What should progressive councils be doing now?
Contribution by Cllr Michael Desmond
There has been little room for philosophy during the recent mayhem of council cuts, budget reductions and staff lay-offs. The nearest thing has been Barnet Council’s unedifying dalliance with budget airline theory, the controversial “easyCouncil”, where only bare essentials are done and costs restrained, which saw planners on strike yesterday.
Some Tory flagship authorities have combined back-room roles to limit administrative costs, and Labour councils have juggled meagre settlements to limit and in some cases avoid, cuts to front-line services. Of course, this is by no means the first time local authorities have had to face the music; but we haven’t seen anything like the savage climate induced by Eric Pickles’ hatchet since the 1970s.
continue reading… »
IDS: “Extra cash can hurt the poor”
Delivering the Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture, Iain Duncan Smith attacked Labour’s policies of reducing poverty by giving people more money, claiming that the political class had become “fixated” on income levels alone. He argued that increasing the income of people in poverty could even be counterproductive, while admitting that the Tories had “largely ignored” the issue of child poverty while in opposition.
Now when Duncan Smith talks about how giving people more money is counter productive, what he is thinking about is a drug addict who just uses the money to buy drugs, a feckless layabout who spends the money on booze and a Sky Sports subscription, and other such bogeymen familiar to readers of right wing newspapers.
I’m sure his supporters will be keen to clarify that he doesn’t think that the benefits and tax credits which enable a mum to buy her daughter a birthday present rather than go without, that help pay for school uniforms, that help people enrol on courses to increase their skills, that help a family or pensioner heat their homes in winter and all the other things which people on low incomes spend their money on are “counter productive”. He wants, of course, to maintain these while developing a wider ranging approach which tackles all aspects of poverty. This is the noble Iain Duncan Smith, the man who once visited a council estate, not some run of the mill, out of touch Tory millionaire.
So let’s look at how this “extra cash can hurt the poor” thing is working out in practice. Earlier this month, the Department of Work and Pensions announced that the criteria for emergency ‘Crisis’ loans is being tightened up. These are interest free loans which, as the name suggests, are available when people have no money and are in a crisis. The changes are:
•Crisis Loans won’t be available for items such as cookers and beds – some help will be available for people following a disaster such as flooding
•the rate paid for living expenses will be cut from 75 per cent down to 60 per cent of benefit rate
•a cap of three Crisis Loan awards for general living expenses in a rolling 12 month period will be introduced
The reason for this change is that too many people are applying for Crisis Loans, and the amount of money which the government had allocated would run out by Christmas. Liberal Democrat Steve Webb, who is regarded as being on the “left” of the party, explained that,
“We need to ensure that crisis loan support is correctly targeted at those who need it most and ensure we can still afford to pay Budgeting Loans. That’s why we’ve taken urgent action today to protect the budget.
“We don’t want to leave people on low incomes without the safety net of interest-free Budgeting Loans and then turning to loan sharks for help.”
Got that? “Protecting” the budget means restricting the amount that people can borrow, which will ensure that they don’t have to borrow money from loan sharks.
This is what Iain Duncan Smith’s words actually amount to in practice. More people needing to borrow money in order to cope with crisis. All in the name of making sure that poor people don’t suffer from the terrible problems that can be caused by receiving more money.
EXCLUSIVE: Help stop ethnic cleansing in Sudan
As everyone knows, the general public can’t cope with the idea that more than one thing might be happening at once in Africa. Presumably that’s why mainstream media across the board decided not to report acts of genocide in Abyei, Sudan, last week while civil war raged across Libya. continue reading… »
Top official: NHS hospitals “could close” under reforms
Sue Slipman, the head of England’s leading hospitals, is warning the public in today’s Guardian that NHS hospitals may be forced to shut under the government’s proposed health reforms.
Other changes might include the following:
[Hospitals] will lose their accident and emergency or maternity units, and some will be downgraded to glorified health centres because of the government’s NHS shakeup.
Slipman is hardheaded about the possibility of a radical alteration in the provision of care in England, and tacitly seems to agree, in principle at least, with the reforms.
