Walter Bagehot: “A public department is very apt to be dead to what is wanting for a…”

On the record

A public department is very apt to be dead to what is wanting for a great occasion till the occasion is past.

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Walter Bagehot

Source

Bagehot notes that public departments often fail to recognize urgent needs until it is too late.

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There is no ELASTIC element, everything is rigid, specified, dated.

But all men heed great results, and a change of Government is a great result.

But as soon as the House met, Lord Thurlow became the greatest.

Nothing promotes intellect like intellectual discussion, and nothing promotes intellectual discussion so much as government by discussion.

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Walter Bagehot: “A public department is very apt to be dead to what is wanting for a great occasion till the occasion is past.”