Govt consultation on charging cables: Don’t do something, just stand there!

We realise that this is only a very small contribution to how we all solve that collective missing £40 billion problem but still, here we go:

The UK government is considering whether to require all new electronic devices to use the same type of charging cable.

A call for evidence launched in October is asking for views on the benefits of using a particular charging cable - such as USB-C, which is used by many modern devices.

It comes after the European Union passed a law on a common charging cable in 2022, which firms must adopt by December.

That consultation is here. We recommend that everyone write in - it’s a consultation, they’re asking for views - with the answer that not only should absolutely nothing at all be done but that the consultation be closed early as that correct answer is that nothing at all should be done. Save the money on the consultation, close the department responsible for it, raze the buildings, plough the land where it stood with salt and release those poor civil servants from their bondage.

Because the entire idea is, in itself, insane.

Now, that actual standardisation across the EU we’ve already said we think is very silly. Because a legal imposition of a single standard means that no one can or will ever innovate to a better standard. Instead of market experimentation leading to possibly marginal improvements, something which over time leads to something wholly new, if there’s the one imposed standard then there has to be a leap. And a leap large enough to merit fighting through the bureaucracy of an entire continent to get it adopted. It’s not, ever, going to happen therefore we are locked into technological stasis.

Not a good idea but then this is government of an entire continent by those too silly to be able to get into national governments - no, really, it isn’t the first raters who get sent to Brussels.

But OK, they’ve done that. Now, what should the UK reaction be? Absolutely nothing at all, obviously. We’re not a big enough market that global manufacturers of electronics are going to come up with something different for us. Whatever the benefits - claimed - or disbenefits - technological stagnation - are going to happen to us whatever decision we ourselves make here. We’re going to end up with USB-C come what may. That’s just the nature of being a market the size we are.

So, whatever decision this consultation makes we’ll get USB-C. We therefore don’t need the consultation and can all save that valuable taxpayers’ money to be spent upon the £300 bonuses for train guards who have the temerity to work a full week.

Seriously, we know what the answer’s going to be. It cannot be anything other than USB-C. Therefore what’s the point of spending the money on having the rule or even the consultation?

We will admit we did like the joke online that what this consultation should really do is insist that the UK adopt Lightning as the standard. But we don’t think there’s anyone in government with that puckish a sense of humour.

So, given that the answer - whether there’s a decision or not, a consultation or not, a law or not - is that we’ll all get USB-C then why in heck are we spending any money on considering the issue, let alone acting upon it?

As so often the correct answer is that government just shouldn’t be doing anything at all about the matter.

Tim Worstall