Six ways Chris Huhne could actually help people, on energy bills

by Guest    
October 18, 2011 at 9:10 am

contribution by Jamie Brown

Yesterday Chris Huhne called a press conference to let the public know how to deal with rising energy costs.

The emphasis is really on public as the “Big Six” energy companies gathered did little other than to send out letters to their customers urging them to switch tariff.

This does nothing to address the real problems facing energy consumers.
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Brilliant: US marine takes on NYPD #OWS

by Sunny Hundal    
October 18, 2011 at 8:20 am

Yesterday, US Marine Corps Sgt. Shamar Thomas took on police from NYPD, shouting at them for their brutal tactics.

The whole video is great to watch, but the last minute is especially poignant.

Prison doesn’t work, says major report

by Sunny Hundal    
October 17, 2011 at 8:17 pm

An enquiry into whether intensive community sentences were more effective in stopping persistent, low-level offending than short prison terms effectively says prison does not work.

The report – ‘Community or Custody?’ – features a foreword by Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne, who says:

If our key goal is to reduce the number of victims of crime then we really need to take seriously the lessons emerging from rehabilitation programmes like these.

By contrast the argument at Westminster can be woefully informed, and it is easy to see why. Let’s take the example of the influential recent pamphlet by the former Tory Chairman Michael Ashcroft entitled ‘Crime, Punishment and the People.’ Lord Ashcroft’s study is based on opinion polling and this is what he writes: “Even short sentences, though offering too little time for proper rehabilitation, give the public respite from the prolific offenders who commit the most crime. Community sentences, the alternative to prison, command woefully little public support.”

The problem with Lord Ashcroft’s comment is that most people, including many of us in the media, have no idea of the range of community sentences that are available – there is a huge difference between a community payback sentence and the ones I visited.

The report makes a series of recommendations to ensure community sentences can be a real and effective alternative to short prison sentences.

These include:

? While rehabilitation is integral, victims and the wider public must be confident that community sentences are tough and effective.

? Reparation must be a central part of an intensive community sentence. Offenders should understand the impact of their crimes on their communities and victims and work to restore damage caused.

? Victim-awareness activities should be included in all community orders and the option of Restorative Justice conferencing should be available to all courts.

? Offenders who breach the conditions of their order must face a firm and swift response. Schemes should be encouraged to explore proactive and positive ways of ensuring compliance. Offenders, their victims and the wider public need to understand that an alternative to custody is not a soft-option and that it makes tough demands

See their websites – Make Justice Work and Community or Custody

Watch: Polly Toynbee wipes floor with TPA

by Sunny Hundal    
October 17, 2011 at 5:38 pm

The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee and the Taxpayers’ Alliance Jonathan Isaby went head-to-head on Sky News today.

Toynbee slams Isaby: “If you stood for Taxpayers then you’d be out there with them.” Isaby admits Britain’s banking regulations broke down.

But the way Toynbee lays into the TPA at the end is a joy to behold

(via Tom Miller on Facebook)

Why today’s growth downgrade is further bad news for the govt

by Duncan Weldon    
October 17, 2011 at 2:56 pm

The Item Club has downgraded it’s growth forecasts for the UK once again – from a forecast of 1.4% for 2011 (made only three months ago) down to just 0.9%, implying growth of only 0.4% in the third and fourth quarters.

It is also downgrading its 2012 forecast from a reasonable 2.2% to a more pedestrian 1.5%.

Downgrades to UK growth forecasts are sadly no longer big news, they seem to happen with alarming frequency but this one may be more significant. Crucially, the Item Club uses the same economic model as the Treasury, which just happens to be the same model used by the OBR.
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#occupylsx: yes, but what are they advocating instead?

by Dave Osler    
October 17, 2011 at 2:22 pm

Yes, but what are they advocating instead? That question is rapidly becoming the standard rightwing putdown of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the similar demonstrations it has inspired elsewhere, now including London’s #occupylsx.

