Talk:Quango

message: I removed the section on 'expected roles' because it was copied out of a report (Julie Macleavy, The Quango Debate, 2005, page 8 
)!  Cypers (talk) 15:39, 14 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Deleted expected roles because of copy right violation

message: I've seen the expression "bonfire of the Quangos" several places but no definition or clear first use. Any help? --Phil Wolff (talk) 01:00, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Radio 4 this morning, the phrase was coined by Gordon Brown fifteen years ago. Ausseagull (talk) 08:50, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bonfire of the Quangos 

message: I'm not sure which of these we should use. The last is the most logical (IMO) and the first is the most commonly used (c.f. Google). What do you think, Anome? Why did you go for the middle one? Mr. Jones 18:04, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: The Cabinet Office website refers to Quango. AMe 20:17, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Quango, QUANGO or QuANGO? 

message: Propose
Though some parts of this article are useful, the correct terminology of Executive Agency or Non-Departmental Public Body should be prefered.  All three need to be sorted out as there is a lot of re-directing going on and a fair degree of confusion. Davidkinnen 17:46, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I've done a fairly substantial cleanup of the main body, but the UK section still needs work JQ 06:53, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Request for Cleanup 

message: The sentence on Fanny Mae has been removed, since this is a US organization, and the term is not used in that country. DGG 05:17, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: US

message: I've proposed that this page be merged with Non-departmental public body. I don't believe they are sufficiently different things to merit separate articles, if indeed they are different at all.
I don't know which title the resulting page should have - my impression is that "Quango" is more widely used and understood, but that "NDPB" is now the legal term for such a body. However, having worked in one, I suspect that "NDPB" may have been invented to avoid the negative connotations of "Quango"... and will therefore prove less lasting. Mswake 21:10, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Oppose NDBP is a UK-specific term. Quango is used in other countries and to cover a variety of organisations that do not fit the NDBP definition. Also, as you indicate, Quango is clearly a pejorative and should be discussed as such, not as the encyclopedic term. JQ 07:16, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

text: Strongly Oppose NDBPs are, by definition, government bodies. When used correctly quangos are NON-government organisations (although frequently in receipt of government funding). Very different animals. Sceptic 12:15, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

text: Strongly Oppose because the Quango term is used in literature and commentary and so is articleworthy. Sceptic distinguishes the two saying "quangos are non-government organizations" but I believe the better explanation is that they are non-governing organizations. They are indeed creatures of governments and funded by the taxpayers, but do not exercise first level civil authority such as police protection. Their directors are appointed and not elected, so they are unaccountable. Such creatures should be dealt with in their own article, which this one does. --StanZegel   (talk) 07:50, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

text: Oppose quangos are non governmental organisations, NDBPs are governmental bodies. Secretlondon 10:15, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

text: Strongly Oppose as the term Quango is used in the UK press and in parliament  BRIANTIST  (talk) 10:41, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

text: Strongly Oppose the reason they call them quangos is because this gives for a government the freedom to exert its political and social agenda cunningly disguise behind what looks like a mainstream NGO that are accepted world wide for their charity and philanthropic activities.Davedawit (talk) 09:52, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposed merge

message: I think we need a bold update here to restrict this article to a discussion of the history and use of an ill-defined, and rather perjorative term.
The article should then provide a proper navigation aid to the intitutions of the UK government to which it has variously and inconsistently been applied (classification from Bradley & Ewing Constitutional and Administrative Law 13th ed):
*Cabinet and Government departments:
**of which include executive agencies
*Public corporations, e.g. BBC
*NHS bodies
*NDPBs
**Executive NDPBs
**Advisory NDPBs
**Tribunals
**IMBs
Also nagivation aid to other nations who use the term.
The list of executive agencies should be in that article and looks wrong in any case. Surely the Council on Tribunals is a NDPB. Cutler (talk) 20:41, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Absolutely; the list of executive agencies does not belong here, but, if it is accurate, somewhere in the series on UK government.  The term quango was rapidly falling out of use when the UK formed executive agencies, but I agree that some people use the term for them, as well as for the many other bodies that Cutler mentions. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 00:52, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I've deleted the list which was replicated where it belongs in Executive agency.JQ (talk) 09:42, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Needs bold update 

