The Scottish independence campaigners have a long list of grievances. But they ARE treated equally

...as KJ explains to Fee..

SOURCE GUARDIAN: The great migration south: 80% of new private sector jobs are in London
It's not just private sector jobs: London has also bucked the national trend by seeing an increase in public sector employment. The brain drain meant that every major city outside the south-east is losing young people to London. The report by the think tank Centre for Cities highlights the need for better infrastructure, investment in skills and reforms to planning, and noted that Bradford, Sheffield, Bristol, Southampton, Blackpool and Glasgow saw employment shrink in both private and public sectors. Britain is one of the world's most centralised countries. In Germany the government is in Berlin, the financial centre is Frankfurt and there are cultural hubs in Hamburg and Munich. In the UK, London has it all. What's more, the UK Treasury keeps a much tighter hold of the purse strings than finance ministries in other rich nations. Local government raises 17% of its income from local taxation in the UK, compared to an average of 55% for other members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of more than 30 rich countries.

NOTE: The Tories criticised the accuracy of these figures. There is a disagreement over what constitutes a private sector job. The authors of the above report define, for example, jobs at GPs and universities as public sector, even though they are privately run. That's because budgets and employment levels are determined by government. The Office of National Statistics calls them private. Here's a summary of the disagreement by FullFact, who themselves had to update their own conclusion on seeing new data in July 2014.

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Graphs at a glance: Workers driven from full to part time work is the only reason employment is holding up

Graphs at a glance: the destruction of Manufacturing jobs during the last Labour government

Democracy puts strength in the hands of the many. Why in democratic Britain are the 90% treated like cattle for milking and for eating?

Graphs at a glance: See how local authority cuts have hit the poorest areas first and hardest

When will you die? The impact of occupation, unemployment, and geography on death rates in Britain

Read More

The Scottish independence campaigners have a long list of grievances. But they ARE treated equally

...as KJ explains to Fee..

SOURCE GUARDIAN: The great migration south: 80% of new private sector jobs are in London
It's not just private sector jobs: London has also bucked the national trend by seeing an increase in public sector employment. The brain drain meant that every major city outside the south-east is losing young people to London. The report by the think tank Centre for Cities highlights the need for better infrastructure, investment in skills and reforms to planning, and noted that Bradford, Sheffield, Bristol, Southampton, Blackpool and Glasgow saw employment shrink in both private and public sectors. Britain is one of the world's most centralised countries. In Germany the government is in Berlin, the financial centre is Frankfurt and there are cultural hubs in Hamburg and Munich. In the UK, London has it all. What's more, the UK Treasury keeps a much tighter hold of the purse strings than finance ministries in other rich nations. Local government raises 17% of its income from local taxation in the UK, compared to an average of 55% for other members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of more than 30 rich countries.

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Graphs at a glance: Workers driven from full to part time work is the only reason employment is holding up

Graphs at a glance: the destruction of Manufacturing jobs during the last Labour government

Democracy puts strength in the hands of the many. Why in democratic Britain are the 90% treated like cattle for milking and for eating?

Graphs at a glance: See how local authority cuts have hit the poorest areas first and hardest

When will you die? The impact of occupation, unemployment, and geography on death rates in Britain

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 27th February)

Government accused of suppressing the damning report that its flagship welfare reforms are forcing ever more people to turn to food banks

The report was finally published by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs today morning amid suggestions that it had been “slipped out” while the floods were still in the news. It concluded that there was “growing demand” for emergency food because of increased need. This directly contradicts the position of Work and Pensions minister Lord Freud, who claimed last summer that the expansion of charities such as The Trussell Trust had driven the demand. INDEPENDENT

Atos seeks early exit from fit-to-work tests contract

Staff carrying out work capability assessments for Atos have received death threats online and in person, according to the Financial Times. In a statement, Atos pledged to carry on undertaking the tests until a new company was in a position to take over. But the government said that standards at Atos had declined unacceptably. Disability campaigners have described the work tests as "ridiculously harsh and extremely unfair". BBC NEWS

Atos awarded contract for NHS records

The beleagured firm Atos has been given the contract to extract patient records from GP surgeries as part of the controversial NHS data sharing scheme. MPs expressed concern when Max Jones, director of information and data services, for the Health and Social Care Information Centre, disclosed that the contract to extract data from GP records will be held by Atos, a firm which has attracted previous controversy. Mr Jones said that once data has been extracted from GP surgeries, it would be held in a “safe haven” held by the centre. Select committees raised fears that the disclosure could further damage public confidence in the NHS data scheme, raising fears that personal medical data would be passed to those assessing benefit claims. TELEGRAPH

