Mark Wallace talks to Friction TV about the 10 per cent tax rate
From Friction TV: (if the video does not display try clicking the link to go and watch it on Friction TV's website) Read more...
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Non-job of the week
Croydon’s residents have just been handed a 4% Council Tax increase. Where’s it going…on the bonfire of non-jobs, of course: “Senior Internal Communications Officers x2, LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON £28,524 to £30,603 If so, the London Borough of Croydon could be the place for you. With seven... Read more...
Quango Board of the Week: Week Three
Getting artsy this week, it’s the turn of Culture West Midlands. Who? Well you pay for them so you should probably know who they are: Read more...
TPA Interviews...John Redwood MP
John Redwood, MP for Wokingham, has been prominent in the field of centre right politics since his days as Margaret Thatcher's Chief Policy Officer, championing privatisation around the world. Since then he has been a cabinet minister, shadow minister and author - and is also one of Britain's leading blogging... Read more...
'We need more consultants' say the BMA
The Telegraph reports a BMA call for more consultants in the NHS. This is supported by research finding that consultants, the most senior and experienced doctors, produce better results in a number of areas. No one is going to dispute that, it seems pretty obvious that if your doctors... Read more...
Tax evasion vs. tax avoidance
Tax evasion is rightly a crime and honest taxpayers should not have to subsidise a criminal minority. Equally, there are sensible measures - such as simplifying the tax system - that can be taken to reduce the extent to which people can plan their way around tax (and reduce the... Read more...
More evidence that dysfunctional public sector management contributes to the hospital infections crisis
Stories today, and over the weekend, illustrate how the problems with public sector management undermine attempts to keep hospitals clean and hygienic and control scandalous levels of hospital infection. There is no reason to trust politicians to deliver high quality healthcare. Control needs to be returned to professionals and patients... Read more...
Youth crime up
"The figures show that over the past decade the number of persistent young offenders (PYOs) in England and Wales has jumped by two-thirds from 9,868 in 1997 to 16,512 in 2007. A persistent young offender is defined as "a young person aged 10 to 17 years old who has been... Read more...
Number of NHS complaints increases
The Telegraph reports a big increase in the number of complaints about the NHS: "The Healthcare Commission, the independent watchdog, investigated more than 10,000 cases last year. Complaints included cases of patients left in soiled bedding and allegations about rude nurses.The commission upheld 20 per cent of complaints, more than... Read more...
Enron Debt Ticker
Looks like more bad news... ...public sector pensions now costing £21bn pa... As we know, most public sector pensions are unfunded- ie unlike private sector pensions, they have no backing assets and must be be paid as they come due out of current taxation. According to the latest... Read more...
Tackling inequality
There is room for debate on whether reducing inequality is a proper goal for government. Too often attempts to tackle inequality substitute petty attacks on 'the rich' (usually the middle classes are the ones actually affected) for meaningful attempts to help the poor. However, as reducing inequality has been a... Read more...
Chemists To Replace GPs
Pharmacists have never had it so good Listening to the commissars' latest wheeze for dumbing down the NHS - getting pharmacists to replace GPs - you have to guess they don't visit many chemists. Judging from the queues and the waits, many chemists have problems simply dealing with their... Read more...
Snape in the grass
The Noble Lord Snape, former railwayman and MP, has rushed to the defence of speaker Michael Martin, calling the inquiry into his wife’s £4,000 taxi bill a “load of fuss and nonsense about nothing”. He states his position clearly in an interview with the BBC, which you can see... Read more...
Quango Board of the Week: Week Two
This week we bring you the management board of West Midlands in Europe, and you can rest assured - there are some familiar names in here... Read more...
Non-job of the week
Although we regularly highlight non-jobs in local government, and we will this week, this week’s non-job of the week is going to be a little bit different. We maintain through our campaigns that we want taxpayers’ money to go to the frontline. Our reports have exposed the growth in middle... Read more...
Speaker to be investigated over expenses
Further to our complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner back in February, it has today been confirmed that Michael Martin is to be investigated over expenses claimed by his wife for taxi trips to the supermarket. You can read the full letter from the Commissioner here: Download michael_martin_1.jpg ... Read more...
(Un)happy Red Tape Day
Despite public services, managed by politicians, failing in so many areas politicians are still trying to further their control over the rest of us. The rate at which new regulations are imposed is even increasing - hurting Britain's competitiveness and creating endless new frustrations: "Red Tape Day looms this week... Read more...
The beginning of the end for AWM..?
Today’s Birmingham Post heralds new Government plans to take funding decisions away from mother-quango Advantage West Midlands and pass powers over to our local councils. At first glance it looks as though a “senate” of West Midlands councils will replace the agency altogether, but it seems that they would... Read more...
Dispatches from the frontline: Protest in St Albans
14 TPA Activists gathered on Monday morning to protest with Steve Peers, who was taken to court over £65 non-payment of Council Tax. This isn’t the first time he’s withheld council tax either. He was sent to prison back in January, on his 40th birthday no less, for non-payment... Read more...
Slim-Fast Crock
So does the newly published Crock Restructuring Plan finally bring some comfort for taxpayers? The basic idea is that NR will go on a crash diet, slimming from total assets of £107bn at end-2007, to £49bn by end-2011. That will be achieved by encouraging existing mortgagees to switch... Read more...
NHS Blog Doctor's misleading attack on the Town Hall Rich List
NHS Blog Doctor's attack on the Town Hall Rich List 2008 and the TaxPayers' Alliance is a mix of ignorance and irrelevance. Little more than a dishonest and misleading smear. First, he makes the startling discovery that the TaxPayers' Alliance thinks tax is a bad thing. That with the... Read more...
Cllr J P Floru: Celtic Tiger through tax cuts, not EU subsidies
Dr. Terence Kealey (Vice Chancellor of Buckingham University) recently explained on Radio 4’s PM programme that Ireland is now wealthier than the UK. Indeed, Ireland’s per capita income is $38,504; the UK’s is $33,238. It is probably for the first time ever that Ireland is wealthier than the UK. ... Read more...
More spending fails to boost proportion of young people going to university
Our Budget 2008 Report (PDF), released shortly before the Budget, set out how a range of public services - particularly education, health and law and order - had achieved very little improvement in standards despite vast increases in funding. What these services need isn't yet more resources but to be... Read more...
Town Hall Rich List 2008
The second Town Hall Rich List provides details of over 800 local authority employees with remuneration packages of at least £100,000 for the periods 2005-06 and 2006-07, including 14 earning more than the Prime Minister.Click here to read the report Read more...