The Daily Mail this morning reveals how tax inspectors are travelling round the world, notching up some 200,000 miles, to investigate new ways to “raise bills at home”. Staff from the Valuation Office Agency mocked taxpayers over dinner, stayed in five-star-hotels and even cashed in on a ‘free’ trip to... Read more...
Nursery education is meant to be one of the most cost effective ways of raising overall attainment. Head start, flying start, whatever snappy name the lobbyists and politicos hang on it, it's money well spent.So you can understand why Labour has pumped money in, launching a raft of programmes and... Read more...
The Financial Times today reports that the US budget deficit will shrink to $158 billion in fiscal year 2007, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. This latest forecast is down from its March estimate of a $177 billion deficit and significantly lower than a $205 billion estimate issued by... Read more...
Fresh from a report showing how cancer survival rates in Britain compare poorly with other European countries, a new report in the British Medical Journal covered in the media today warns that the UK has the worst outcome for strokes in western Europe despite spending the same amount or more... Read more...
Birmingham City Council are running an exclusive scheme named “Northfield Nights” that claims to subsidize theatre ticket prices at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for residents in the south of the city, meaning that they can enjoy productions from as low as £2 entrance (Bromsgrove Standard, 23rd August). The finer detail... Read more...
A postcard campaign by Bromsgrove District Council that asks local residents whether they are ‘Glad or Grumpy’ with the council’s service has caused a stir and despite costing over £1,500 is having to be reprinted and redistributed to people in the area. Disagreement arose as some Labour councillors took exception... Read more...
You can always expect a green, taxpayer-funded non-job in the Guardian Society pages every week. Over the weeks the proliferation of adverts for "climate change officers" and their lackeys is clear to the eye. And it's worrying too as we're the ones paying for them. They mean well, yes, but... Read more...
Apparently the United Kingdom has some of the worst rates of cancer survival in Europe, significantly worse than others spending a similar amount. For ovarian cancer 30% survive in the UK whereas 43% survive in countries like Austria. This difference has not been overcome by the NHS cancer plan, launched... Read more...
We make a habit now of filming any of our TPA excursions to give our supporters a better sense of what we do during our grassroots activity. The first video shows us gathering outside the court house as more supporters arrive. The horns of passing motorists were already honking their... Read more...
A group of determined TPA activists set upon Barnet Magistrates Court to protest against the unfair council tax and to support TPA member Austin Spiteri in his battle with the council over council tax. Mr Spiteri has been hounded by Barnet council over his daughter’s non-payment of council tax. ... Read more...
The Child Support Agency, now scrapped for being utterly useless, spent £60,000 just on consultants to "research brand development" according to the Express today. Between that, big bonuses for its staff and £3.5 billion in uncollected fines it's hard to think of a government body that has represented worse value... Read more...
Despite a chorus of "rising standards" from politicians firms are having to teach teenage workers basic numeracy and literacy. From the Telegraph: "Half of employers said some teenagers were "unable to function in the workplace" claiming they cannot make simple calculations in theirheads, speak in an articulate manner or understand... Read more...
Today the Daily Express reports that Police Community Support Officers solve one crime every six years and hand out fines at a rate of one every four months. The justification provided by the Home Office for their continued existence and, indeed, the expansion of the programme is illuminating: "Their primary... Read more...
Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council were the latest local authorities to be exposed for their extortionate taxi bills in the Coventry Telegraph yesterday. This comes in the wake of Birmingham City Council staff spending a reported £1.17million. Coventry City Council managed to blow £1.5 million, whilst Warwickshire County... Read more...
The Financial Times reports that Alistair Darling is considering raising tax on private equity: "Alistair Darling, the new UK chancellor of the exchequer, is considering an increase from 10 per cent to 20 per cent in the base rate of capital gains tax for investments classed as business assets – such as holdings... Read more...
In advance of tomorrow's publication by John Redwood of the Conservative Party's Economic Competitiveness Review, the Daily Mail has been leaked details which strongly suggest that the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, will accept the recommendation to radically reform inheritance tax, by excluding the main home from the 40 per cent... Read more...
There is usually an increase in coverage of crime and criminal justice matters during the Parliamentary recess when political news dries up in August and non-home affairs reporters take their holidays, and this year has been no different. But even keen crime-watchers might have got a sense that there seems... Read more...
Hurrah! A's all round BBC R5 are doing their annual phone-in on the A Level results. And the jock has just asked desperately if someone could phone who hasn't got three A grades- she's just talked to one girl who has five. A quarter of all grades are now A,... Read more...
David Green writes for the Telegraph today making a very strong case that failures of policing, rather than too much alcohol, are at the root of yob lawlessness: "The accepted tactic is to maintain a permanent police presence - not an occasional drive-through by a police car, but regular foot patrols by... Read more...
The Public arts centre in West Bromwich, the building we chose as a backdrop to the West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance launch, continues to inspire debate this week with a feature in today’s Express & Star. Two local figures, Cllr Bill Archer and local artist Fred Barnfield, are called upon to... Read more...
The amount of uncollected council tax continues to rise each year, reaching well into hundreds of millions of pounds. Research by the GMB union highlights how between the last two financial years the amount of uncollected tax has risen by £19,468,019 to the sum of £760.6 million in 2006/07. Given... Read more...
There is an internal spat going on at our beloved British Broadcasting Corporation over advertising. A smug bunch of deputy-assistant tv producers, sound engineers, production assistants and the odd artistic director have teamed up to start a “No Ads Campaign” in opposition to moves by the BBC Board to allow... Read more...
EU renewables plan I've taken a look at the leaked Whitehall paper that spells out for ministers the likely costs to Britain of accepting the EU's fantasy target for renewable energy.It's part of the dismal Blair legacy, the part where he spent his last few months jetting off to Europe... Read more...
It’s that time of the week again. Our weekly trawl through the Guardian Society pages never fails to surprise us with their banal array of jobs on offer. Our pick this week is from the London NHS. ... Read more...