Part of the appeal of the BBC political satire ‘The Thick of It’ is that it’s so close to what politicians are actually like. Back in 2005, its writers mocked the lack of ideas and on the hoof policy-making which came to define New Labour, with ministers and advisors cooking up half-baked schemes in the backs of cars.
In some cases ideas from the programme found their way from screen to real life. We all laughed at Pet ASBOs, but the last government went close with pet passports and a dog tax. It got there with these.
Earlier this year, our friends at Conservative Home drew a contrast between the tired ideas of New Labour and the coalition’s deeply-thought out policies. Neil O’Brien even castigated Labour for stealing another policy from the ‘Thick of It’, a national database for spare rooms.
Maybe a bit hasty Neil, today Communities’ Minister Eric Pickles introduced a National Homeswap Scheme for social tenants.
It may well turn out to be a success given the thousands of families threatened with homelessness by the coalition’s cuts to housing benefit, but I doubt that many of them will be looking to move from Kent to Carlisle.
