I came across the following quote today whilst randomly clicking around the net and immediately thought of the Central Office of Information who were in the news this week after announcing a few cuts in staff numbers.

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.
– Joseph Goebbels

The news about the COI included the staggering fact that they employ 737 staff and spent just over half a billion pounds in the 12 months to March telling us what to eat, drink, do and think on a daily basis.

From The Guardian (emphasis mine) :

The Central Office of Information, the body which co-ordinates government marketing and ad spending, is to cut 40% of its 737 staff.

The COI cuts come as the Cabinet Office today revealed that the advertising and marketing freeze, implemented in June, has saved £6.5m year on year in its first month in place. Spending is down 52% year on year, with the only exemptions to the ban so far the Think! child road safety campaign and a marketing push for HM Revenue & Customs.

The COI, which spent more than £530m on advertising, marketing and communications in the 12 months to the end of March, is restructuring to reflect a work volume reduced by up to 50% as a result of the coalition government’s cuts.

Staff numbers at the COI will be reduced by 287, or about 40%, to 450. The COI’s payroll increased by 50 permanent staff members last year despite the downturn. COI staff have been offered an initial opportunity to be considered for voluntary redundancy, although if this does not produce the necessary numbers there will be redundancies on a compulsory basis. A formal 90-day consultation begins today and ends on 1 November.

“COI has always adapted to meet the requirements of government and the changing media landscape,” said chief executive Mark Lund.

That last little bit from the chief executive (and why the fuck a government department needs a chief executive is another matter) speaks volumes for me.

The COI adapted to meet the needs of a bunch of Socialist control freaks who had obviously studied Goebbels in the art of propaganda.

It is just a shame that they didn’t decide to make 737 redundancies.