Stephen Glover, writing for the Mail, laments the grip of inexperienced politicians on our public services: "The irony is that the professional politician, fixated on power and on a limited but guaranteed financial reward, often turns out not to be a professional at all, but a bumbling amateur who struggles... Read more...
The new, activist-run Worcester TaxPayers’ Alliance have made a splash with their very first story about Worcestershire County Council. The release, about how the county council increased their spending on staff by £44.6M between 1997 and 2007, was the number one headline on this morning’s BBC Radio Hereford &... Read more...
"Poor managers are to be sacked without receiving large payouts and replaced by staff from profit-making companies who would be paid with public money. The NHS will retain ownership of hospital buildings and services but the private firm will "take over" the day to day running of the hospital. Ministers... Read more...
The non-job of the week, from Trafford Council: “Communications and Engagement Officer£33,291 - £35,852 Trafford Council, in Greater Manchester, wants to listen to its communities. Come and help us! We’re looking for an experienced Communications and Engagement Officer to manage the communications unit, based at Trafford Town... Read more...
No avoiding the truth A few days ago, Fujitsu finally decided to walk from the disastrous NHS supercomputer. As BOM readers will recall, fellow main contractor Accenture already walked nearly two years ago. In effect, two major software suppliers have concluded the project can't... Read more...
Still sitting in the shed We've blogged the MOD Chinook fiasco many times. In brief, in 2001 the RAF took delivery of 8 Chinook helicopters at a cost of £259m. But the special purpose bespoke avionics the MOD in its wisdom had ordered were so dysfunctional they couldn't... Read more...
This seems like a pretty good idea to me: If MPs keep giving up powers to Europe they should be paid less So says Peter Lilley MP in a Ten Minute Rule Bill he's presenting to Parliament today. It's true - our Parliament has given the EU control of migration,... Read more...
South West Surrey TPA organiser Peter Webb gives us his branch's update from their May Campaign, including: Mass lobbying of Surrey County Councillors; Attending Councillor meetings to hold them to account; Numerous letters published in the Surrey Advertiser. (See below for a selection of clippings) If... Read more...
The Telegraph reports on a new study by Reform which demonstrates that academic standards in maths have been falling in recent decades: "GCSEs are "considerably" easier than tests sat 50 years ago as questions are simplified to make them more relevant to modern teenagers, it said. Reform, an independent think... Read more...
It’s a great week to be one of the big-wigs at Birmingham City Council or one of its matey quangos as a twenty strong delegation is dispatched to Chicago for the best junket since MIPIM… Less than three months after they sunned themselves in Cannes in the South of... Read more...
There's been a lot of publicity in recent days about Apethorpe Hall (a notable Elizabethan house whose name strongly suggests the resident butler should be a monkey), and English Heritage's forays into property development. Essentially, the Government bought the house with a compulsory purchase order for £3.18 million, English Heritage... Read more...
German businesses have long suffered from high taxes, with the country's payroll tax system among the most burdensome in the world. But, in a novel move, the BDA employers' federation is planning to sue the government to force it to lower rates. From today's FT: "The BDA is targeting the... Read more...
It is reported in the Telegraph today that Conservative MEP Giles Chichester paid almost half-a-million-pounds from his EU expense account in the last ten years to his own family firm. The funds came from his £160,000-a-year staffing allowance paid out to all Members of the European Parliament. In the... Read more...
The European Parliament's commitment to farce continues unabated.The Sunday Times revealed yesterday that a dedicated train service to ferry MEPs from Brussels to Strasbourg will be launched next month, whipping the 732 Euro parliamentarians at high speed between these two centres of EU politics. Each trip will cost the taxpayer... Read more...
The recent termination of Fijutsu's involvement in the NHS's National Programme for IT (NPfIT) will mean yet more delays to this most ill-advised and expensive of government IT projects. Now almost three years behind schedule, and over £ 10 billion pounds over budget, delivery of the NPfIT is now likely... Read more...
The Today Programme had an interesting piece on crime mapping this morning, which you can listen to here. I've written before about the TPA's support for crime mapping - it's a great way to make the police more accountable to the public they are meant to protect and serve, and... Read more...
Last Friday, Matthew Elliott wrote here about the events of the previous seven days as "The week that taxes took centre stage". Opinion polls, speeches from Cameron and Clegg and then the Crewe by-election, fought squarely on the issue of tax, had put taxation at the top of the political... Read more...
This study by Civitas looks excellent: "The police, in their turn complain of central control and ill thought out government policies. All interviews were characterised by a high level of bitterness and frustration. Bonuses are paid to senior officers based on how they comply with targets. As in the NHS... Read more...
"Death rates of patients undergoing major surgery at NHS hospitals are to be published on the internet. [...] Death rates are expected to be at a disproportionately high level in hospitals where fewer operations are performed and surgeons have less opportunity to improve. The government believes publishing the figures will... Read more...
The EU diplomatically supports a two state solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict based on two democratic entities which have secure borders and are at peace with each other. An honourable objective we should all support. Given this objective it is strange that the EU funds groups diametrically opposed to this... Read more...
Can anyone tell me why this is anything other than a crime? Some councils have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds by enforcing unlawful traffic and parking restrictions, the BBC has learned. Fines are said to have been levied despite incorrect road markings and on parking bays which are too... Read more...
An excellent new video from the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity presents the international evidence on flat taxes, listing the 24 countries, from Slovakia to Mauritius, that have adopted low flat rates and showing how economic growth and tax revenues in these countries have soared. It's well worth a watch... Read more...
Roger Helmer, MEP for the East Midlands (Conservative) and a TPA supporter, blogs at http://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/ Imagine that we had an income tax rate of 10% (wishful thinking!), and we reduced the rate to 5%. Chances are tax revenues would fall by roughly half. But what if we had... Read more...
Brace yourself for more money wasted in the NHS on curing consciences rather than curing patients. In an ode to the cult of equality and diversity, enjoy our non-job of the week from the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust: “Head of Equality and Diversity Service Improvement £36,112 - £43,335... Read more...