Improvements Which Make Thing Worse

The Germans have a word for improvements which make things worse. Verschlimmbesserung. 

Britain desperately needs that word!

Here are just a few of the Verschlimmbesserungs our country has committed:

• Care in the Community 
• Deregulating the banks
• Derivative trading
• Outsourcing
• Privitisation of public services including prisons and the Post Office.
• PFI (Private Finance Initiative which offers shiny new hospitals and schools for no investment up front which will in reality be paid for many scores of times over out of the public purse, in some cases beyond the predicted lifespan of the new building).
• Health and Safety (to the point that few people risk doing anything useful, even saving lives).
• Deregulation of public sector pay at senior levels to attract 'the brightest and the best' - leading to no discernible leadership improvement in most sectors, but a lot of extra cost and the knock-on effect of demotivation to those working for the same bodies on a fraction of the salary.
• Getting rid of Grammar Schools (the best route for disadvantaged children to social mobility)
• Liverpool Care Pathway (posh term for killing the elderly).
• Selling off industry and assets - at the expense of national food and energy security.
• Pushing for a cashless and contactless society and driving everything online under the guise of 'convenience'
• Encouraging the rise of the individual at the expense of a cohesive and caring society.
• Mass immigration (not to be confused with a healthy and sustainable level of immigration)
• Joining the EU without a public referendum in the first place, which would have avoided the current Brexit shambles.
• Political Correctness - yes we needed to end racism, sexism and homophobia - but 'safe spaces', 'trigger warnings' and 'no platforming' of controversial speakers, and on no legal basis, is ridiculous. History has taught us that discussing and debating issues is the healthy way to resolve them rather than denying they exist or driving them underground.
• Smart Motorways (proven to be more dangerous with no hard shoulder)
• Extra brilliant headlights (might be better for driver but cause more accidents due to dazzling other drivers).
• Smart meters - more expensive energy, you pay for the meter in your bills, cannot change suppliers easily and there may be health implications.
• Long life bulbs - which don't last any longer, give a horrible light and are unrecycleable.
• Digital radio - more radio stations but poor quality and half the country cannot get it!

I suppose we have the term counter-intuitive, but that does not really encapsulate this syndrome quite as well.