In 1621 it was called The Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations. For centuries it was the Board of Trade. From 1970 to 1974 the Department of Trade and Industry, then the Department of Trade until 1983, and then DTI again. And then, on 8 May 2005, it was renamed the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry - leading Sneak to assume that after 384 years there would finally be an end to government meddling in trade, given the absence of the word from the new title. But Sneak’s hopes lived for just five days, as apparently the Productivity, Energy-n-Industry shtick shrinks down all too easily into a rude word, particularly among those with over-active imaginations. While this does appear to be an all too clear example of government dithering, flagrant waste and mismanagement, there is a far more serious aspect to the affair. Sneak has just committed a piece about the DPEI name to print, and it’s too late to stop the IT Week presses, so Sneak will look like an idiot come Monday morning.

13 May 2005