One of the main reasons taxpayers are opposed to identity cards is the sheer cost of them and the potential spiralling cost to administer a scheme that may well not work as well as the politicians foresee. Is it any wonder we suspect the costs will grow when the... Read more...
Hard-working activists in Hertfordshire have dug up some superb taxpayer-funded non-jobs in the area. Just a few from their campaign site include: £42,000 for a ‘Head of Community Empowerment’ at the Watford Community Housing Trust. The job description reads: “You will work with our tenant and leaseholder members... Read more...
Residents in Fenton, Stoke-On-Trent, have been wondering (rightly) what on earth they pay their council taxes for as they now have to drag their heavy wheelie bins to end of the uneven and cobbled alley behind their houses as the council has changed its collection policy (The Sentinel). One... Read more...
Congratulations to Peter Webb and the South West Surrey TPA branch. TPA South West Surrey Organiser Peter Webb hit the front page of the Surrey Times with comment on his local MP’s expenses. This is how our branches are expanding their campaigns. Peter has been working to recruit taxpayers... Read more...
The Adam Smith Institute have published an excellent study (PDF) on the vitally important subject of welfare reform. It shows how the US has managed to fight poverty by getting people into work. In stark contrast, Britain's over-complicated welfare system masks incentives and tries to spend the poor out of... Read more...
A report published by the Cambridge Primary Review, the biggest inquiry into primary education for decades, has found that the National Literacy Strategy has had almost no impact on children's reading skills. The research was carried out by academics at the universities of Bristol and Durham and the National Foundation... Read more...
Buiness Link West Midlands, a quango ‘whose visibility in the business world is poor’ now has its own staff revolting in opposition to it wasting taxpayers' money (Birmingham Post). Despite staff contracts stating that the organisation will remain in the Black Country, the wheels are in motion for a... Read more...
We are about to be hearing a lot more about The Public, the vastly over budget arts centre in West Bromwich that has been nicknamed the ‘pink elephant’ by detractors. From today it has a new captain at the helm who is attempting to steer it towards a successful... Read more...
An excellent blog over at An Englishman's Castle (via Devils Kitchen) explains that the report that too much red meat is giving us all cancer is massively overblown: "I have actually downloaded the report , all 537 pages of it. It is a vast data dredge. I have failed to... Read more...
Because I'm worth it Lord Falconer is scuffling with Gordon Brown over how much money we taxpayers will be forced to shell out to keep him in comfortable retirement. Brown's offering £50 grand pa: Falconer's demanding £100 grand. They'll be meeting in court.Meanwhile, the head of the Post Office- yes,... Read more...
Apparently it is Threatening Schools Week. Yesterday the Charities Commission threatened to remove charitable status from private schools they didn't think were doing enough to help poorer students. Today the Telegraph reports that Gordon Brown is threatening to close schools that don't reach a sufficient standard in GCSE results. ... Read more...
In what appears to be at least a partial climbdown, the Government is considering re-introducing a capital gains tax retirement relief of £100,000 for small businessmen who sell up and retire. The Times reports: "Three weeks after Mr Darling announced his plan for a single 18 per cent rateof capital... Read more...
It is reported in the Birmingham Post today that Birmingham City Council are looking to sponsor a proposed ‘media festival’ to the tune of at least £150,000. Read more...
The Telegraph reports that the Charities Commission are threatening to get tough with private schools who they believe don't provide sufficient benefit to poor students: "Charity officials may carry out snap inspections of independent schools to make sure they are benefiting poor pupils, it has emerged. They will have the... Read more...
The think tank Reform has released an updated version of its important report on the IPOD generation. This time, it focuses on government policies, or lack of them, to deal with the central problem that young poeple are facing - higher taxes to deal with an ageing population, but no... Read more...
A morbid and depressing display... funded by taxpayers Meet Alison Goulding. She has "five tellies - including a £1,000 widescreen - a hi-fi, Sky TV, two Play-Station 2s and four DVD players. Her huge garden boasts a full-size trampoline, two sets of swings and FIVE mountain bikes. She also has... Read more...
Better value at 40p "More than £50,000 has been spent on the famous "red boxes" used by government ministers over the past few years, according to an MP's survey.Prices of the boxes, which are used to store government papers securely, ranged from £385 to £750 each." (BBC: HTP Heather)The biggest... Read more...
Margarent McCartney's article in the Financial Times on superbugs is well worth reading. In particular, this section gets at how the inexperience and lack of subject knowledge associated with political management is crucial to the failure to control hospital infections: "Politicians are tackling MRSA with campaigning zeal. Gordon Brown has... Read more...
Consultants don't do flood defences In the news this week:Defra blows another £1.1bn on consultants- "Vital flood defence funding was cut while ministers spent a record £1 billion on management consultants... Defra spent £140million on consultants in 2002-3, reaching £290 million in 2006-7. It has spent £1.1 billion since 2002.... Read more...
Yesterday a council instructed a community-aware couple not to tend to a grass verge by their house because it prevented council staff from ‘monitoring’ when it needed to be cut. Today Oakley and Deane Parish Council have ordered residents not to feed the ducks because, and I never knew this,... Read more...
Leggett's article for Comment is Free is so idiotic it is positively painful. I'll fisk it and then quickly conclude with a little examination of his dubious byline: "When Britain and Germany raced to scale up their aircraft industries for war in the 1930s, the British competed rather well. Recovering... Read more...
How to get shameless workshy dole recipients back to work and earning their own keep is one of the oldest problems in welfare. Indeed, it was the principal driver for the Poor Law reforms of the 1830s (see this blog and James Bartholomew's outstanding Welfare State We're In for... Read more...
Still-rising levels of truancy, reported today by the Independent, are a result of the failure of an education system under political mangement. There are a few key failures at work here. 1) Children haven't learn to read Poor literacy standards mean that a child will often find the... Read more...
Around 40 TPA supporters and activists joined us last night at the Old Monk Pub for the first London area social. We had a great turnout, allowing the TPA staff to meet our activists working so hard campaigning for lower taxes and better government. It was also a good opportunity... Read more...