Irwin Stelzer writes an important piece in today's Telegraph, with some wise words for the Conservative Party. It's worth quoting him at length: "Voters are eager for an alternative to a tired Labour Party. The Tories' problem is that they won't have very much to offer when it comes to... Read more...
When Mark Rees was head of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Trust he sacked 600 workers and cut 190 beds in order to try and bring the trust's finances under control (reported in the Daily Mail - not online). These are similar measures to the ones Rose Gibb, who -... Read more...
Just stick your head through the hole Anyone who's ever had building work done knows the Golden Rules of value for money: Get at least three fixed price quotes in writing Make sure they cover all the required work in full On no account alter your requirements once you've... Read more...
One of the cardinal virtues that the NHS is supposed to possess is a high degree of equality. The system clearly fails to deliver quality care relative to other developed country healthcare systems on a host of measures from control of infection to cancer survival to mortality amenable to healthcare. ... Read more...
There's a fascinating poll up on the BBC News web site today. The related story is about the Capital Gains Tax debate, in which Alistair Darling announced that Taper Relief would be abolished - a decision he is now under great pressure to reverse. Darling's proposal would simplify CGT,... Read more...
Reuters report that the Public Accounts Committee has found that many PFI deals have been very expensive, up to 14 per cent more than before the PFI deal was put in place. Read more...
OK children- I'm going to explain how not to sell a company We've blogged before about selling the family silver. In the Earl of Stockton's immortal words:"First of all the Georgian silver goes. And then all that nice furniture that used to be in the salon. Then the Canalettos go."... Read more...
An excellent piece by Ian Morley in the Financial Times presents a devastating critique of Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown. It's worth reading the article in full, but here are the main challenges to the Government: 1. Causing great damage by raising taxes on small businesses and entrepreneurs when... Read more...
So Sir Richard Branson is about to tow away the Crock. Hurrah! Getting that thing off the front lawn will be a load off everyone's mind.Although... is this by any chance the same Sir Richard who's famous for being one of Britain's very sharpest entrepreneurs? Hmm.According to today's Update on... Read more...
Next week the EU will lay out proposals which will formalise the right of NHS users to seek safer and often superior health care abroad. Increasing numbers of UK citizens already choose to travel as far as India and Malaysia to avoid treatment in the NHS (nearly 70,000 this year... Read more...
The FT reports a new CBI report endorsing new green taxes. The reports supports a range of policies. Strengthening emissions regulations on cars are easy for British business to endorse as our car production is now almost entirely foreign-owned. The central recommendation, to strengthen the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, has... Read more...
Is nothing in this country sacred, nothing too out of reach of the taxman? Today in the Telegraph it appears the taxman is trying to get his beak into pigeon racing. Yes, pigeon racing. As pigeon racing isn’t recognised as a sport and therefore doesn’t qualify for tax relief, pigeon... Read more...
Champagne bureaucrats In the lavish expenses news this week:Met chief spends £15 grand on drinkies- "Andy Hayman, the Metropolitan police anti-terrorism chief, has been questioned over thousands of pounds spent on hotel expenses and drinks for his staff. He has been asked to explain at least £15,000 expenses that included... Read more...
The race is on for the position of chief executive at the Regional Development quango Advantage West Midlands, and although the lucky winner will be paid with your money and have hundreds of millions of your tax pounds to spend, you will have absolutely no say on who gets the... Read more...
Those HMRC staff cuts Yes, the PM can blame the junior official who downloaded the data and sent the discs through the ordinary mail. But come on. How on earth was it possible for him to do it? What's to stop a criminal gang member getting a job round at... Read more...
Once upon a time Chancellors took responsibility Just imagine that Lloyds TSB, say, had loaded all its customer records onto an unencrypted CD and then lost it. What do you think would happen?First off, there'd be a huge public outcry, led by the media but with our name and... Read more...
It appears that hiring illegal immigrants and presiding over general misconduct within the workplace are just the tip of the iceberg for Birmingham City Council, as the Birmingham Post reports the details of just some of the millions of pounds worth of discrepancies presented to the financial audit committee yesterday. ... Read more...
According to a report in yesterday’s Birmingham Mail no less than 50 illegal workers were caught in a swoop at Birmingham City Council. This investigation was called for after earlier this year one Ugandan employee, an illegal immigrant, managed to steal in excess of £1million from the council’s social... Read more...
HMRC have announced that any of the 25 million people whose personal and banking information has been lost or stolen can now phone 0845 302 1444 for information and advice about the "organisational failure" and how to protect themselves against any resulting risk of fraud or identity theft.Given the gravity... Read more...
The Inland Revenue fiasco will go down in the history books as one of the most unbelievable acts of incompetence by a British government. It does, though, give us a prime example to use in our campaigns on the merits of low taxes and smaller, better government. Firstly, small... Read more...
Melting ice caps? Drought? Global Warming? Fear not because Southwark Council are coming to the rescue. Feel free to roll your eyes at yet another local government non-job using taxpayers’ money to appease a guilty conscience. Southwark Council this week have four jobs aimed at ‘tackling’ climate change. I... Read more...
Just watch the vid. Five months may be a lifetime in politics, but you can't mistake the enthusiasm of Treasury civil servants for Gordon Brown as he leaves them for No 10.Your correspondent was at the Treasury during the years of Healey and Howe. There is no way such... Read more...
The Conservatives have today set out plans for a supply side "revolution" in education. Below are the proposals: "Provide over 220,000 new school places. That would meet the demand from every parent who lost their appeal for their first choice school in our most deprived boroughs. "Allow educational charities, philanthropists,... Read more...
It is hard to really get your head around just how complete the failure at the HMRC today is in losing the unencrypted records of 25 million recipients of child benefit. These records include names, addresses, national insurance data and even bank account details. There are a few things to... Read more...