The Police Federation of England and Wales will make a complaint to Parliament that they are unable to properly respond to all 999 calls that come in because they are too preoccupied with drunken violence. However, their claim is that the problem is not too many drunks on the streets,... Read more...
By 2050 Ed Miliband will be more than eighty years old and no longer in government. The new 80% target for greenhouse gas emission cuts is therefore not a standard that he will be judged by. It is just a way of striking a pose, and an absurd one. Since... Read more...
A report by the Centre for Cities has confirmed what we might have already assumed, that Birmingham business is ‘drowning in a sea of complex and Government-backed support organisations’. An article about the report appeared in the Birmingham Post at the end of last week, detailing how firms looking... Read more...
The Telegraph reports an incredible gap in educational performance between more and less affluent areas: "Figures from the Tories show just 3.3 per cent of teenagers in one area of Bradford, which includes the deprived Holme Wood estate, left school in 2007 with five A* to C grades including England... Read more...
The Telegraph's headline says it all: "Government cuts train overcrowding with new definition". Basically, the Government have trebled the number of people standing, per sitting passenger, that it takes for a train to be defined as 'overcrowded'. That way they can cut 'overcrowding' without any actual increase in capacity. ... Read more...
The fallout from the financial crises is beginning to bite in the public sector, with news that many jobs and initiatives will be lost. The Times is reporting that up to 10,000 jobs could be lost in the Ministry of Justice, as the department tries to locate £900 million in... Read more...
While people across the UK are spending less on luxury items in these economically troubled times, the NHS has found a way to spend more. £400,000 more to be exact. The East Yorkshire NHS Trust have proposed buying a £400,000 yacht to promote an unconventional education program that will take... Read more...
Powys Council and others, sadly, have taken the drastic step of turning street lights off during the night to save money as well as energy. Despite the best of intentions, a story in the Daily Express today – not online – reveals some unfortunate unintended consequences. The effects of... Read more...
This week’s non-job was always going to be pretty serious seeing as one in four councils lost millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in failing Icelandic banks. Inflation reached the benchmark of 5.2%, meaning if councils want to increase council tax at the rate of inflation they will be capped... Read more...
The Times reports that SATs are going to be scrapped: "National school testing for 14-year-olds in England is to be scrapped as part of a major shake up of testing in primary and secondary education, the Government announced today. Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said that Key Stage 3 National... Read more...
The Highways Agency have caused a stir by confirming that they will be taking almost half of the office space at the much anticipated The Cube building when it opens in 2010. The Cube is the final stage of the high-end Mailbox development, which also boasts many restaurants, luxury... Read more...
The Telegraph reports on another Government data loss scandal: "Last week the Ministry of Defence said a computer hard drive with the private details of 100,000 members of Army, Royal Navy and RAF personnel, of all ranks, had gone missing from the premises of contractor EDS in Hook, Hampshire. Defence... Read more...
News broke yesterday that another disgraceful and dangerous loss of data had taken place at the MoD. The personal details of up to 1.7 million people who had applied to join the armed forces have been stolen. Even more astoundingly, particularly for a military department, it's "unlikely" that the data... Read more...
The Telegraph reports today that inflation will reach 5%. With an interest rate cut, you could expect that. The reason I point this out in this news cycle to trump all news cycles is that we’ve recently been lobbying council leaders to advocate an absolute freeze in council tax rates... Read more...
We often draw attention to the way that some people get rewarded for doing a bad job - which is bad enough - but there is another, even more unjust, side to Government in play, too: punishing people for doing a good job. A prime example is in the news... Read more...
Northumberland County Council, who lost £23 million of taxpayers’ money in Icelandic banks, is having a Public Question Time at on Wednesday, 5 November 2008 at 4.00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Morpeth. Please visit this link for details about putting your question to the Council leader... Read more...
Since we issued a call to action for our supporters and activists to hold the council leaders who had lost your money in Icelandic banks as well as those London councils who opposed a tax freeze, we’ve had a few responses from London council leaders opposed to the rise. ... Read more...
If only a few more people had listened As we understand it, our £37bn bank equity injection will be on significantly less favourable terms than Warren Buffett's deal with Goldman Sachs. As BOM readers will know, for his $5bn, wily old Warren got preference shares paying a 10%... Read more...
Yesterday saw my first contribution to ConservativeHome's Local Government blog - who have kindly invited me to write a weekly column on local government finance. You can read my first article here. Each week we'll be picking up an example of good or bad practice, waste, innovation, inefficiency, mismanagement or... Read more...
Having been caught out appallingly by the collapse of Iceland's banks, councils and the Local Government Association have been reaching for the fat file marked "excuses" with a vengeance over the last few days. Given the range and variety of excuses and buck passing that's going on, we thought it... Read more...
We might have expected fuzzy concepts like 'happiness economics', and the idea that economic growth is overrated, would be dropped as the economic crisis bites and more tangible concerns return to the foreground of British politics. However, the BBC asks whether "with so many political certainties being shredded, perhaps there... Read more...
How bad is all this going to get for UK taxpayers?We've already taken on a huge stack of bank debt - provenance unknown - and now we're heading into the worst recession since the 30s. Public spending will soar and tax revenues will plummet, racking up public debt way beyond... Read more...
How you can help in the fight for lower council tax George Osborne had barely sat down after committing the Tories to freezing council tax for two years when 16 London councils rushed out to denounce the proposed freeze. So it’s up to us to fight for a freeze... Read more...
Below you will find all the councils who lost your money in Icelandic banks. You will also find the contact details of the leaders of the respective councils. Have our 10 Per Cent Challenge to hand when you write to them, telling them where they can cut spending so they... Read more...