Sorry, but in the modern world the last thing a senior civil servant wants to do is actually run an operation.  It's all about giving Directions, setting standards, controlling budgets - and letting someone else take the flak when - in the real world - it turns out the problems are beyond the scope/capability of those objectives, standards and costs. Modern governance systems are all about avoiding accountability for actual delivery.  It's always somebody else who must have fucked up and failed to deliver on the absolutely flawless strategy.

Index of Frank's Diaries