How Labour can win on welfare
Jonathan Todd on the Progress website argues that:
Iain Duncan Smith did not so much enter the welfare debate at the DWP with his chin exposed as with a baseball bat in his hand. Labour had become so synonymous with unfair welfare payments that we were ripe for further kicking on the issue. Alexander began to recover Labour’s position as shadow DWP secretary. Liam Byrne seeks to complete this journey. But we began it so far behind that the best we can now possibly achieve is a draw.
Hmm. I went in search to try and find evidence for this claim.
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Why is the government imposing ‘Big society’ on academia?
Is this the latest “big society” paradox? The Observer reports that senior academics are deeply concerned about the way in which a department of state is alleged to have insisted on the ‘big society’ as a major academic research theme as a condition of renewing academic funding of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
This report of about rather top down insistence on studying the bottom up doctrine speaks to a recurring tension as to how government can get traction for its ‘big idea’ without undermining the point.
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The Lost Generation (a poem)
contribution by Natalie
I’ve heard about them kids today
That they don’t stand a chance
They hang on streets and drag their feet
And look at you askance
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Protest Day – Follow our updates
Well, the big day has arrived. There are going to be lots of disparate actions taking place in addition to the big march, and might get difficult to follow everything.
But we’re going to try our best. See below.
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Dorries to launch new attack on abortion rights
A cross-party alliance of MPs will launch a fresh bid to tighten the rules on terminations.
Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP, and Frank Field, a former Labour minister, will table amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill now passing through the Commons.
Supporters of the amendments say that passing them would lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions that take place in the UK.
The first amendment would create a new precondition for any women having an abortion to receive advice and counselling from an organisation that does not itself carry out terminations.
The health bill will restructure the NHS, creating new consortia of GPs with the power commission treatment for their patients.
TUC march: I don’t predict a riot
Not only are my days as a street fighting man well behind me, but daddy is taking girls aged 10 and 8 on the TUC anti-cuts march tomorrow. The last thing I want is for the headbangers to kick anything off.
Yet today’s papers are full of dire predictions that a ‘violent minority’ are hell-bent on ‘hijacking a peaceful protest’. In particular, the Guardian is hyping up an article by some ex-copper on the website of a rightwing think tank, which contends that the Old Bill have ‘strong intelligence’ that ‘extremist groups are planning illegal acts of violence’ tomorrow.
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UKuncut plan actions at big march tomorrow
UK Uncut, the anti-cuts direct action group, will take over 15 retailers and banks on Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping street, tomorrow, the day of a massive demonstration highlighting alternatives to the government’s cuts programme.
* 2pm – 15 UK Uncut groups from across the country will target banks and shops on Oxford Street
* 3.30pm – Meet at Oxford Circus to go to secret target – and aim to stay for as long as possible
* Sam West, Josie Long, Mark Thomas and musicians will perform on OxfoStreeat the secret target
Activists from UK Uncut will be meeting at 11.30 at the National Threatre to form a bloc on the march where hundreds of their supporters who have taken action in cities and towns across the country will come together for the first time.
From 2pm, activists from UK Uncut plan to turn at least 15 banks and tax-dodging stores on Oxford Street into hospitals, libraries, theatres and homeless shelters to point out that these services could be saved by clamping down on tax avoidance and making banks pay for the crisis that they caused. Targets includetax-dodging retailers Vodafone, Boots, Tesco, Topshop and Dorothy Perkins and banks RBS, Lloyds, Natwest and Barclays.
The protesters say that in addition, a secret target will be revealed on the day of the march, with regional groups expected to come together for a mass occupation. They are meeting at 3.30pm at Oxford Circus where the group will move to the new target which is a closely guarded secret.
The activists say that they will aim to stay for as long as possible. A comedy gig and arts performance will be held at BHS on Oxford Street with Sam and Timothy West and the comedy gig will meet at Soho Square.
The secret target will not be revealed until tomorrow.
How disabled people can virtually join the march tomorrow
contribution by Tim Hardy
“Disabled people are going to march to tell the government we demand ‘Rights not Charity’ and to show we are not easy victims of their cuts even though they may think we are,” Eleanor Lisney of Disabled People Against Cuts says.
While the TUC have been working hard to make access easier but for those who cannot physically make the day. But we have an alternative to that too.
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Can we really become a powerhouse like Germany, as many want?
One facet of the recent economic debate in the UK around policy and rebalancing that I’ve found interesting is the attraction of Germany to both the left and the right.
This is perhaps unsurprising, the ‘German model’ of export and investment led growth is exactly the model that many policy makers seem to be aiming for.
There has always been something of a fascination with ‘Rhineland Capitalism’ on bits of the British left (notably Will Hutton), but recently the right, perhaps thrilled at German attacks on ‘crass Keynesian’, is also showing a great deal of interest.
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YouGov: How the public received the budget
Polling company YouGov have sent out an email with polling numbers on public opinion, after the budget.
As with the last Budget, which polled well immediately, but opinions turned sour fairly quickly after, its worth taking these with a pinch of salt. The numbers are likely to turn back to their long term trend within weeks.
YouGov say:
• George Osborne and the Coalition’s economic policies are now viewed negatively, a reversal of the situation immediately after his first emergency budget back in June 2010.
• Back in June 2010 43% of people felt that he was doing a ‘good job’ as Chancellor of the Exchequer, but that figure has now fallen to 34%.
• In contrast most people now believe he is doing a ‘bad job’ with that figure increasing from 24% to 40% over the same time period.
• Over a quarter of respondents (27%) still do not know if he is doing a good or bad job, down only 6% since his first budget.
• After the Chancellor’s first budget it was felt that the way the government was cutting spending to reduce the deficit was both good for the economy and being done fairly. The opposite is now true.
• The proportion who feel it is good for the economy has fallen from 53% to 39% while those who think it is bad has now risen to 46%, seven percent ahead and a rise of 18%.
• Similarly those who feel it is being done fairly has fallen from 45% to 31% while unfairly has risen from 34% to 56%. In addition a majority (53%) feel it is being done too quickly, with 30% thinking it is about the right pace and only 6% that it is taking place too slowly.
• However, nearly three out of five respondents (59%) felt the way the government is cutting spending is necessary, compared to less than a third (31%) who feel it is unnecessary.
The number of people who believe Osborne is not telling the truth about the state of Britain’s economy is just 36% – exactly the same figure that believe he is not.
Back in June 2010 46% felt he was truthful compared to 24% who did not.
But its also not all good news for Labour.
The Coalition is still ahead of the Labour Party when respondents are asked who they would most trust to make the right decisions about dealing with the deficit. 38% trust the Coalition, 14% ahead of Labour on 24%.
42% blame Labour for the financial crisis, while 25% blame the Conservatives and a further 21% say both.
Overall 44% of respondents felt the budget was fair, compared to 31% who felt it was not. Back in June 2010 50% felt the Chancellor’s first budget was fair.
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» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
» Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest?
» To win London, Ken Livingstone has to step outside his comfort zone
» This trade agreement with India will destroy thousands of lives
» UK debt hasn’t hit £1 trillion – mostly because of QE
» The benefits of being a “burden” on society
» Today’s economic figures will simply confirm UK’s “lost decade”
» Have Labour realised the election is more than three years away?
» Violence in the office
» Want a more responsible capitalism? Reform how pensions work
» The world is entering the third phase of the crisis, warns ILO
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