Over 300 flood defence schemes were subject to budget cuts and not proceded with, and hundreds of millions of pounds in insurance claims and the cost of the suffering and interruptions in people’s lives that could have been avoided by not abandoning the relatively trivial cost in net human experience quality of life vs how much exactly in tax savings?  What if it happens, again, next year?

Guardian article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/14/flood-defence-schemes-unbuilt?intcmp=122

The role of Government is to apply wisdom to prevent disasters rather than throw the cards into the air hoping to catch a few as they tumble down.  The abandonment of not just progress, but the safety of residents – we tax payers invested in some planning for there to be 300 flood defence schemes, so lets go ahead and make the necessary investment.  It is hardly a luxury but the ruthless abandonment of Governmental responsibility for our investment in the work of civil servants which would have to be redone at another date if we are not to relocate families from 300 or more locations affected by the failure to actually employ valid work.  It is more than supplying a demand, it is an act of massive criminal cruelty to the lives of many, many people.

Austerity is a tightening of the belt of economic safety and keeping the lid on things that actually have an impact on the economy.  What the Osborne regime is doing however increasingly appears to be a failure in the strategic intelligence department.  The investment in flood barriers was not as great as the cost of the damage.  Far less than the bank bailouts.  Far less than Trident.  We waste 83 billion  on a system while isolating Iran for trying to emulate it.

A failure to apprehend that climate change meant strategy change is only now becoming relevant to Government now that 98% of the scientific community are indicating that the extreme weather we are having may well be a bit of a sign of things to come.   The others deny this and that is their right.  But Government should not be banking on the unconventional view here.  If we are going to build houses on flood prone ground, then we had better build protection.  As this had already been researched, and understood, abandoning necessary planning is worse than criminal negligence on a scale.  It is politically motivated cruelty.  Protecting the bankers while stomping on the need to look after each other.