The media furore surrounding Brown’s blunder yesterday has yet to subside, and Brown is desperately trying to push the incident to the background declaring "Yesterday is yesterday. Today I want to talk about the future of the economy."Well, these are far wiser words than those uttered in Rochdale; indeed the... Read more...
Stoke-on-Trent City Council have a pretty breathtaking track-record when it comes to frittering away taxpayers’ money and this time they’ve outdone themselves in their collaboration with the local NHS. In a stroke of genius they’ve decided to equip every new council and health worker in the area with a pedometer... Read more...
What happens when government debt goes bad On the morning after the head of the OECD likened the Greek debt crisis to an Ebola Virus sweeping across Europe, I took part in a radio discussion with Stuart Wallis, the head of the New Economics Foundation. All agreed that HMG's deficit must be tackled,... Read more...
There was an interesting item on the Today Programme this morning - the BBC's Mark Easton and Sir Andrew Foster presented new research from the 2020 Public Services Trust which they claim reveals the public's true attitude to public services, localism and public spending. There were a number of key... Read more...
The story of part-time teacher and mum-of-two Chrissi Sharkey has captured the imagination of millions this week. Mrs Sharkey launched a website www.amillionjobstodo.com offering to do odd jobs for £1 in order to save up for her £1m dream home. It’s a heart-warming tale, and one I’m sure that’s got... Read more...
I was on Jeremy Vine's show on Tuesday discussing the Government's bank stakes. Essentially, I argued that those stakes should be sold as soon as possible. Whether or not you supported the bailout to get the banks through the crisis, we don't want the Government in the business of investing... Read more...
The health spokesmen for the three major parties today debated their positions on the Daily Politics. It was like a microcosm of the entire campaign: lots of promises with very little detail of how to pay for them. The closest anyone came was Lib Dem Norman Lamb, who said that... Read more...
A new glut of government positions on the internet today bring with them this week’s non-job, another ambiguous post with a self-consciously ‘modern’ title. More generally, it’s astonishing that of the 384 public sector jobs advertised on the Guardian site today so few relate to practical frontline service delivery and... Read more...
The Guardian has what sounds, in the first paragraph, like a dynamite story about the National Insurance (NI) hike and its potential impact on employment: "Business leaders who backed the Tory campaign against national insurance rises have ignored evidence from their own companies which shows no correlation between employment and... Read more...
My local council’s free newspaper droppedonto my doormat this morning, the front page boasts that the publication –Hackney Today – is “circulated to 108,000 homes and businesses in Hackney”. A little bit of research reveals that thefortnightly rag was “re-launched with a brand new look at the end of 2007…increasing in... Read more...
The IFS are distinctly unimpressed by the parties' fiscal plans. Robert Chote said in his opening remarks at their election briefing: Repairing the public finances will be the defining domestic policy task of the next government. For the voters to be able to make an informed choice in this election,... Read more...
During the Daily Politics debate between the parties' business spokesmen (available online soon apparently), there was some discussion about what has happened to British manufacturers in recent years. I thought it might help to lay out some of the facts so that you can get an idea of the pattern... Read more...
The IFS has today said that no party goes anywhere near close enough to detailing the cuts that they will need to reduce the deficit. Real detail in cuts should be spelled out to the British public, who are intelligent and mature enough to handle and debate them, in order... Read more...
I have posted here and here about East Riding Council’s decision to award Sue Lockwood’s pension fund a discretionary payment of £364,205. On Tuesday 13 April the cabinet made a final decision to go ahead with the award. Ms Lockwood will take early retirement from the council with the taxpayer... Read more...
The political world was rocked over the weekend by an entirely predictable expression of self-interest from a group of wealthy people seeking to continue to receive large amounts of money. Yes, the Observer played host to a letter signed by what it described as the "UK's leading actors", including Harry... Read more...
The provisional estimate of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010, at just 0.2 per cent, suggests Britain is having a weak recovery from the recession. Even if the figures are later revised up, it is unlikely there will be a significant improvement on the 0.4 per cent recorded... Read more...
The WMTPA were contacted by a concerned activist regarding a story in the press about her local chief fire officer who has changed his title in order to take advantage of a loophole and avoid paying tax on his hefty pension payout. Paul Hayden, of the Hereford & Worcester... Read more...
A new release from Eurostat shows the scale of Britain's borrowing compared to the rest of Europe. There are provisos on the figures from Greece, but the big picture is that in 2009 we had the highest deficit of any country not already taking sharp measures to cut spending (Ireland)... Read more...
New statistics on the public finances out today from the ONS contain another revision down of borrowing in 2009-10. They put public sector net debt at £890 billion at the end of March. Or £771.6 billion for the "excluding financial interventions" figure, down from the £776.6 billion given in Budget... Read more...
Ring-fencing budgets is a bad idea. It's inflexible and means you are stuck to commitments even if there is a change in external conditions. It's a politically expedient way of showing commitment, but often does not get to the root of problems. The International Policy Network (IPN) has today released... Read more...
It’s Wednesday, and a plethora of public sector organisations are appealing for new media and marketing executives to join their ranks as the Guardian jobs site was reloaded with new taxpayer-funded positions. Within the thicket of media manager, communications expert and PR advisor roles however, there are some even... Read more...
An interesting article in Public Finance magazine highlights two very important issues in healthcare. The first is targets. In the article, Carol Propper from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation (CMPO) says that targets in the NHS should remain, and that any party in power after the election should... Read more...
After months of restraint Sandwell Council have buckled and decided resume collecting nice new shiny things with our money. This time it’s not a garish arcade masquerading as an arts centre or a four star US holiday for their chief exec but it is similar in its relative uselessness. ... Read more...
There are two stories currently dominating the headlines: The unpredictable general election and the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which has caused chaos to European airspace.The timing of events has provided a sharp reminder of just how mobile Britons are. Transport policy, unlike health or education, is rarely centre stage... Read more...