There’s nowhere to hide if you’re a fat kid in the West Midlands at the moment, as the government are trying every tactic in the book to coerce children into exercise at all costs. “Fitness drive for children” reads an article in the Express & Star, heralding a new... Read more...
There are just over 400 jobs in the government sector this week, with a few corkers vying for the non-job of the week. As you can see from the table on the right, the jobs are broken down into government ‘sectors’ and salary bands. The runner up this week... Read more...
John Denham - Communities Secretary and the most surprising success of the June reshuffle - has ordered the Audit Commission to investigate the problem of council 'boomerang bosses'. (BBC News, Telegraph). The local government 'boomerang boss' has become a ubiquitous feature in the TPA's annual Town Hall Rich List, the... Read more...
Today the TaxPayers' Alliance has released a new press release with the Competitive Enterprise Institute attacking the waste of taxpayers' money by the Carbon Trust trying to expand around the world. The Daily Mail have reported the story and written in their leader that, as Gordon Brown is under pressure to identify... Read more...
The Carbon Trust, a British environmental pressure group, is establishing a presence in the United States, underwritten by British taxpayers’ money. The Carbon Trust was created as an independent, but taxpayer funded, company by the British Government in order to encourage firms to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. It... Read more...
The fact that more than 60 per cent of students – a record number – last week secured the grades they needed for their choice of university is a cause for celebration. For those students who received the desired grades, congratulations to them. For those facing clearing, the best of... Read more...
Last Friday the WMTPA hit Stoke for the very first time as TPA activist Russell Booth and I took to the streets of the city to collect signatures in support of our ‘Bring Them to Justice’ campaign, and to recruit new members. Though the weather turned against us, the... Read more...
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (cebr) yesterday gave their assessment of the costs associated with the recent fall in public sector productivity (see here).Needless to say the amounts are staggering. But before turning directly to the figures, let’s put the story in context. The Office for National Statistics... Read more...
TPA supporter John Martin, pictured below, writes for us on the amount of ‘twin hatters’ (those councillors who sit on Norfolk County Council as well as one of the district councils) and explains how they can make a killing in allowances: Why do “twin-hatters” – the name that appears to... Read more...
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the Ministry of Defense has hit a new low. The NAO has refused to sign off the Departments annual accounts due to “insufficient evidence to support the existence" of kit valued at around £6.6bn. The equipment includes £1.25 billion of machineguns, encrypted... Read more...
Today on his blog John Redwood MP discusses the Local Government Association proposals to increase competition and choice in school uniforms, through a series of measures including making school branding and insignia available to convert the affordable clothes found in supermarkets into acceptable school uniforms. Simple free-market measures like these... Read more...
From the off, let me state emphatically that this is not post about domestic violence. Due to its stimulus - a Today programme interview on the subject of domestic violence - some may misinterpret what follows as an attempt to downplay the severity of the problem or marginalise the suffering... Read more...
News reaches us that Wokingham Borough Council and Harrogate Council are looking for new members for their Independent Remuneration Panels. IRPs are citizens panels that recommend what pay and perks councillors receive. They’re your chance to have a say on the type of service your councillors and your council are providing.Recently,... Read more...
There are fewer available public sector jobs on the Guardian website this week. Over the past few weeks we’ve seen around 500 on average, this week slightly less on 420. This week’s non-job of the week beats the runner-up ‘Marketing/Audience Development Manager’ at East Hertfordshire District Council on £28,947 a... Read more...
We were in Hove yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and delivering some of our leaflets as well as a notice to Hove residents about their MP’s expenses. In the expenses expose, Celia Barlow claimed £28,000 on stamp duty, moving costs and renovations. It was a perfect day in the bright south... Read more...
According to an interim report by the NHS Health and Wellbeing Review, NHS staff work absences are affecting patient care. The review, headed up by Dr. Steve Boorman, suggested that high rates of staff sickness and workplace related stress were to blame. The report found that annual NHS sickness levels... Read more...
The road works at Burnt Tree Island are underway despite objections from business leaders and the general public who dubbed the £12.3m project costly and counter-productive and, right from the off, it’s looking as though there may well be another sting in the pocket for taxpayers. Chris Kelly, the Managing... Read more...
The relationship between government spending and economic growth is quite well established, higher spending tends to mean lower growth. A TPA study (PDF) found that Britain's GDP could be £12 billion higher if it weren't for the big increase in spending under the present Government. Dan Mitchell, in a new video... Read more...
Our erstwhile Surrey Organiser Peter Webb has produced yet another outstanding report detailing his campaign activity across the county for June and July. For reference, we publicised the Frater report on our blog here, showing how it exposes the mismanagement rife within Surrey County Council. 4th June County Council election... Read more...
It brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it? Just when taxpayers thought things were looking up for our little involuntary foray into banking, after RBS announced that parts of its business are now in the black earlier this week, they went and did it again. Read more...
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has today released a report on the affect quangos have on schools. Culling some bodies and reforming others would yield savings of over £630 million, according to the CPS. But this is not about simply abolishing quangos to save money; there is an arguably... Read more...
George Osborne once again laid out the Tory’s ‘progressive’ vision for the public sector yesterday. In his speech held at the Blarite think-tank Demos – a calculated choice of venue – the Shadow Chancellor described how the “the torch of progressive politics” has now been passed to the Conservatives. "By... Read more...
News emerged over the weekend of Government plans to ‘head start’ disadvantaged pupils in the scramble for university places (BBC, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph). The plan – to be presented in the Higher Education Framework released in the autumn – will see applicants from schools in disadvantaged areas (high proportions of... Read more...
HMS Royal James - serious cost issues Dateline Woolwich Dockyard - 21 July 1662 - "While the Royal James was bringing towards the dock, we went out and saw the manner and trouble of docking such a ship, which yet they could not do, but only brought her head into... Read more...