Places of worship

There is a new Home Office fund available now, of 2.4 million pounds to improve security of places of worship.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/places-of-worship-security-funding-scheme

It will be interesting to see who applies, what for, and what they get. Whatever it is, better be quick before the money goes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/france-church-attack-normandy-rouen-latest-news-isis-jacques-hamel-priest-a7157576.html

Jewish places of worship have always had grants available for extra security - certainly since the early 1970s. Islam will take what's going as it becomes available. CofE - probably at the behest of the local bishop. Personally I wouldn't give any grants at all. The money could be better spent.

It is fairly normal for any government scheme to be to some extent, awkardly and inefficiently set up and run, wasting money and often with some unforseen negative consequences.

This is normal human behaviour, the same principles probably apply to how many ordinary people organise their lives and finances.

So, given a budget of 2.4 million pounds of government money and a free hand, what would you do with it?

Supermarket managements seem to be most efficient at large scale finance and logistics, If they would care to re-arrange themselves into political parties perhaps things might get done more efficiently?

Public security for public buildings. Private security for private buildings. Simple really.but putting armed guards on churches of any religion has to be counter-productive - - - "Hey up. What do you want? Put your hands in the air and drop that bag whilst I search it and you."  Not the best way of welcoming worshippers.

All a knee-jerk reaction after the psychotic adventures of a couple of immature hot-heads and one innocent dead priest. Let's all get real.

The recently announced government funding for places of worship security specifically excludes security guards. By filling in a lot of administrative bumph, places of worship can get a contribution towards CCTV, entry systems, locks etc.

Churches and churchgoers have suffered some vandalism and intimidation, arson, cars damaged, stone throwing etc., so extra security is useful.

Big Brother is watching you. George Orwell was a century out -. 2084. East against West - only for real.

Have you spent that 2.4 million yet?

Absolutely not. The most sensible way to utilise such an amount would be to invest the same in gilt-edge and organise to spend the interest ad-infinitum on the most worthy projects. At present rates that would bring in a total of approx £350,000 per annum which after administration would allow an expenditure of approx £300,000 per annum. The annual expenditure figure would vary with interest rates and % yield on the gilt-edged stocks. Thus ensuring help to appropriate causes for ever or as long as possible. But then I'm just an ordinary bloke. What do I know.

More than me, that sounds very sensible. Government finances seem to run on different rules, they borrow money and give it away, usually to banks and foreign countries, so I'm not sure if you've quite got the hang of it.

It's all a matter of control. The bigger the organisation the bigger the problem of control. It becomes self-defeating the larger it gets. The costs to 'administer' outweigh the usefulness of the project as more and more corruption creeps in. it becomes an unavoidable consequence. The decision to continue comes from the desire to be seen to be doing something (regardless of the problem) as not and as it isn't, in a sense, their money but ours it becomes easier to salve one conscience. I'm sorry to have to relate realities but - c'est la vie mon ami.