One new all-time record coming up This week Mr Darling buried the fiscal rules, telling us:"To apply the fiscal rules in a rigid manner today would be perverse. We would have to take money out of the economy, exacerbating an already difficult situation."Of course, he's attacking a straw man -... Read more...
Via Tim Worstall, the Telegraph reports that NICE, the body that decides which drugs the NHS will provide, is insisting that it shouldn't be made to pay costs having lost a legal case to keep the details of how it reaches its decisions secret: "Mr Dillon added: "Nice has... Read more...
67% say we are now paying the price for government overspending in the good years Big majority (59%) see tax cuts as a better response to recession than higher spending 67% think that Gordon Brown should follow the example of Ireland’s President and volunteer to take a 10%... Read more...
The Lib Dem controlled Northampton Borough councillors this week voted to pass themselves a 7.7% pay increase for all councillors. The leader of the council voted himself a 43% pay increase. Yes, you read that right, a forty-three-per-cent pay increase. The deputy leader gets a 64% increase. All cabinet members... Read more...
This morning The Stirrer website has revealed that Steve Gregory, the Executive Director of Urban Regeneration at Sandwell Council, has been given early retirement at 50 as well as a bumper retirement package of £375,000 just weeks after being suspended in suspicious circumstances.Read the whole story on The Stirrer website... Read more...
...so here's a taxpayer point of view on the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross/Manuel from Fawlty Towers saga. Let's be honest: this is a ridiculous situation. The economy's in crisis, Government borrowing is going through the roof, violent crime is 22% higher than previously admitted and the Congo is exploding again but... Read more...
Last week the head of AQA - one of the UK's biggest exam boards - broke ranks with his rivals to criticise the incessant dumbing down of school qualifications. As the Times and Guardian report, Dr Mike Cresswell's comments follow a public spat between AQA and the new exams... Read more...
An overwhelming majority of people in the North East said an empathic ‘no’ to the North East Regional Assembly back in 2004. Since then, the government haven’t dared to put any other Assemblies up to a public vote, showing how unpopular and unwanted these White Elephants are. These unelected Quangos... Read more...
Those of you who took The Sunday Times this weekend may have noticed that Advantage West Midlands - impervious to the credit crunch - were advertising for yet another highly paid and completely unaccountable executive to join their ranks of 300+, and to help dole out the £350million taxpayer-funded budget... Read more...
The government's line is that entirely out of the blue we've been hit by a tsunami from across the Atlantic. It's an act of God, and the "responsible" thing now is to throw up a mountain of public borrowing in the hope we can clamber above the waterline.But despite the... Read more...
Finally, the financial realities of Gordon Brown's proposed "eco-towns" are coming to light. This weekend, the Department of Communities and Local Government announced that only two of their initial 10 planned eco-towns are still feasible. Environmentally friendly communities and housing projects are both noble ideas in concept; however, eco-towns... Read more...
The Government have recently committed to increase their legally-binding pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 60 per cent to 80 per cent of the 1990 level by 2050. This will be included in the climate change bill, which will get its third reading on October 28th. Setting such a... Read more...
As we've blogged already, having crashed through its own 40% debt ceiling, the government is now grasping at some OECD debt statistics which seem to show them in a more favourable light. Lord Adonis did precisely that on last week's BBC Any Questions, telling us that the OECD figures... Read more...
A special cabinet meeting is taking place at Wolverhampton City Council today to decide whether the new Tory-Lib Dem coalition should follow through with the plans of the previous (and disastrous) Labour administration by spending £66million of taxpayers’ cash on a deal with private consultancy firm, Axon. If these... Read more...
This is the follow on from the earlier Centre for Freedom and Prosperity video, the Economic Case for Tax Havens. It's well worth a watch. Read more...
There is something awfully patronising about this: "Doctors should instruct those over 65 to join walking groups and take part in other exercise like swimming and dance classes, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has recommended. It is pushing the 'walking cure' because more old people feel... Read more...
They never learn do they? After we exposed North Lanarkshire council for squandering £73,000+ on a spin doctor to tell residents how good the council is, Southampton City council’s Chief Executive wants to follow up by throwing away £100,000 on an image consultant. The reason the City council is hiring... Read more...
Against the background of worsening economic conditions and businesses struggling to remain solvent, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) today publishes a detailed study of the severe burden placed on business by EU regulations. The report reveals the true scale of EU regulations, and uncovers the fact that the pace of regulation... Read more...
TPA campaigner Mike Hobson deserves a big pat on the back for rallying against the ‘bedroom tax’ imposed by Purbeck Council on property extensions. The tax is a £1,000 council levy on any property extension within the borough, naturally hitting those who want to improve their homes as well as... Read more...
The Scottish city of Stirling is to appoint a resident poet, or makar, it has been reported today. After an absence of 500 years, the bard will write poetry for special occasions and festivities and will "celebrate everyday life". Now, I don't want to be a killjoy, but it... Read more...
The BBC is funded by a universal tax. If you own a TV you must pay the licence fee. However, though we all pay for the same service, Mark Thompson, the BBC Director General has declared we will not receive an equal service. Islam is to be treated very sensitively.... Read more...
The only way is up Bank bail-outs and the worst recession in our lifetimes mean that government debt is set to soar.Well so what, says Mr Brown - as Keynes pointed out long ago, in circumstances like this responsible governments must borrow us out of recession. We can... Read more...
At a meeting in Paris on Tuesday, Germany and France launched a fresh onslaught against Switzerland, claiming it should be black listed for its tax haven status. "Switzerland offers conditions that invite the German taxpayer to evade taxes. Therefore, in my view Switzerland belongs on such a list" German Finance... Read more...
Today’s Birmingham Post reports that the Government will pay consultants more than £210,000 for an ‘unprecedented’ second opinion document detailing how many homes should be built in the West Midlands. This news has incited the anger of many West Midlands councillors who have blasted the whole exercise as a... Read more...