Crows

Mulling earlier this morning over the behaviour of Russian crows anecdoted in the book noticed at reference 2, my thoughts turned over to the scavenging branch of the financial and management services family. And the gleeful way in which representatives of said scavengers gathered around the moribund body of the Soviet Union, in the well-founded expectation that there were rich pickings to be had from dispatch and butchery. First you get fat fees for advising on the butchery, then you get fat fees for advising on how to clear up the resultant mess. Walk away if it goes pear-shaped. The needs of ordinary Russians did not really come into it.

While nearer home we used to have sleepy nationalised industries or cosy monopolies looking after our utilities - water, gas, telephones and that sort of thing - with the former treating their workers quite well and with the latter serving pension funds all over. This has now been smashed up, with the same scavengers doing very nicely out of it thank you: water, gas and so forth are always going to generate good income streams which can be picked over. Much less clear whether workers, consumers or pension funds have seen much benefit, many pickings. Maybe things have even gone backwards.

I should add, in fairness, that these sleepy nationalised industries and cosy monopolies did not look very well placed to cope with all the external shocks that were about to hit them. Not very nimble.

PS: against which background, it is perhaps unfortunate that the chief pillar of our leftie project should be named for the crow. See reference 1.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/theres-hope-yet.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/early-canid-domestication-farm-fox.html.