The NHS is not sustainable in its current form, including [its] supply of hospitals,” said Slipman. “If you want to retain a service that’s free at the point of delivery, it has to be the most efficient it can be and produce good quality. Whatever you think of these [Lansley's] reforms, you cannot be against reform if you want a sustainable NHS in the long-term. The reconfiguration of certain services is just the rational outcome of that change.
Although Slipman concedes that “This debate is the most difficult area [in healthcare],” her words will only add to the anxiety on the part of the public, and the growing anger among groups of activists like Keep Our NHS Public and UK Uncut .
A full list of the job losses and downsizing already underway in England’s hospitals can be found over at False Economy.
Does Comic Relief tackle poverty?
Brazilian archbishop, Dom Helder Camara, famously said, ‘when I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.’ It’s an interesting quote, and one that I am often reminded of when watching Comic Relief: a phenomenon that is astoundingly good at doing the former, without doing the latter. continue reading… »
New blow to Big Society: Scout Groups hit by cuts
The Scout Association (TSA) revealed today that thousands of Scout Groups across the UK are being subjected to enormous rent increases by local councils threatening the future of the Movement and the voluntary work it does in communities. In response to this unfair “tax”, TSA is today launching a campaign urging councils to take a stand to protect local Scouting, by setting fair and affordable rates for Scouts in their area. The campaign is called “Don’t Raise Our Rents!’.
Traditionally, councils have only charged nominal rents for the land on which Scout buildings are based, or for the use of local authority buildings by Scout Groups. This has been in recognition of the important role that Scouts play in communities. However, many rents are set to spiral in 2011 as local authorities seek new ways of raising revenue in the tougher financial climate.
In total, at least 2,000 Groups are vulnerable to rent increases with many warning that they will have to reduce outdoor activities, increase subscriptions for parents or even close as a result.
The contribution of adults working in the Movement, all volunteers, is equivalent to £380 million paid services for young people annually. Throughout the UK, Scout Leaders give 37,620,000 hours of their time each year providing a range of exciting and challenging activities for young people, raising their self esteem and encouraging them to contribute to their local communities. 55% of young people involved in Scouting also volunteer for local community projects, twice the national average.
The Don’t Raise Our Rents campaign is therefore calling on local councils to make sure that any rent increases placed on Scout groups are fair and affordable. For more information, visit the campaign website.
Labour Yes: AV will isolate Tories
To coincide with the national launch of the Labour Yes campaign, campaign founder Neal Lawson told Liberal Conspiracy how voting Yes to AV will damage and isolate the Tories:
“David Cameron risks becoming the Conservative Party’s Lost Leader if Britain votes Yes to AV – Conservative Home”
“If David Cameron’s not careful, he could become the next lost Tory leader – the Telegraph”
“Tory MPs stop you in corridors to share their worries – an AV win would be “a dagger at the heart of the party” ,“we would never hold power outright again.” – Gary Gibbon C4 news”
“Mr Cameron is a worried man, I’m very reliably informed. The PM has ordered an emergency push to deliver a “no” in the AV referendum at all costs – George Pascoe Watson – former Sun Political editor”
“David Davis leads revolt over ‘anti-Tory’ vote reform – The Mail”
These are all headlines and quotes from just one week in March 2011. The Tories, it seems, have just woken up to the fact they might lose the AV referendum and it will hurt them if they do. But it is not just that First Past the Post is the Tory electoral system of choice when it comes to seats that should get everyone in Labour behind the Yes campaign. There are two even more important reasons why they fear a Yes victory.
The first is the pressure it will put real pressure on the Coalition. Not so much in the sense that it emboldens the Liberal Democrats to break further away from their current partners but because it will encourage Tory backbenchers to ask what exactly they are getting from this Coalition and why did they get into it in the first place? Why did Cameron do a deal which has pegged back their views on a whole number of issues, not least Europe, but allowed a referendum which if passed will deal a death blow to their hopes of re-election? Why didn’t they go into minority government and squash both Labour and the Liberal Democrats at a second election? So the Scottish Herald had a headline that read “AV ‘Yes’ will hurt Coalition, says Tory minister”. Indeed it will.
