Anyway - it seems this 'nudge unit' is correctly called the 'behavioural insight team'. And what is that when it's at home - do I hear you ask? Simple - it's a unit to apply the theory set out in the book. Namely, that people's habits can be changed without government regulation; that in place of legislation, or the 'shove' factor, people can be nudged in the direction they should go. The unit was tasked with 'finding intelligent ways to encourage people to make better choices for themselves'.
The 'nudge unit' has concentrated on certain areas:
1. To improve organ donations
2. To stop people smoking
3. To promoting greener cars
4. To encourage food hygiene
5. To encourage people to give to charity.
Great ideas - give Boy David a round of applause! This is your Big Society in action - no coercion just gentle 'nudges'. Terrific way to run a country, you must agree.
So that's why this Thaler bloke was talking to Boy David so much and why Boy David was wreathed in smiles, when he left! This would be government without force. A truly stupendous achievement - if it worked. The Devil is in the detail, my friends, and the detail in question is the little word 'IF'.
Into the fray, eager to adopt the 'nudge' approach is our old friend, the Silver Fox, none other than Mr Lansley. He declared:
It is time for politicians to stop telling people to make health choices, time for them to start helping them to do it. We are not nannying, but nudging.
What a punchline: 'not nannying but nudging' - that is what I call 'wicked, man!' The fact he's decided to privatise the NHS ain't no nudge - it's a blooming great shove, if you ask me.
However, to get back to the thrust of my argument. Did this Government nudge policy actually work? Have people stopped drinking, smoking, eating chips, driving too often and too fast? Errr .... Umm.... Well, no actually.
People only stopped smoking on stations, in pubs and restaurants when it became illegal to do so. In other words when they had a good kick up the backside!
Have people stopped drinking, getting pi**** out of their minds on a Friday and Saturday night - No. They'll only do that when the drinks become so expensive that they can only afford one drink all evening. This is despite all the 'nudge' warnings about the dangers of alcohol.
Are people getting slimmer and fitter by the day? No, they are not! All the little green, red and orange traffic-lights labels and percentages on the packaging are blissfully ignored because of the counter-nudges from the TV adverts to 'eat the creamy chocolate', 'enjoy the taste of the sizzling sausages/burgers/bacon'.
Are we all using the train and bus more and giving up our cars? No, we most assuredly are not! The streets are still clogged up. The air pollution is getting worse.
I could go on - but Arturo says I'm getting boring! So, I'll leave the last words to Baroness Neuberger, who was asked to head the House of Lords inquiry into behavioural change. She said in a recent interview :
Basically you need more than just nudge. Behavioural change interventions appear to work best when they're part of a package of regulation and fiscal measures.
There are others, however, who think that 'nudge, nudge' has not gone far enough. One Daniel Finkelstein, who I have yet to meet, though Arturo tells me he's always gabbling away on the TV, says of the letters that went out about late payment of taxes:
It turned out that telling debtors that they were unusual — others in their town paid on time — significantly increased payment. Indeed the team believes that they will be able to use this to save £7.75 million in administrative costs and increase tax revenue cash flow by as much as £280 million.
So there! That's telling you, isn't it? Personally, I think they paid up because they knew there would be socking great interest charges to pay, if they waited too long!
So - me I'm all for the 'Beat them till they cry for mercy' brigade. Make laws, don't cajole by sweet nothings! Call it what you will, a nudge, a cajole will only get you somewhere if the person being enticed would have gone there in the first place.
My advice to Boy David is to stop being Mr Nice-Smiling Guy and grow up - act like a man - a Prime Minister - and make proper laws. Stop wasting money on this behavioural insight team - you know you can't afford it - neither can the country! But, I forget - Boy David is still a Public Relations man at heart. And what do PR men do? They write adverts. So what can I expect from Boy David!!
'Bye' from me, I'm off to nudge one of the pretty secretaries to give me a bit of the cream from her plate of strawberries!
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