Hacks penning hatchet jobs on this one have two ways into the story. One option is to start by stressing widespread sympathy for the participants, many of whom are nice boys and girls from good families. It’s just that there is no getting round the fact that the financial sector pays the bills around here, and that the protestors have no coherent alternative to offer.

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How even local papers are rebelling on disability cuts

by Sue Marsh    
October 17, 2011 at 11:02 am

Since Employment and Support Allowance was introduced back in 2008, campaigners and those affected have warned that it is flawed. Not because people must face assessment to qualify for support but because the wrong people are declared “fit for work”.

People clearly too disabled to work get harassed and pressurised into work programmes they clearly cannot comply with, while the number of “cheats” or “scroungers” caught, remains at exactly the same level it always did.

I live in a safe, Sussex, Conservative seat with a 17,000 majority. Our local press is just as conservative, though with a smaller “c”.

This week, the Headline splashed in maximum sized font across the Worthing Herald screams:

Meanwhile, the Bognor Regis Observer carries this starkest of headlines: ‘I’LL BE LEFT TO DIE ALONE BECAUSE OF CUTBACKS‘

It goes on to explain how a local man with a progressive muscle-wasting disease, bedridden and unable even to draw up his own insulin has had his full time carer cut, left with just 5 hours a day and no night time care.

To give one graphic example from the story, he explains how in he event of a fire, he would have to burn alive, unable to move independently.

Stories like this become more and more common up and down the country, in every local paper, in every community centre.

Once more, I urge the government to halt the roll-out of ESA to 1.9 million of our most vulnerable people until it can be made safe and “fit for purpose”.

—
A longer version is at Diary of a Benefits Scounger

What do the ‘occupy’ movements mean for politicians and unions?

by Guest    
October 17, 2011 at 10:45 am

contribution by Owen Tudor

Everyone – regardless of whether they’re involved – has their own explanation of the meaning of this weekend’s 950 worldwide “occupy” protests which have their roots variously in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, Greece’s Syntagma Square, Rothschild Boulevard in Israel and Wall Street in the USA.

The prize for breath-taking chutzpah must go to Foreign Secretary William Hague who told the BBC that he could understand popular concern about ”too many debts built up by states”.
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Do rich people pay excessive tax? Here’s why they don’t

by Tim Fenton    
October 17, 2011 at 9:10 am

Some figures out there on the right enjoy a popularity within their chosen constituency greater than mainstream politicians. One such is MEP Daniel Hannan, much loved by the “stars” of Fox News and libertarians in the UK.

Hannan is also a valued member of the bear pit that is Telegraph blogland, where yesterday he joined the chorus rubbishing the protests outside the London Stock Exchange and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Look at all the tax the top 10% are paying, urged Dan.
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FT: #OccupyWallstreet ‘cannot be ignored’

by Sunny Hundal    
October 17, 2011 at 8:01 am

Wow, this is very nice surprise.

The Financial Times has published an editorial today supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement.

It says:

So far the protests in the US have been largely peaceful. They may be diffuse and inchoate. But the fundamental call for a fairer distribution of wealth cannot be ignored. What is at stake is the future of the American dream. The bargain has always been that all who work hard should have an opportunity for prosperity. That dream has been shattered by a crisis brought about by financial excess and political cynicism. The consequence has been growing in­equality, rising poverty and sacrifice by those least able to bear it – all of which are failing to deliver economic growth.

The frustration of protesters railing against the global financial system, and of the 54 per cent of Americans who polls suggest support their calls, is legitimate. The wonder is why it has taken so long for citizens to come out in popular protest across political boundaries. For the last three years, the country has been paralysed by a political gridlock that has put its future on the line.
…
Politicians in both camps have failed to spot and channel the righteous anger of those who have seen government spend billions on bailing out banks, while bickering over how to create jobs or educate children. One opportunity after another has been squandered – most recently in the failure promptly to pass a proper jobs bill.

It ends by saying that this “cry for change” must be “heeded”.

Last week the New York Times also published an editorial supporting the OWS movement.

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