The PCSO Problem
PCSO "Steve" - here to help, unless you're drowning... The tragic story of the 10 year-old boy who drowned in a pond whilst two Police Community Support... Read more...
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Ashford Council's waste habit
A supporter in Kent keeps us informed with a constant stream of information on local government waste and mismanagement. She completes the hat-trick over Ashford Borough Council this week with yet another instance of overspending, this time highlighting Ashford Council’s £80,000+ legal fees. In a Freedom of Information request... Read more...
Democracy coming to a Parish near you?
We reported recently on the local parish referendum down in Devon on the EU referendum, and the results are in. Ninety percent voted in favour of holding a referendum on the EU constitution and now other parishes are looking to hold their own local polls on the EU constitution. ... Read more...
Cult Of Amateur Delivers Northern Wreck
The Labour dominated Treasury Select Committee had a simple job yesterday- to stick responsibility for the Northern Rock debacle on Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England. Darling and Brown clearly wanted that, and so too did the City banks, who have been running a well orchestrated campaign... Read more...
Getting into the top universities
The Sutton Trust reports (PDF) that state school pupils do not have the same chance of getting into top universities even if they have the same grades as a student from a private school. It is important to understand that this doesn't necessarily mean that the universities are discriminating. ... Read more...
The "rich" are merely those who earn more than MPs
An interesting piece from the Scotsman points out that while the Liberal Democrats plan to hammer "rich" households earning more than £70,000, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell earns £60,227 as an MP: "SIR Menzies Campbell yesterday pledged to "hammer" households earning more than £70,000 with higher taxes. "The... Read more...
Not Me Guv Government
He's to blame Do you remember "joined-up government"? No, don't scream. Labour's slogan said that government under the hopelessboomandbust Tories operated in silos- they would join it up again to servethemanynotthefew.You remember that?The real world has turned out to be a tad more problematic.For one thing, just bunging everything together... Read more...
Britain falls in international education league tables
The Times reports another international comparison that shows failure in British education. It uses exam results which there is good reason to think significantly overestimate standards in British schools due to pupils being taught to the test. The real picture could be much worse: Read more...
Poems on 'The Public' by David Bartley
Black Country poet and West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance supporter David Bartley has written some poetry inspired by the unopened £70 million eye-sore, ‘The Public’ arts centre in West Bromwich, summing up the general feeling about the building around the Sandwell area… Please don’t forget - you can still sign... Read more...
Non-job of the Week
When Islington Council has in the past been responsible for such bright wheezes as using £400,000 of taxpayers’ money to clean up graffiti and then offering free classes to local teenagers in graffiti techniques, and employing a Recycling Education Officer at £30,000 a year, it is not necessarily surprising that... Read more...
Mela organisers demand £34k from Birmingham City Council
Testament to how generous Birmingham City Council are known to be with their (our) cash, the organisers of July’s Banga Mela Festival in Handsworth Park – the Bangladesh Community Trust – are trying their luck and appealing to be reimbursed by the council for a £34,000 loss on the event... Read more...
Restrictive surgery hours costs business £1 billion every year
The Times reports a new survey showing the cost to Britain of time off to visit the doctor. "The Confederation of British Industry said yesterday that the cost to the economy caused by restricted surgery times and problems booking appointments was more than £1 billion. The CBI argues that patients... Read more...
Public see little prospect of improvement in the public services
The Financial Times reports a decline in the numbers expecting improvements in the public services: "On public services generally, those who believe things will get worse outnumber those who believe they will get better by 22 percentage points, against 13 in May." The public are probably right. Politicians don't yet... Read more...
Primary Care System in Need of Urgent Reform
The health service exists not for the doctors it employs but for the patients who fund it. This seems a pretty uncontroversial statement, yet when 90% of GPs have chosen to make themselves unavailable to patients outside the weekday hours of 8am to 6.30pm whilst enjoying an average salary of... Read more...
Blank Cheque
So just what are we taxpayers on the hook for? What exactly has the government's panic bank deposit guarantee announcement exposed us to (see this blog)?Having trawled through the papers and official websites this morning, it's entirely unclear what's actually been agreed. The official HM Treasury merely repeats Darling's TV... Read more...
Taxpayers introducing local democracy
A local Dorset campaign group has used UK legislation to stage its own ‘parish referendum’ on the EU constitution. From the BBC: “Villagers in Dorset are using part of UK legislation to stage a referendum on the EU Treaty. Demands for a national ballot on the treaty... Read more...
Zac Goldsmith responds to his critics
Goldsmith’s response to his critics has more than a whiff of desperation. He starts out by separating bans and regulations in an attempt to portray the report as containing little of either: “Reports that we want to ban Plasma screens are wrong. We want to encourage plasmas that are less... Read more...
Beyond Parody
So that's what the non-jobbers do all day... Read more...
A wheelie bad waste in Ashford
Ashford Borough Council, fresh after wasting thousands of pounds initiating a public consultation on graffiti (that’s street art to the politically correct), is now wasting thousands of pounds of taxpayers money buying bicycles and accessories for council staff to urge them to 'go green'. Council staff will then buy back... Read more...
Weekly Waste Watch- 74
Let's just keep this between ourselves In the news this week-Labour's union sweetheart deal costs us £4.468bn- "The cost to business of Labour's backroom deals with its union backers now runs into the billions... the true cost of the so-called Warwick Agreement, signed by Tony Blair to secure £8m of... Read more...
COMING SOON! - THE MUST-HAVE NOVELTY GAME OF THE PARTY CONFERENCE SEASON
In time for the start of the conference season, the week after next, the TaxPayers' Alliance will be releasing the must-have accessory for all hacks and political junkies - Political Trumps! Every politician has been rated on their media skills, scandal avoidance and integrity by a panel of political... Read more...
Yours!
Congratulations! If you're a taxpayer you're now effectively the proud owner of Northern Rock's mortgage book.Northern Rock has been a crisis waiting to break. They have been just about the most aggressive mortgage lender: they have been lending at very high income multiples, and they have been prepared to top... Read more...
Tower Shamlets at it again...
From this morning’s Metro newspaper: “Two white councillors have hit out after being excluded from a meeting because of their colour. Peter Golds and Stephanie Eaton said they were outraged at not being asked to take part in the focus group at Tower Hamlets Council in East London.... Read more...
TPA ignites tax debate in Norwich
The TPA has today scored a success in Norwich. The Norwich Evening News has printed a selection of our ‘rapid reaction’ letters to the news fed to us by TPA activist Barbara Lockwood. We thought it disgraceful that Norwich City Council spent over £300,000 of taxpayers’ money in a... Read more...