But it is the wider political culture shift that AV brings and the Tories hate. First Past the Past is their system because it encourages an adversarial form of politics in which the Tory voting bloc can dominate politics. Shift to a more pluralist and constructive voting system in which candidates and parties have to court other voters and parties and then the Tories become isolated. They want the outcome of every election to remain in the hands of a few swing voters in a few swings seats. Just 1.6 per cent of the electorate deciding the outcome. Because then Ashcroft £ millions and Murdoch papers can shape the result.
One Party stands full square behind the No Campaign. The Tories . They know they will lose not just in terms of numbers but the culture of a new politics if AV goes through. The choice is getting clearer by the day.
Could Egypt intervene in Libya?
There is no consensus on the left about intervention in Libya. And both sides of the argument are pretty persuasive.
On the one hand, the rebels in Libya are being bombed. They are calling for our support. It is heart wrenchingly difficult not to heed their calls.
On the other hand, when we hear talk of a No Fly Zone alone, we should remember that there is almost certainly no such thing. continue reading… »
Leading economists back Save EMA campaign
On the day youth unemployment figures are published and a week before the budget, the Save EMA campaign has organised a letter in the Guardian newspaper signed by nine leading economists. Amongst the signatories is a former economic advisor to the Cabinet Office, and another is a former member of the Bank of England MPC.
They are declaring their support for the Save EMA campaign their proto-campaign “A Deal’s A Deal” and also calling on the government to reverse their decision on the education maintenance allowance (EMA).
The Save EMA campaign, has been running a campaign called “A Deals A Deal”. Calling on the government honour the promise to the 300,000 young people who joined courses in September last year and signed up for EMA after the new government said they were “committed” to EMA in their emergency budget in June but scrapped the scheme in their CSR in October.
James Mills, head of the Save EMA campaign, said:
“Youth Unemployment figures out today will probably show an unacceptable level of youth unemployment, and this government’s response should be to help not hinder, as we have a generation of young people now who are in the eleventh hour – unless this government act next week.”
“This government went into the election promising they supported EMA and confirmed that in the emergency budget in June last year. A week before the next budget we are reminding them that A Deals A Deal and to correct they decision on the CSR.”
“The government are against the bulk of research which supports EMA, the leading economists in the country and if recent polls are accurate, they are also going against British public opinion by abolishing EMA.”
“This government are declaring class war in the classroom by scrapping EMA, instead they should be listening to leading economic opinion on the matter, rather than blindly playing politics with young people’s hopes and aspirations”.
“The only thing this government seems able to grow is youth unemployment and it begs the question, do they think youth unemployment is a price worth paying”.
“We have a cabinet of privately educated politicians who do not understand how ordinary families in the 21st century need support to get on in life, which explains why they don’t want to touch the public subsidy of the 600,000 kids at independent schools in this country but they do want to pick the pockets of the 600,000 poorest teenagers in our country.”
“Cameron and Clegg probably never had to worry about bus and train fares at or how to travel to college at their boarding schools but it’s not like that for ordinary teenagers in the UK. It’s not their fault they can’t relate, but it is their fault they refuse to understand.”
“This is further proof that this Tory-led government does not have a mandate to scrap EMA, not only do almost half of the country oppose them, but substantial amounts of people who actually voted for both coalition parties at the last election oppose scrapping EMA, and now leading economists are against them on this decision.”
Why is the mainstream media so bad?
Writing in general exists to either entertain, inform, explain, describe, argue, persuade and advise, or for no particular reason at all; quite often writing is just absent-minded scribble. The media in all its forms performs these roles every single day.
The Westminster Skeptics quite understandably see the media as a tool for informing the public, explain the facts and describe the situation. They promote an evidence-based approach and critical thinking in the areas of policy, media, and legal reform, and I enjoyed going along to their most recent meeting on Monday night.
However, I would argue that most people see the media as entertainment. continue reading… »
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» Criticism of Obama for its own sake: a reply to Mehdi Hasan
» Do older people really need more NHS healthcare?
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» On Beecroft: it is already quite easy to sack people
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» By using age to allocate NHS funding, Lansley rewards Tory voters
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» Adrian Beecroft highlights mindset of Tory right
» The US is now a model for the Eurozone to save itself
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» The Boris brand is weaker than his friends think
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