Dismantling Whitehall ‘blob’ is not a solution

The observations of Oxford university’s Professor Karthik Ramanna (“Governments and specialist advisers must get along better”, Opinion, June 29) concerning the interplay between government generalists and specialist advisers might usefully be put in a wider context.

Generalists would usually be understood as having a working knowledge across a wide range of disciplines, both humanities, social sciences and the hard sciences, whereas political generalists have become synonymous with the lack of any appreciation in the STEM subjects, business or commerce.

Amateur politicians pursuing ideological policies not supported by the majority of their electorates have often led to disastrous regimes. Boris Johnson’s government falls exactly into this category as illustrated already in its mismanagement of both Brexit and, more fatally, the Covid-19 crisis.
Imminent challenges in national security, Chinese-US rivalries in telecommunications and nuclear industries, space policy, public procurement in defence, health and infrastructure would seem tall orders for the current roll-call of half-educated ministers.

The trumpeted dismantling of the Whitehall blob (Report, June 30) will only further increase the economic risks attached to these issues, as illustrated by the continuing fall in sterling and the underperformance of UK equity markets.

Among the Oxford faculties, Prof Ramanna will have an interesting challenge to bring the two cultures into a more effective unity.