#bureaucracy

#bureaucracy

Traditionally, critiques of bureaucracy take the perspective of the little man caught in the obtuse machinations of faceless corporations or an unyielding state. Kafka's Joseph K., for example, or Catch-22's Yossarian. Even The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins with protagonist Arthur Dent lying in front of a bulldozer to thwart an intransigent planning department. In recent years, we've seen the return of anti-bureaucratic mobilization,

Before you ever enjoy your first croissant, you'll likely find yourself trapped in a bureaucratic labyrinth. Europe's charm - the centuries-old systems, the beautiful order - also applies to paperwork. Every form must be printed, stamped, signed (sometimes in triplicate), and often translated by an officially certified translator. Registering your address? You'll need your lease, a tax number, health insurance proof, and - depending on the country - a "proof of integration" course.

Then, a few years ago, I started a new job, where they issued me an email address with my hyphenated name. I reached out to HR, and they informed me that they use the name listed on an employee's Social Security card to set up the email. If I wanted to get the hyphen removed from my email, I'd have to get a new social security card with the name change.

Some measures include: Allowing emails to replace paper documents that are still required for official use. One-time data collection: Citizens and companies submit information only once, with agencies sharing data centrally. Faster approvals: Many types of applications are automatically approved if authorities do not respond within three months. Reducing paperwork by cutting reporting and disclosure obligations, as well as documentation requirements, by at least one-third to save companies time and reduce personnel costs.

The nuclear regulatory taskforce was set up by Keir Starmer in February after the government promised to rip up archaic rules and slash regulations to get Britain building. It issued a stark warning on Monday, warning that Britain needed a radical reset of the rules around nuclear power to save tens of billions in costs and reverse the industry's decline.

The Trump administration says its plan to dismantle the Education Department offers a fix for the nation's lagging academics - a solution that could free schools from the strictures of federal influence. Yet to some school and state officials, the plan appears to add more bureaucracy, with no clear benefit for students who struggle with math or reading.

May Sun stood on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown on Tuesday morning, looking through the fence at the memorial she and another artist designed to honor Robert F. Kennedy near the site of his 1968 assassination. Graffiti smeared the monument. Scattered trash included a potato chip bag, a smashed beer bottle and a sneaker. Weeds poked up from neglected garden beds and dozens of orange sandbags sat on ledges and columns, for no apparent reason.

If they ask you a question, you've got to respond to me directly and not go up that chain of command. The chain of command starts to edit it and fine-tune it. The bureaucracy does want to control you, so you've got to kill the bureaucracy.

You send a tidy email at 10:12, outline the request, add a friendly "when you have a moment," and expect a reply before lunch. In Italy, the moment might be next Tuesday. If you are wired to hit inbox zero, Italy can feel like a slow lane. You write at 09:00, someone opens it at 18:47, and nothing lands until the following week. Then, when the answer arrives, it is complete, polite, and stamped with a protocol number like the matter just entered a courthouse.

A backpack is forgotten on the train. It seems a simple enough problem to resolve, especially in Germany, oft famed for its orderliness and efficiency. But when you're living as a refugee or in exile, the documents the bag contained are not mere pieces of paper to be reissued. They very well may be irreplaceable a displaced person's only means of existing within a coldly bureaucratic society. To lose them can be devastating, turning borders into walls.

My wife and I, our son and daughter, and my in-laws share a single house in the Long Island suburbs. Our place is big, but crowded: all of us have hobbies, and so every shelf or surface contains toys, books, art supplies, sporting goods, craft projects, cameras, musical instruments, or kitchen gadgets. Before the table can be set for dinner, it must be cleared of a board game or marble run.

All solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters must be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum under a new order that authorizes him to conduct elevated review of activities ranging from leases to rights of way, construction and operational plans, grants and biological opinions.

July 14th marks France's Fête nationale, or Bastille Day, celebrating the storming of the Bastille in 1789, which signifies the French Revolution's beginning.

Steve Dally faced a £70,000 charge after Waverley Borough Council misclassified a minor amendment to his planning permission as a new build, causing significant distress. 'I was blindsided,' he stated.

"A new term, Waldsterben (forest death), entered the German vocabulary to describe the worst cases."

"Staying in Germany as a freelancer has never been easy - or cheap, and applying for citizenship is just as burdensome."

Sometimes a delicious little French cake... but other times a vital piece of bureaucracy. Why do I need to know macaron? Because you might be confused about why your car needs a cake.

In the fast-moving world of AI, if it takes 18 months . . . I no longer need that company, their model is already obsolete.

It's a brutal reality to accept that... as you grow older, you may have to deal with bureaucracy, such as the Social Security Administration.

Judge James Boasberg's ruling reflects Kafka's bureaucratic absurdity, upholding the Trump administration's control denial over prisoners despite their direct involvement in their detention.

The U.S. has developed a culture of delay, characterized by layers of review and the threat of endless lawsuits that make project implementation incredibly difficult.

In politics, to be successful, you have to appeal to the future, not the past, Klein explains forcefully, in a video interview with EL PAIS.