IMF study finds inequality is damaging to economic growth

The International Monetary Fund has backed economists who argue that inequality is a drag on growth in a discussion paper that has also dismissed rightwing theories that efforts to redistribute incomes are self-defeating. The Washington-based organisation, which advises governments on sustainable growth, said countries with high levels of inequality suffered lower growth than nations that distributed incomes more evenly. Backing analysis by the Keynesian economist and Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, it warned that inequality can also make growth more volatile and create the unstable conditions for a sudden slowdown in GDP growth. And in what is likely to be viewed as its most controversial conclusion, the IMF said analysis of various efforts to redistribute incomes showed they had a neutral effect on GDP growth. This last point is expected to dismay rightwing politicians who argue that overcoming inequality robs the rich of incentives to invest and the poor of incentives to work and is counter-productive. GUARDIAN

RBS to reignite bankers' pay row with bonus pot of £550m set to be revealed amid £8bn annual loss

RBS, which is just over 80 per cent owned by the Government, is thought to be heading for an annual loss of close to £8billion for 2013 after it stunned the City last month by revealing a string of scandal-related financial charges worth more than £3billion. Its latest round of provisions include £1.9billion to cover mainly US penalties over mortgage-backed financial products, an extra £465million to payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation and another £500million for mis-selling of interest rate swaps to small businesses. The bank was already facing bad debt write downs of up to £4.5billion in the creation of an internal 'bad bank' to wind down toxic loans. DAILY MAIL

Minimum wage: The Low Pay Commission backs a 3% increase

The Business Secretary Vince Cable said it would be the first increase in real terms since 2008 if the government accepts the proposal. "It is faster than inflation and that is the first time in six years that has happened," he said. But general secretary of the Unite Union, Len McCluskey said: "This increase is a slap in the face for low paid workers." At present, the minimum wage is £6.31 an hour for adults and £5.03 an hour for 18 to 20-year-olds. Mr McCluskey said "An hourly rise of 19p for adults is an insult when the minimum cost of living has increased by a staggering 25% since the beginning of the economic crisis." The government usually accepts the Low Pay Commission's recommendations. In January Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC "I believe Britain can afford an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage, so we restore its real value for people, and so we have a recovery for all, and work always pays." BBC NEWS

HomeServe hit with record £30.6m fine for duping families into buying expensive insurance for broken boilers and blocked drains

The Financial Services Authority issued the penalty after it found HomeServe had ‘serious, systemic and long running failings, extending across many key aspects of its business’. The fine comes on top of some £16.8million HomeServe is paying in refunds to thousands of wronged customers who took out the policies because of misleading information and hard sell tactics. The company, which styles itself as the UK’s ‘fifth emergency service’ used to have three million customers in this country, holding 7.5million policies. However this began falling significantly after it cut its sales team in the wake of the investigation. It had been expected that customer numbers would bottom out at 2million. DAILY MAIL

Think you know how much your pension costs? 'Hidden' scheme charges and how you can find out how much you're paying

Pensions minister Steve Webb has announced today that all defined contribution workplace pension providers will have to offer complete transparency to savers and employers about how much they are being charged for their pension. The Government will submit an amendment to the Pensions Bill designed to crack down on the hidden charges that over the course of a career can have a huge impact on your total pension pot. Even clued-up pension savers may not be aware they are being charged not only an annual management charge, but also a host of other fees related to the investment of their pension contributions. DAILY MAIL

Ordinary workers are being shut out of the economic recovery and just one in 50 say they are better off than last year

The findings by the TUC suggest that ordinary workers are simply not seeing any improvement in their bank balances and their wages have remained too low. But there is one group of people whose wages have trebled over the past decade – company directors. Last month, official figures showed that real wage growth had actually fallen 2.2 per cent since the start of 2010. Real wages grew by an average of 2.9 per cent in the 1970s and 1980s, 1.5 per cent in the 1990s, 1.2 per cent in the 2000s despite each one of those decades seeing at least one recession. In the first three days of the year chief executives of top companies earn what their workers can expect to receive during the whole of 2014. The pay of these executives has trebled over the past decade while real wages have stagnated for ordinary workers. DAILY MAIL

