Waste of money

The original census (1801) had very few questions, mostly name, sex, occupation and was simply half of one page. Like most things to do with bureaucracy and statistic gathering it grew and grew until the new one due stands at 11 pages and wants to know the ins and outs of a ducks backside so far as I can tell. Still it is only every 10 years and I guess I could tolerate it even if I planned for that day to move all the beds into one room and lie about my religion and various other items of my life that I think are none of the government business.
This however got my goat (yes the dog will be registered as a goat that day if they happen to ask)

Telegraph.

The cost of next month’s national census is expected to reach almost £500 million as 30,000 officials are hired to ensure immigrants who do not speak English take part in the compulsory population count.

Guidance on how to complete the 32-page form has been translated into 56 languages while advertisements are being broadcast on ethnic minority TV channels and leaflets distributed to shops, mosques, churches and temples.

It is a legal requirement for everyone to complete the census, which takes place once every 10 years, with the next national survey due to be conducted on 27 March. The results are used to help plan public services, including school places, hospitals, and transport.

Persistent refusal to complete the form can lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000.

But the Office for National Statistics, which organises the survey, admitted that while three million people failed to complete the 2001 census, only 38 were convicted.

Glen Watson, ONS census director, said the cost of the exercise was projected to reach £480 million this year, twice the total for the previous census in 2001.

 Why are we wasting taxpayers money on translations? There should only be language translations for the recognised languages of these Islands. English, Welsh, Scots Gael and possibly Manx assuming it's a separate tongue, oh and Braille too and perhaps a large print edition. You can't read any of those? Tough, you pay for a translator out of your own pocket, not mine or else learn the language yourself!
I'm sick and tired of the continual waste of money the state throws down the drain translating other languages for those too bloody lazy to learn the language of the country they live in! You don't see it happening in France, they make bloody sure you only get everything in French, if you can't cope, it's your problem, not theirs. £500 million in wasted cash that could have been spent on something important like school repairs or even repairing the winter potholes from the global warming spasm we had in December. But no we have to pander to those invited in by New Labour to vote for them and keep the cost of labour down. (3.2 million not counting illegals) But no, we have to keep the immigrants happy so Labour shelled out our cash to translate the census into 56 other languages and then apparently gave some USA military firm (Lockheed Martin)  the contract to to the data capture.


Ye Gods am I getting angry about this!