The evidence is mounting day by day of quite how viciously the public sector trade unions intend to oppose the spending cuts that are now so essential to save the economy. This week so far we have already seen the PCSU civil service union petulantly walk out on strike in... Read more...
A new release from Eurostat shows that industrial production across the eurozone rose by 1.7% in January. In Britain, it fell by 0.3%. That fits with a pattern in recent months of British industrial production having a weaker recovery than that in the eurozone, as is shown in the graph... Read more...
In an interesting series of three lectures given last year at the LSE, Professor Paul Krugman - Nobel laureate, NY Times columnist, and author of The Return of Depression Economics - attempts to explain why we taxpayers should not fret about the build-up of government debt. One of his key... Read more...
New warnings were sounded this morning about public sector pensions. Following our report on the £53 billion hole in council pensions – which are funded – the National Audit Office (NAO) has produced an analysis of unfunded schemes. They look at the four biggest schemes: the civil service; the armed... Read more...
As I walked to work this morning I had to laugh out loud as I saw a small van leaving the Houses of Parliament with this branding on the side: A quick search on Google threw up evidence that this is not the first time these purveyors of truffles and... Read more...
Three reorganised Parish Councils in Solihull have come under attack by the Towns Ratepayers Association and Taxpayers' Alliance activists in the local press. When Residents were asked to vote for a reorganisation of the old Hockley Heath Parish in Solihull into three separate Parishes they could have had no... Read more...
It’s Wednesday once again and we’ve been genuinely spoilt for choice this week as the Guardian jobsite is littered with even more candidates for the non-job title than usual. They’re all plundering the public purse with questionable rationale, but should this week’s “winner” have been the Head of Press... Read more...
In a spat reminiscent of the row over the London 2012 logo, the newly revealed branding for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games has come in for criticism today - for looking too much like some other logo, designed by the same agency a couple of years ago. So games organisers are... Read more...
City AM report (page 4) that Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at Marks & Spencer, has added his voice to the growing chorus calling for spending cuts to happen sooner rather than later: “Our customers, Tesco’s customers, Sainsbury’s customers - they’re not stupid. They know that the UK economy is... Read more...
We know that the private sector has borne the brunt of the recession. We also know that whoever forms the next Government will have to cut spending to ease the vast and growing deficit. So quite how Royal Mail has agreed to a seriously generous pay deal for its workers... Read more...
Brilliant new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity about Sweden's economic history, and why that country's experience is actually more evidence that free market economies produce greater prosperity. Read more...
The Financial Times reports (only available to subscribers) that investment in energy infrastructure is being undermined by uncertainty over policy after the election: "Ernst & Young, the professional services firm, says that in the next three years energy companies must put £35bn-£50bn of investment in power stations, wind farms and... Read more...
‘Lifting the Lid’ – the excellent new report from Big Brother Watch – has exposed the many councils throughout the UK who have installed microchips in the bins of residents. Not only does this pave the way for ‘pay as you throw’ charges, it is also an unwarranted intrusion... Read more...
You may be aware that there's a strike on today, by the PCS Union. Amid great fanfare they have declared that "up to 280,000 workers" may go on strike. This is obviously a potentially disruptive event that will prove costly to ordinary taxpayers, so it's worth briefly considering the politics... Read more...
The TPA have a longstanding campaign for greater transparency in public spending. People have a right to know how their money is being spent. Recently we published a research note showing that many councils have been fighting, with some success, transparency in local government pay. In our report with the... Read more...
The outrage surrounding Lord Ashcroft’s statement that he is a “non-dom” is yet to die down. Many people are furious at the discovery that he is sitting in the House of Lords, voting on laws and taxes, but is not bound by those laws and taxes. He is perfectly entitled... Read more...
Last week I reported the car parking review panel of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council decided to defer making a decision on parking charges for two years. I criticised this as it has not addressed the problem of high parking charges in towns like Beverley. Traders there have complained... Read more...
The University and Colleges Union (UCU) and Compass have released a new report arguing that corporation tax should be increased to replace tuition fees. There are a number of critical flaws in their analysis. Most importantly, they don't deal with the consequences of increasing corporate tax. A CEBR report in... Read more...
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Government in possession of an average idea must be in want of a quango to bring it about in the most costly fashion imaginable. Read more...
New Eurostat growth statistics show that Britain had a significantly worse time in 2009 than eurozone countries did. The strong trampoline back to growth that the Government is relying on, for their plans for the public finances to add up, looks a long way off. GDP Growth, % change compared... Read more...
Too much time spent singing As we've blogged many times, the police are spectacularly inefficient. Detection rates are less than 25% - half what they were in the 60s - there's a wobbling mountain of paperwork, real coppers on the beat have been replaced by Police Community Support Officers... Read more...
After the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the inception of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have followed suit today. Read more...
For a long while it has seemed that local government sector has truly gone down the rabbit hole with Alice. Cutting bin collections to fortnightly is supposedly an improvement in services. A council tax rise to the highest level ever is meant to be good news. Handing massive payoffs to... Read more...
Last Tuesday, I went along to a Carbon Trust event at the Institution of Civil Engineers where they launched a new report about how to avoid carbon leakage due to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). That report has now been released. Carbon leakage occurs when a country puts a... Read more...