Energy firms told to trade fairly with smaller rivals

The "big six" energy firms are being told to trade with small energy suppliers fairly, or face heavy fines. Regulator Ofgem says its plan will make it easier for new suppliers to enter the market, and will improve the transparency of the firms' accounts. The firms, such as E.On and British Gas, will have to publish wholesale power prices two years in advance. This will make it easier for small companies to buy energy and re-sell it to domestic and industrial customers. But the consumers' association Which? said the latest measures only "scratched the surface" of the changes needed to benefit consumers. "We want a full competition inquiry so that hard-pressed consumers can be confident that the market works well for them, as well as shareholders, and that the price they pay is fair," said Which? executive director Richard Lloyd. MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) said in July that "working out exactly how their profits are made requires forensic accountants". BBC NEWS

Home ownership in England falls to lowest level in 25 years

The latest English housing survey showed that the proportion of homes lived in by owner-ocupiers had dropped to 65.2%, down from 71% in 2003 and its lowest level since 1987. Ownership levels have been driven down by rising prices and tougher mortgage criteria, and charities have called on the government to increase the number of affordable homes being built. Campbell Robb, Shelter's chief executive, said: "These figures confirm the historic shift that people across the country are already feeling. As house prices rise, the dream of a stable home is drifting further out of reach. The survey also showed that the number of private tenants also overtook those in social housing for first time in 2012/13, according to English housing survey. 3.9m of the country's 22m households were living in private rented homes in 2012/13, compared with 3.7m social renters. In 1980, when the records began, there were 2m private and 5.3m council tenants, but the sell-off of council properties through right-to-buy, a number of changes in the private sector and, in recent years, falling home ownership, have caused the turnaround. GUARDIAN

Read More

ATOS exits from fit-to-work testing. Did they fail? Or just do their job: make us think vast numbers are faking disability

SOURCE BBC NEWS: Atos seeks early exit from fit-to-work tests contract

Staff carrying out work capability assessments for Atos have received death threats online and in person, according to the Financial Times. In a statement, Atos pledged to carry on undertaking the tests until a new company was in a position to take over. But the government said that standards at Atos had declined unacceptably. Disability campaigners have described the work tests as "ridiculously harsh and extremely unfair".

OUR RELATED STORIES:

How many, Cameron? Only 160 out of 4.8m get more than £50k housing benefit. See all the exaggerated stats on this, disability allowances and jobs

Despite clear official warnings, Cameron's "cuts for cuts sake" cut the flood defence budget in 2010. See the data, and all the other such cuts so far

See how the vicious circle of FTSE100 pay hikes keeps fat cat pay rising, recession or not

How to massage your corporate accounts and hit your fat cat performance targets. An ABC guide

Case study: How Barnet Council outsources so someone else will do the dirty work of cutting the jobs, wages, and services for them

Graphs at a glance: Graph: Workers driven from full to part time work is the only reason employment is holding up

1 in 20 homicide cases now fail solely due to court budget cuts. Read the facts

Read More

Graphs at a glance: the little fibs that provide cover for the Tory policy of cutting benefits

February 2014 saw a spat on morality between Catholic and Anglican bishops on the one side and Conservative politicians on the other. While the angels may have been with the bishops, the angles were clearly with the Tories. In response David Cameron wrote a piece for the Daily Telegraph titled  

"Why the Archbishop of Westminster is wrong about welfare: Our plan for Britain is not just about saving money, but about doing what is right".

Apparently the Tories are very confident that the electorate back their welfare cuts. In his letter to the Telegraph Cameron trotted out some of the key angles used to keep us voters onside. We take a closer look at these.

1) Benefits claimants are raking in over £60k a year in handouts:
Cameron wrote:

"in London there were people claiming truly astonishing sums of £60,000, £70,000, £80,000 a year."

The reality, shown in a report done for the Department of Works and Pensions in 2011, is that only 160 people out of 4.8 million benefited from a handout of more than £50,000 for housing benefit. That is fewer than 1 person in 30,000. 96% of claimants received less than £10,000 per year.

2) There are people claiming Disability Living Allowance who are not disabled.
Cameron wrote:

"A system where hundreds of thousands of people were put on Incapacity Benefit and never reassessed, essentially taken off the books and forgotten about."

Perhaps Cameron sees himself as a modern day Saint Peter:

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

(Acts of the Apostles 3:1 - 3:8)

 
Cameron used a different method to make the disabled abled. He changed the definition of 'disabled'. Prior to the reforms one was eligible for transport related benefits if one could not walk more than 50 metres at a time. By changing the rule to not being able to walk more than 20 metres, as if by miracle thousands of people's "feet and ankles became strong" and they were sent out to walk unaided!

