Fiddling while Rome burns?

This appears to be a fruitless argument.  The Independent reports:

A new Brexit faultline opened up in the Conservative party after Theresa May appeared to slap down Chancellor Philip Hammond over how much the Government will spend preparing for a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

The Prime Minister said she has now set aside £250m to help prepare for Brexit, including a no deal scenario, with aides saying she would spend “whatever necessary”.

But earlier on Wednesday, Mr Hammond signalled he wanted to wait until “the last point” before authorising spending on ‘no deal’ preparations and appeared unwilling to discuss further funds.

There are now less than 18 months until Brexit day.  This is not enough time to make satisfactory preparations for a no-deal Brexit.  Here are three examples:

1. The need for vast additional customs control facilities at Dover (and elsewhere).  The government cannot simply tarmac a few fields and call them lorry parks, nor erect a few portakabins and call them customs offices.  It would need to secure ownership (or at least lesseeship) of the land required, to deal with any planning considerations, to draw up specifications of the facilities needed and put them out to tender..
2. The need for a huge increase in customs and immigration staff.  Where would all these people come from?  How would they be recruited and trained?  The government departments and agencies concerned are already under severe staffing pressures.
3. The need to establish new and extended data processing systems, for example to record and process import duties, agricultural subsidies, immigration data.  And the government’s record with new computer systems is considerably less than inspiring.

In these circumstances, argumentation about when and how much money should be allocated to preparations for a no-deal Brexit would seem somewhat besides the point.