest of us is another issue. Critique and debate is neutralised by process… The politician’s problem is not everyone else’s problem. The politician solving their problem usually involves giving everyone else new problems. There’s positive feedback brewing with growing inequalities under the guise of democracy and ‘freedom.’”
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But Johnson saves the best for last. “Deliverology is an information-oriented approach to politics. It’s something that wouldn’t be out of place in Orwell’s ‘Minitrue.’ Fundamentally this ‘deliverology’ looks like manipulating constraints on the public by the powerful (to keep them in power) through the medium of information.”
And that’s what Trudeau is now doing. He refused to deliver on electoral reform and won’t be able to deliver on climate change.
Nor has he undelivered Harper’s ruinous gutting of environmental legislation in this country.
And he can’t deliver on his promise to grow the middle class, as though this battered group was just another tiresome plant that globalists could boost with an extra delivery of polluted Chinese water.
Wedded to the status quo, Trudeau has opted for a neat digital illusion: deliverology.
How Canadian! ![[Tyee]](https://thetyee.ca/ui/img/xico_fishie.png.pagespeed.ic.qRYDhMYjhr.webp)
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/11/23/trudeau-orwell-eliverology/