I was most bemused today to hear of a South African government agency for industrial competitiveness. They've just spent a fortune re-branding themeselves. But what the hell do governments know about running businesses efficiently...? Absolutely nothing! Which is precisely why privatization has created such a tidal wave over the past decades in Europe and elsewhere. Governments run businesses into the ground whenever they attempt to run them - so what on earth is the justification for the existence of such an agency? It's entirely oxymoronic.

Sad to say, it's just more jobs for the second rate boys and girls that make up so much of the public service globally. And do tax-payers protest? Of course not - they're almost all bloody sheep these days, queing up to be fleeced.

When will governments understand that they and their bureaucracies are the single biggest impediment to industrial efficiency. They've turned private companies into tax collection agencies and consume, consume, consume without restraint or thought.

Ah well - back to work.

Keith