Is the fall in our living standards inevitable? No
Today’s IFS report sets out the scale of the living standards falls that families across the UK are set to experience. The consequences of cuts and tax rises on household incomes are set to be felt for up to 10 years and with households having already experienced the largest drop in income since 1981 over the last year.
For an average household the living standards gap is likely to be equivalent to a loss of £4,600 a year by 2013.
But a key question put to me as I Woke Up to Money this morning, is whether these living standards falls are inevitable.
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Video & pics: Muslim extremists protest
A few days ago a friend of mine contacted me to organise a counter-protest. The extremists from Muslims Against Crusades (previously Al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK) were planning to disrupt the 9/11 anniversary commemorations at the US embassy.
So he set up a fake FB account (to protect his identity from extremists) and set up an event. I helped spread the word.
It was always likely that Anjem Choudhary and his friends would get coverage for their flag-burning stunt. The media love lapping him up. At the very least we could offer a counter-protest to negate some coverage.
And we did get some coverage, in the Telegraph, Daily Mail and even US outlets.
Here is a video from the event.
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Pics
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We need real banking reform, not this half-hearted attempt
contribution by Brendan Barber
The Vickers team have been asked how to make the banks safe, but the real question is how we make them useful.
Tougher capital requirements and ring-fencing will be bitterly opposed by the banks, who will now lobby hard to water them down. They should be resisted.
But while we need to avoid another finance-driven crash, safer banking on its own will not help drive the investment and create the jobs we need. Indeed, unless we take other action tougher capital controls could even limit credit at a time when businesses complain they cannot get affordable loans.
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Private schools aren’t doing as well as right-wingers like to think
contribution by Rob Cowen
At the end of August each year there’s one piece of news we can rely upon: GCSE results have improved for a record nth year, therefore exams must be getting easier.
However, a new analysis of official statistics demonstrates that this media narrative is telling only half of the story.
If GCSEs really are getting easier, you would expect a uniform improvement in year-on-year results across all sectors. However, in recent years there has been a little-reported difference between state schools and fee-paying independent schools.
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Excl: Labour AM calls for EDL ban to be revoked
London Labour Assembly Member Murad Qureshi has called for the ban on the English Defence League from marching to be revoked.
In a letter to the Met Police’s acting commissioner Tim Godwin, passed on to Liberal Conspiracy, he says the ban achieved nothing and calls on him to “reconsider the Met’s position on this issue”.
He told Liberal Conspiracy he was uncomfortable with the “far reaching” impact of the ban, after being initially for it.
On his own blog, he writes:
I found myself being put in my place my a local Bengali boy, off Brick Lane. He simply said to me “What EDL march ban? They were still able to come and make their presense felt and insult my families faith” when I asked his views on the march the day before.
In his letter to the Godwin he says the ban might also impact other planned processions and marches in East London.
While the Met have said the ban would not affect long-standing events, the order gives them the power to pull any event if they see fit.
The ban on marches and demonstrations – applicable for 30 days and signed by Home Secretary Theresa May – affects five boroughs in East London.
Letter to Tim Godwin Re EDL March
The Legal Aid bill is social engineering by other means
contribution by Nathaniel Mathews
Sam is a bank manager who lost his job in the recession. He owns a house and has big debts. Pretty soon he’s in court facing the loss of his home. His family might be on the street tonight.
He comes to the duty solicitor for help, half an hour before his hearing. It so happens we can help. We can ask the District Judge for an adjournment so that Sam can get a chance to restructure his debts.
Samantha lives on an estate a stone’s throw from here. She has kids too, and lives on survival benefits.
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Lucas champions Green council achievements
Green Party leader Caroline Lucas championed the impact the party was having on local areas in her annual conference speech.
Held in Sheffield this year, the speech also focused on attacking Libdem ‘betrayals’ on the NHS and tuition fees.
But Lucas dedicated a substantial part of her speech playing up achievements by Green councillors in Brighton and Hove – the first council in the UK run by the party.
We have been trusted with a budget of over £700 million pounds a year. Working on behalf of 250,000 residents. Running 35 primary schools. Providing critical services to thousands of vulnerable people. And supporting hundreds of businesses and social enterprises.
Our first 100 days have been very busy – but very productive too. Tackling inequality is a major priority. Greens are promoting a Living Wage for the city.
Already, around 340 of the lowest paid council staff and school workers are set to see their wages rise to £7.19 an hour. A Living Wage Commission starts work in October, with business leaders, public sector bodies and trade unions all taking part. We’ve taken steps to reduce the ratio between the highest and lowest paid council workers.
And we’ve started with both the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council taking a voluntary reduction in their salaries.
We’re working with partners to increase the number of apprenticeships available in the most deprived areas of the city. And we’re exploring all possible avenues to provide more affordable and sustainable homes, as well as a Tenants Scrutiny Panel to give council tenants the right to scrutinize any issue of concern to them about the way their homes are managed.
We want a Greener city too, of course. One of the first announcements of the Green administration was the launch of the largest programme of solar panel installation ever seen in the city. Clean energy and local jobs. The Green New Deal in action.
Where were you on 9/11, and did it change your world-view?
I won’t write a long blog post with my thoughts on 9/11 – it has been covered in detail by every media outlet already. Neither was I doing anything of interest that day other than watching the TV in horror.
But if I am to be honest, I’d say the London terrorist attacks of July 7th 2005 affected my political views more than 9/11 did. Perhaps it was the proximity.
What were you doing on Sept 11th 2001? And did the terrorist attacks change your views or reinforced what you already believed?
Even the business lobby now recognise austerity isn’t working
This week brought a new wave of recognition about the poor state of the UK’s economic prospects, and the risks that austerity poses for generating the demand we need to secure the recovery.
With independent forecasts now anticipating growth of only 1.3% over the rest of the year (and the OECD predicting even less), global recovery slowing, household and business confidence falling across the UK as well as the rest of the world, and unemployment starting to rise – even stagnation is starting to look like a positive outcome.
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The other, forgotten, 9/11 tragedy
contribution by Dan Smith
“That 11 September, that lethal Tuesday morning, I awoke with dread to the sound of planes flying above my house,” wrote Ariel Dorfman in the New Statesman recently. “When, an hour later, I saw smoke billowing from the centre of the city, I knew that life had changed for me, for my country, forever”.
Dorfman – contrary to popular assumption – was not writing about New York in 2001. He was describing events 28 years earlier in Chile. Chile 1973 is the forgotten 9/11.
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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