Haydn Rees

London

IT Professional

I was in the Netherlands working for a telco during the fuel crisis in 2000. From outside the UK looked really badly run, and I realised that the only person in the Cabinet who had ever actually run anything remotely like a business was John Prescott running a bar; they were all policy wonks, lawyers, consultants, and researchers.

In 1992, of the 23 members of the UK cabinet, 21 were farmers. At the same time every member of the Indonesian cabinet had a PhD.

In the 19th century, the British Empire controlled one quarter of the earth's landmass, and MPs were paid a salary the equivalent of £500,000. I hate to suggest we pay MPs more, but someone needs to do something structural to address the central QA issue.