The news today that Abu Qatada, "Bin Laden's right hand man in Europe", and several of his fellow extremists are not only still in Britain but are being paid compensation for the inconvenience of their detention, have caused understandable disgust. Let us be clear. Qatada hates Britain and everything it... Read more...
This morning TPA supporters joined up with the West London Residents Association and Guide Dogs for the Blind to protest against an expensive and potentially dangerous experiment about to take place in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The protest was to oppose the plans... Read more...
So Birmingham City Council are looking to freeze council tax at 1.9% this year and plan to keep it there right up until 2018 whilst pursuing an “aggressive cost-cutting programme aimed at eliminating waste”. But while many will view this as good news, it still begs the question, if BCC... Read more...
The grassroots campaign was out and about in Morden, South London, today, with a protest outside Merton Council’s town hall. Armed with our new leaflets, some excellent grassroots placards and the grit and determination to see our council tax cut, we met and talked to Londoners who overwhelmingly... Read more...
It has been a busy week for education correspondents. From Professor Smith's outspoken criticism of the Government's new science diplomas, to news that Ed Ball's 'National Challenge' scheme is nothing more than empty words, the Government Departments responsible for education have been much in the news. Here is a round... Read more...
Last week it was reported that Whitehall would have to pay an additional £4 million to enable the new Welsh Courts computer system to translate documents into Welsh, on top of the £444 million already spent. There are several questions here. The first, and most obvious, is why Welsh translation... Read more...
"Widely thought to be failing students and contributing to the nation's high levels of crime and unemployment, schools had become smothered by a large and inefficient bureaucracy. Decision makers were removed from the consequences of their choices. Teachers - whose pay was divorced completely from performance - rationally made decisions... Read more...
It was reported today that the Great Western Hospital in Swindon has hired two smoking wardens on up to £15,000 a year to police the hospital gorunds and stop people lighting up in the grounds. The first and most important problem is that this is a blatant misallocation of... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has welcomed the Conservatives’ new green paper on local government, which propose greater powers for local people over council tax levels and the way councils are run, improved transparency in local government spending and the effective abolition of the Regional Development Agencies. Matthew... Read more...
I suppose that by now it should no longer be surprising to see yet another ridiculous criminal offence introduced, but this one did give me a bit of a shock. From today it is arguably illegal to take a photograph of a police officer. Yet again, whilst our laws... Read more...
Today, Harry Phibbs, on ConservativeHome, posted a list of 100 ways to cut the Council Tax without cutting services. The options include ideas for cost-cutting from advertising to street lighting to libraries. It is great to see such realistic and reasonable ideas laid out. We need to see these... Read more...
...they continue to dish them out themselves. I have lost count of the number of times that Gordon Brown and other Ministers have said this week that the bankers who drove their companies to destruction should not be "rewarded for failure". It's an admirable sentiment, and one we have been... Read more...
Down at the site office waiting for Darling's blank cheque We've blogged PFI many times (start here and see all previous posts gathered here). In theory, it could be a good deal for taxpayers, because instead of trying to build and maintain hospitals and schools itself, the government gets private... Read more...
The attendance records of Wolverhampton city councillors are available on The Stirrer website today and while some councillors are clearly very active in representing their electorate, there are others who are putting in the bare minimum of effort in exchange for their allowances. If you’d like to see how... Read more...
When Advantage West Midlands granted £25,000 to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to improve the image of Cheadle (The Sentinel), the most obvious first move was to hire in expensive marketing and tourism experts, Juice Marketing, to consult on the town’s new image. But now the publicity materials are out the... Read more...
It has been reported today that Brighton and Hove health trust are piloting a scheme to stop children as young as ten from smoking. So, what's the bright idea? Give them £10-£15 in cash or shopping vouchers. Now, we may be in the grip of a recession but it occurs to... Read more...
The excellent and ardent reformer Daniel Hannan MEP declared earlier this week that "Criticism of MPs' expenses has gone too far" in the wake of the Jacqui Smith controversy. Needless to say, almost, but I disagree. Daniel's particular criticism is of the idea that the fact that wheezes such... Read more...
According to the Shrewsbury Chronicle, Shropshire County Council has left a £310,000 sensory bus for people with learning difficulties idle for no less than three years due to interdepartmental bumbling. The bus went out of service back in 2006 when the council’s only HGV driver went on long term... Read more...
From the table opposite showing the number of government jobs on offer, you’d be amazed to hear rumours this morning that unemployment will be confirmed at two million later today. But alas, that’s unemployment in the engine of our economy, the private sector. You know, it’s the sector that makes... Read more...
Until recently there were three roughly distinct sectors to the UK economy; the public, the private and the Orwellian sounding 'third' (consisting of charities and other non-profit groups). Political enthusiasm for out-sourcing services, the financial crisis and a current taste for bail-outs have, over time, come to blur the lines... Read more...
Polly Toynbee's article in today's Guardian starts out with a lot of rhetoric about "rottweilers" and "insidious poison". She writes as if we're Britain's only political campaign. In reality, there are a multitude of groups campaigning on every issue under the sun. While we are proud of our work, the reason... Read more...
Yesterday, Chris Whittington, one of our Worcester TPA activists and Chairman of Cropthorne Parish Council received an email from Wychavon District Council to herald the arrival of wheelie bins to his area. Unfortunately, Chris’ reply caused something of a sense of humour bypass at WDC (though it’s achingly close... Read more...
Today the Telegraph reports that nine out of ten parents want to see the SATs system scrapped: "More than 85 per cent said exams for 11-year-olds should be abolished, said the study. The majority want them to be replaced by a system of teacher assessment - when staff judge... Read more...
First Whitehall-wide report on flights spending reveals that last year a total of over £18.5 million was spent on flights by Government departments. More than half - £10.6 million - went on first class and business class seats. The total bill for public sector flights, including quangos... Read more...