It’s the stupidity, stupid
Two decades ago one of Bill Clinton’s advisors is credited with coining the political slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid” and as a slogan referencing DEFRA, “It’s the stupidity, stupid.” is the perfect framing for a bureaucratic institution.
No one involved in writing this legislation had the talent, intelligence or skills required to do the job - but while bureaucrats may exercise a feeling of power and agency in everything they do, on this occasion they assumed the unlimited powers to destroy an industry with their brainless and uninformed approach - and they’ve had three years to address their mistakes, and have done nothing.
"What I find most absurd about the arrogance of DEFRA officials is that they decided that they needed to fix an issue that didn’t exist and invented a solution that doesn’t work."
"And then because they passed off the enforcement to local authorities, highlighted the abysmal quality of licensing officers, increased the number of unlicensed businesses and lowered the level of animal welfare in every corner of the country."
And to touch on just one of the areas of rank stupidity ...
- DEFRA introduced a rating system that implies that animal welfare is directly related to their rating system - This abysmal rating system gives the public the incorrect impression that if a cattery is only awarded three stars then the animal welfare is worse than at a 5 star cattery - something that is clearly not the case and DEFRA’s legislation doesn’t and can’t establish anything of the sort.
- DEFRA award ratings regardless of experience which differ even when there's no difference between the facilities.
- It’s impossible without capital investment for any three star cattery to reach 5 stars because the only routes for a three star cattery to improve is through things like financial input, increased staffing and a reduction in profits.
- DEFRA’s regulations are inept because DEFRA's regulations were written by people who had no idea how to reach the objectives they set for themselves and couldn't differentiate between the rating system and animal welfare.