Sir Christopher Meyer says in his book that he briefed a former Prime Minister in his underpants. Well I have briefed a Cabinet Minister in his bath. But unlike Meyer, I do not propose to tell you anything about it. In part I want to protect you from having the image etched in your mind in the way it is in mine – I can assure you that you do not want to go there. But mainly I shall keep quiet because I believe that it is in the interest of good government for civil servants to protect the confidences of the Governments they serve.

The publication of the Meyer memoirs has reopened questions about the proper relationship between the civil service and the government. This is an important question with possible implications for the style and form of government we have.

Below the fold, I set out to demolish five common fallacies about the role of the civil service.

• Fallacy one: Civil servants should be able to tell their side of the story.
• Fallacy two: The civil service has been politicized; there are too many Special Advisers with too much power.
• Fallacy three: Civil servants owe a separate duty to Parliament, the public or the press.
• Fallacy four: Civil servants should enforce the Ministerial code.
• Fallacy five: Civil servants should have a monopoly on providing advice to the Government.

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Over in the business school here at Berkeley, they talk a lot about brand values.  The MBAs are taught that one of the most important strategic activities of a firm is to invest in building and protecting the value of its brands.

Usually when a firm increases its value, that’s good for the economy.  Inventing a new product, or finding a way to produce using fewer inputs, increases the value of the firm and also increases the wealth of the economy and makes everyone better off.

But some ways of increasing a firm’s value are not good for the economy as a whole – for example, if they merely transfer surplus from consumers to producers, reduce efficiency by reducing competition, or exploit negative externalities.

Does the economy as a whole benefit from an increase in brand value? Or do brands just increase benefits to the producer at the expense of the consumer?  What are the economic benefits of brands?
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