Do these spending cuts have public legitimacy?
I suppose it isn’t surprising that opinion polls are showing that 49% of the respondents to the latest YouGov poll (field work: 13-14 June) say they think that the cuts are good for the economy, with 31% saying they’re bad.
It’s largely due to the fact that the government is still being given the benefit of the doubt by voters (45% in the same poll say they approve of their record so far, with only 25% disapproving). It’s also partly the way the cuts are being reported in newspapers and TV programmes – the debate is usually framed in terms of which cuts should be carried out, rather than whether they’re necessary at all.
Even the phrasing of the YouGov question (at least in my view) assumes the government’s rationale for cuts:
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Am I the world’s freest woman?
I am twenty-one years old. Female. British. Middle class, and agnostic. I attended a good university, and came out with an arts degree. If I want to make money, I can, and if I don’t, I can borrow it without impediment. I don’t feel the need to compulsively buy things. I’m healthy, and I don’t hate myself.
No one will stop me if I want to leave my country, stay in my country, sleep in until midday, go out and not come home, get a boyfriend, get a girlfriend, study, drop out, claim benefits, get married, or do none of the above.
Am I the freest woman in the world?
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Why the coalition is swimming in bullshit
The coalition government has announced:
With the unprecedented levels of debt facing the country we have regrettably had to take the difficult decision to end the Free Swimming Programme.
The summary evaluation report published today shows the programme was not providing best value for money, so we could not justify continuing to fund it.
This is bullshit.
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Why raising taxes is the only progressive way to tackle the deficit
contribution by Tony Dolphin
This government wants to be seen as progressive. A key test of how progressive it really is will be where the impact of deficit reduction falls.
Yesterday’s announcement that measures to help the unemployed are being axed, along with a new hospital planned for North Tees and Hartlepool, already suggests it may fail the test.
But they are small beer – only £2 billion of the estimated £75 billion in deficit reduction that will eventually be required. Much more significant will be next Tuesday’s budget, when George Osborne sets out the coalition’s fiscal strategy for the next five years.
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Why the Zakir Naik ban is wrong
Zakir Naik has today joined gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg, television presenter Martha Stewart, gay-hating hot gospel merchant Fred Waldron Phelps Jr, minor league shock jock Michael Savage, Russian skinhead Pavel Skachevsky and Jewish ultranationalist Mike Guzovsky on the list of people banned from entering the UK.
That just about covers the full spectrum of odious opinion, crap music and bland taste in home furnishings.
Yet it is not immediately clear that all of the above have any intention of coming here anyway. At least some seem to have been chosen at random by civil servants charged with drawing up a list of ne’er-do-wells that covers all bases.
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Tories try to rehabilitate disgraced advisor
On 24th June the Conservative think-tank Centre for Social Justice is hosting a conference titled: ‘Young, Drifting and Black‘.
The tagline is: ‘Tackling the oppositional defiant behaviour of Black boys’. No stereotyping there then. And we were under the misapprehension that the right was against racial profiling.
One of the key speakers will be Ray Lewis, director of the Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy.
Lewis was the former London Deputy Mayor who had to resign two years ago after claims of financial irregularities. At the time Boris Johnson said he would re-appoint Mr Lewis if he cleared his name.
Very conveniently for Boris, that inquiry into Lewis’ affairs was dropped. And now the Tories are trying to bring him back into their fold.
First, Boris announced a few days ago that Lewis would return to a role at City Hall.
Now the leading Conservative think-tank is taking lessons from him on how to deal with young black kids.
Just to give you a flavour of how Ray Lewis helped boys:
I had heard about the marching regime at [Lewis's] Eastside Academy, but was still unprepared for what I found. “We! Are! The! Young! Leaders’! Academy!” the boys chant at the end of a morning’s drill, as Lewis enters the hall. “What are you looking at his bottom for?” he barks at a young adolescent. “You a batty boy?”
His gaze sweeps up and down the lines. “I don’t see any rhythm in this room. You move like poonani! “Someone,” Lewis announces, “has been going to the Paki shop across the road. And stealing from that shop. Does anybody know who the guilty party is? Say so now!”
Words fail me.
Update: The attempt to rehabilitate Lewis had always been on the cards. “Mr Lewis’s return as an adviser appeared to be a deliberate attempt by Mr Johnson to rehabilitate his friend,” writes Adam Bienkov.
The Mayor was reportedly “completely gutted” to have lost “his ally” two years ago.
Another one of Boris’s disgraced aides, and Tory donor, David Ross was also quietly brought back by Boris last year.
And then there was the Veronica Wadley affair of blatant cronyism.
Funny how all those who complained of “cronyism at City Hall” are now completely silent. Where art thou Andrew Gilligan?
I didn’t vote Libdems for this
Axing hospitals, jobs, help for the unemployed, manufacturing projects and front line services: this cull is coming straight from the most ideological right-wing hymnsheet
Commenting on cuts and “difficult budget decisions”, Deputy PM Nick Clegg said recently that his government would “not” do it “the way we did it in the 80s”. “We’re going to do this differently.”
The acute observer, however, may have learnt the bitter way that, whatever the Lib Dem leader says, the exact opposite is true. In fact, his public declarations read in reverse should be coveted as the best way of predicting government policy.
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Shock as council refuses to endorse gay blood donation
Labour controlled Nottingham City Council made the shocking decision this week to remove references to gay and bisexual men from a motion celebrating World Blood Donor Day.
The motion highlighted discrimination against gay men from donating blood. It also urged the council to lobby the National Blood Service about scrapping the policy.
Councillor Alex Foster, who proposed the motion, told Liberal Conspiracy that the rules on blood donation should be changed to reflect the real risks.
The UK Blood Service is currently reviewing its policy in relation to gay men donating blood. The NHS has already decided that it’s safe for gay men to donate bone marrow and semen, and to carry donor cards, but hasn’t yet made its decision about blood. I thought it was important for the City Council to join a number of voices lobbying the NHS about the signals that discrimination sends.
Airbrushing campaign victory with Debenhams
Debenhams has become the biggest high-street retailer to break ranks and illustrate how far airbrushing goes within the fashion industry.
Debenhams will actively take its message to store-fronts with a sign that reads: “We’ve not messed with natural beauty; this image is unairbrushed. What do you think?”
It released pictures today of standard industry practices:
A campaign was started earlier this year by Libdem MPs Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone called ‘Campaign for Body Confidence‘, challenging fashion magazines and celebrities to reject air brushing.
She said today: “I am sure that what this will demonstrate is that swimwear modelled by real women who have not been retouched can sell just as well as products advertised with extensive airbrushing, which has become the norm.”
This was the model before (left) and after (right).
Debenhams released a statement saying:
Not only does it make sense from a moral point of view, it ticks the economic boxes as well. Millions of pounds a year are spent by organisations retouching perfectly good images.
As a rule we only airbrush minor things like pigmentation or stray hair and rely on the natural beauty of models to make our product look great.
Pictures via the Daily Mail
Why we’re making the case against government cuts
Every day, backed up by their chorus in the Conservative newspapers, government ministers insist that the deficit has to be cut immediately.
The reasons why we must have immediate cuts in public services and benefits change – sometimes it is the exchange rate, sometimes the bond market, currently the favourite reason is that it is unfair to the poor to have high debt payments (because that would mean we might have to … er, cut their benefits and services).
But, whatever the diagnosis, the prescription remains the same: cut, cut now and cut hard.
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