On the trail of the Shopper Shadow Chief Secretary Philip Hammond has been talking to the FT about how the Tories will tackle the Simple Shopper.BOM readers are only too familiar with the Shopper. He's the one who costs taxpayers zillions each year by bungling the government's £160bn annual... Read more...
Something doesn't smell so good As we've been hearing all over, yesterday was the official first anniversary of the KreditKerrunch. The FT celebrated with a special souvenir edition, and the BBC ran edited highlights of themselves announcing fresh disasters for capitalism - they love it.So what's the score?... Read more...
Detailed analysis of regional economic performance shows no improvement - and even a slowing - in regional performance since RDAs were created. Since 1999 these failed quangos cost taxpayers £15 billion, nearly £600 for every household - money that has effectively been thrown away. The money saved by... Read more...
As you may have read today – or heard our Campaign Director Mark Wallace discussing on the radio – each Regional Development Agency has cost British households £600 since 1999. Despite taking more and more from the taxpayer and yielding less and less – local economies grew and employed more... Read more...
The Guardian today carries a story that the Liberal Democrats are to soften their stance on replacing Council Tax with a local income tax. Similar to William Hague’s strategy with regard to the Euro, Vince Cable – the Lib Dem economics spokesman – has suggested that the party will wait... Read more...
The government today unveils new proposals to deal with the cost and burden of regulation. In efforts toestablish better attunement between business and regulators, government departments are to be set cost limits on the regulations they administer, forcing them to think carefully before introducing new regulations. Companies spend an... Read more...
In 2005, the United Kingdom undertook it’s most recent strategic defence review, its attempt to visualise how the global strategic landscape will develop over the next ten to twenty years. Armed with this review, elected officials and civil servants then made plans for our future, placing orders with defence contractors,... Read more...
Another day, another embarrassing report on hospital hygiene. Today’s reveals that hospitals throughoutEngland are struggling to contain vermin outbreaks in wards and clinics. The BBC reported yesterday that “70% of NHS Trusts brought in pest controllers at least 50 times between January 2006 and March 2008”. The figures, brought to... Read more...
There’s one more job on offer this week in our local government job search, breaking the trend of ever decreasing job vacancies within the state sector. So much for the assumption that government was tightening its belt to show some solidarity with the rest of us in these hard economic... Read more...
One of them is an immediate demand for £600m When the government first took over Northern Rock, they and their supporters tried to kid us that it was a short-term "liquidity problem", not a problem with the underlying credit quality of the Crock's mortgage book.You always needed to be Simple... Read more...
There are two examples of Economic Crap on the same page of The Daily Telegraph of 31st July, by Peter Mandelson (no surprise there) and the Leader writer of the day, which is sad for a market-leaning newspaper. Here’s Mandy, EU Commissioner for Trade: "After seven years - and... Read more...
A TPA supporter emailed in a letters page recently (see below) that reveals a quite startling revelation from the Leader of East Herts. District Council. In responding to a constituent’s letter decrying the high taxes and services in East Herts, Councillor Tony Jackson states the following: “Three examples of... Read more...
The original Ministry of Truth - nothing's changed We learned over the weekend that the Home Office has outrageously spent £2m funding commercial TV series bigging themselves up: "Unlike normal documentaries, the programmes are commissioned by ministers with the purpose of showing their policies or activities in a... Read more...
Yesterday's Sunday Telegraph had an interesting piece of investigative journalism that revealed that the Government has spent £2 million funding commerical television "documentaries" to promote their own policies. Seemingly independent programmes on everything from PCSOs to immigration officials are in fact paid for using our money on the basis... Read more...
The Telegraph reports that the NHS is to spend millions on rebranding Primary Care Trusts to NHS X. This is following in the footsteps of the Norfolk Primary Care Trust that became NHS Norfolk. This will be the fourth rebranding of local NHS organisations since 1997. Primary Care Groups were... Read more...
Last year Canadian biker Gerry Tobin was shot dead by fellow bikers on the M40 after attending the annual ‘Bulldog Bash’ in Warwickshire. This year the cost of policing the event will be a staggering £1.4million. Although the police are refusing to give exact details on just how this... Read more...
Labour MPs, unions and the energywatch quango, who are trying to cover up the Government's complicity in high energy prices, have all been lining up to demand windfall taxes on energy firms. They're wrong to do so on a number of grounds: 1) Energy companies are not responsible for... Read more...
This is a non-job special blog after being tipped off by a supporter for this job at Moray Council: “Street Football Co-ordinator£19,887 Job Purpose Working closely with partnership groups to lead the development and delivery of the street football project to improve the health and well being... Read more...
It’s the biggest issue facing households this week. That gas prices have gone up again is cause for concern, with forecasts that some gas bills will reach over £1,000 a year. At £20 a week, it’s clearly a particularly troubling for those in fixed incomes, notably pensioners. Yet this raises... Read more...
After a torrid six months contributed to more than a little by our Council Spending Uncovered campaign which revealed huge amounts of waste and excess in local government, the Local Government Association's Head of News, Richard Stokoe, has written in PR Week, making a heartfelt plea for sympathy for Town... Read more...
"As the independent gas and electricity watchdog, our mission is simple: to get the best deal we can for energy consumers." So says energywatch [sic]. And over the last 24 hours they have been sounding off mightily over the hike in British Gas prices. Indeed, Campaign Director Adam Scorer has... Read more...
Stafford Borough Council are publicising the fact that they plan to axe 8 cashier jobs, at a total saving of £80,000 per annum, ending the option for residents to make cash payments at council offices in an effort to encourage them to pay their bills by direct debit or credit... Read more...
Local councils are notorious for their foolhardy love of shiny new logos - that cost unsuspecting taxpayers tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. Blackburn and Barrow councils in the Northwest, though, have excelled themselves by managing a new feat. Not only have both of them spent taxpayers'... Read more...
The trend continues, with another drop in government jobs on offer this week. Our non-job of the week comes from Lambeth: “Enviro-Crime Enforcement Officer£29,241 - £30,774 pa You care about the environment… More than that, you want to achieve change: make this city a cleaner, greener safer place.... Read more...