Research? Who needs it we have Ministers!

Am I the only one to notice that no matter who has conducted research, carried out tests or spent billions of pounds on experiments there is one person who already knew the answer and just needed to be asked.
Last week a study by experts stated that the millions of pounds that has been spent on teaching children to read and write has not made any difference. These people looked at all the fact and information and did a lot of research. But "Nonsense " says a minister you are wrong!
Train companies published details of how they need to increase their train capacities and how things are really not going very well when it comes to fitting passengers into trains, they say that they need to increase capacity by X% by 2012. "Nonsense" says a minister you are wrong its all going fantastically.
Army leaders "Our troops need more equipment" - Minister "no everything is fine "
Motoring organisations "Research shows using the hard shoulder as a driving lane is dangerous" - Minister "No its perfect and wont cause any problems"
Almost anything that you can think of that has ever been researched and published results in the government finding some half brain of a minister to say "your wrong, everything is fantastic".
So if these ministers are so darn clever why are people wasting billions of pounds doing any research at all, just have a room full of ministers and ask them anything you need to know.
Or maybe get sneaky, and publish "research shows that the Gordon Brown is the best thing for Britain since sliced bread" go on minister, your turn.