message: In regards to this merge proposal in general, it is my belief that this article has the wrong name and if anything the merge should be going the other direction towards the other article, or even a new name. The purpose of an encyclopedia is to reveal and expose information in a clear and direct manner, rather than to hide and obscure meaning by using lingo or regional slang. 
The word quango definitely hides meaning, because the word itself is neither an abbreviation nor a fully proper word in and of itself. It is really just a bastardized half-abbreviation created so as to make the phrase easily roll off the tongue. A proper abbreviation would be QNGO which might be pronounced Kango or Kengo rather than cwango. The 'ua' as in qUAngo means nothing, if all the letters are treated as an abbreviation.
For people who throw this word around all the time they may not be looking at how ridiculous this word is, a piece of jargon that has managed to become popular enough that being illegible and neither a phrase or abbreviation still renders it acceptable as a common word.
So, I would like to see this article renamed, since a formal encyclopedia should use this format:
Quasi-Non-Governmental Organization(Redirected from Quango.)A quasi-non-governmental organization, or Quango, is ...
DMahalko (talk) 18:01, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the ridiculous nature of the word was part of the appeal, at least to the writers of Yes, Minister.  By the 1990s, most dictionaries were listing it, whether as a word, an acronym, or a backronym.   I don't have strong feelings about which direction the merge should go, but I must admit that my instinct is that all long forms should be mentioned in the opening sentence, and the title of the article be Quango. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 01:03, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  This article should be named Quasi-Non-Governmental Organization 

message: in response to JQ's comment above
Your statement that it is a set of privately owned corporations does not square with the statement in the federal reserve article that "it is not a private, profit-making institution."  Either you are wrong or the Fed article is wrong.  The confusion probably has to do with the nature of the involvement of member banks, being described as holding "stock" in a Federal Reserve Bank.  However- note that this stock does not confer rights of part ownership- The "stock" may not be traded privately or publically, nor do they have the ability to directly control the applicable federal reserve bank as a result of owning the stock.  It is more like owning a Bond that pays 6% interest and comes along with right to vote for governors.  It is a governmental representational system that allows voting rights to a narrow group of bankers who are required to take a substantial financial stake in the success of the banking system.  Mak (talk) 16:07, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The statement you refer to (quoted from a Fed Reserve FAQ) is in fact somewhat misleading, since it blurs the issues of ownership and for-profit status. The Wiki article  itself is correct in stating that the Fed is a mixture of public and (at least nominally) private components. Of course, it's not appropriate for the article to point out that the Fed is fudging here, but that's the case. It's very typical of talk about quangos.JQ (talk) 20:15, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Do I understand correctly?  Are we being asked accept unsupported assertion that we are being misled by an authoritative statement from an official entity concerning it's own nature?  Mak (talk) 06:52, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  This is getting well off-topic, so if you want to discuss it further, maybe you should comment on my talk page. Obviously the article does not say to the readers that the FAQ is incorrect, despite the well-sourced facts in the article contradicting it. That would be WP:SYN. But I'm happy to say it here in the talk page - an authorative statement from an official entity is, in this case, misleading at best. Before you write to suggest I don't know what I'm talking about, I'll exercise an advantage of non-pseudonymity and suggest you check my wiki article. JQ (talk) 07:54, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Federal reserve system

message: "Elsewhere" is vague - where else is the term used other than the UK and Ireland?Gymnophoria (talk) 12:14, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Use "Elsewhere" 

message: In order to grasp the meaning of the term "arm's-length bodies" as a non-native speaker, an explanation of the etymology and sense would be helpful. As far as I understand, "keeping somebody at arm's length" means "avoiding too close relations", but what is this term meant to say about quangos? Is ist positive in the sense of "avoiding too much influence of politicians and government on bodies which probably work better independently"?--Quinbus Flestrin (talk) 15:14, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arm's length 

message: I learnt, many years ago, that there was a difference between QUANGO and QANGO - the U standing for Unelected, whihc was ladded later. The obvious question of what quasi qualifies was never really answered "Quasi- unelected -autonomous non-governmental organisation". I can find no references but will keep looking...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:4E:EF1E:FC00:F5F8:6517:E8F5:5540 (talk) 13:37, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unelected 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I just undid a revision that removed the word "autonomous" from the initialism in the lede. It is clear that the "autonomous" was backronymed in somewhere, but it is a real part of the phenomenon, as attested by searching for "quango is short for"—9/10 of the top results include the "autonomous". It's also a key part of the quango mythos—the purported lack of accountability.
It would perhaps be best to restructure the article such that it adequately describes the history of the term and where each version is emphasized, as well as how it's been used over the years. I do not have bandwidth for such an undertaking at this time, however.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ctbeiser (talk • contribs) 05:23, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Autonomy