3) Cutting benefits will starve the lazy unemployed into getting off their sofas into one of those 500,000 vacancies.
Cameron wrote:

"Whatever your religious or spiritual perspective, I believe very firmly that it is wrong to penalise those who work hard and do the right thing while rewarding those who can work, but don’t."

Less than a quarter of Housing Benefit recipients are unemployed, according to figures from the DWP. More than a half are pensioners and employed people.

The number of people chasing jobs (including the unemployed and people on temporary and part-time work looking for full time jobs) is way more than the number of vacancies according to DWP figures:

https://www.facebook.com/forfactssake

The call to starve out the unemployed has many immoralities. Cameron's crusade to stop rewarding "those who can work, but don't" provides him with cover to cut benefits for everyone. Perhaps Cameron's bedtime reading extends to the 12th century crusade against the Cathar heretics in southern France. At the culmination of the siege of the town of Bezier the soldiers asked their leader how they could tell the difference between good Christians and naughty Cathars (who were also a variety of Christian). Their leader said:

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius

Kill them all. God will know his own.

 
In the year to September 2013 nearly 900,000 people had their benefits stopped.

"figures showed that in the past year nearly 900,000 people have had their benefits stopped, the highest figure for any 12-month period since jobseeker's allowance was introduced in 1996. In recent months, however, 58% of those who wanted to overturn DWP sanction decisions in independent tribunals have been successful. Before 2010, the success rate of appeals was 20% or less."

The high rate of decisions being overturned by independent tribunals must be galling to Cameron. But they are sharper than a serpent's tooth at the Department of Works and Pensions. You would expect no less from the people who reduced the number of disabled people claiming travel benefits by redefining 'disabled'. 

The Guardian got its hands on a leaked DWP document, in which it is proposed to charge people a fee to appeal against DWP decisions. Taking money off people who have been denied money because they don't have any money will surely bring down the number of appeals.

David Cameron concluded his epistle to the Telegraph:

"Seeing these [benefits] reforms through is at the heart of our long-term economic plan – and it is at the heart, too, of our social and moral mission in politics today."

Another Hoorah for Tory morality!

Read More

Graphs at a glance: the little fibs that provide cover for the Tory policy of cutting benefits

February 2014 saw a spat on morality between Catholic and Anglican bishops on the one side and Conservative politicians on the other. 

While the angels may have been with the bishops, the angles were clearly with the Tories. 


In response David Cameron wrote a piece for the Daily Telegraph titled  

"Why the Archbishop of Westminster is wrong about welfare: Our plan for Britain is not just about saving money, but about doing what is right".

Apparently the Tories are very confident that the electorate back their welfare cuts. In his letter to the Telegraph Cameron trotted out some of the key angles used to keep us voters onside. We take a closer look at these.

1) Benefits claimants are raking in over £60k a year in handouts:
Cameron wrote:

"in London there were people claiming truly astonishing sums of £60,000, £70,000, £80,000 a year."

The reality, shown in a report done for the Department of Works and Pensions in 2011, is that only 160 people out of 4.8 million benefited from a handout of more than £50,000 for housing benefit. That is fewer than 1 person in 30,000. 96% of claimants received less than £10,000 per year.

2) There are people claiming Disability Living Allowance who are not disabled.
Cameron wrote:

"A system where hundreds of thousands of people were put on Incapacity Benefit and never reassessed, essentially taken off the books and forgotten about."

Perhaps Cameron sees himself as a modern day Saint Peter:

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

(Acts of the Apostles 3:1 - 3:8)

 
Cameron used a different method to make the disabled abled. He changed the definition of 'disabled'. Prior to the reforms one was eligible for transport related benefits if one could not walk more than 50 metres at a time. By changing the rule to not being able to walk more than 20 metres, as if by miracle thousands of people's "feet and ankles became strong" and they were sent out to walk unaided!

3) Cutting benefits will starve the lazy unemployed into getting off their sofas into one of those 500,000 vacancies.
Cameron wrote:

"Whatever your religious or spiritual perspective, I believe very firmly that it is wrong to penalise those who work hard and do the right thing while rewarding those who can work, but don’t."

Less than a quarter of Housing Benefit recipients are unemployed, according to figures from the DWP. More than a half are pensioners and employed people.

The number of people chasing jobs (including the unemployed and people on temporary and part-time work looking for full time jobs) is way more than the number of vacancies according to DWP figures:

https://www.facebook.com/forfactssake

The call to starve out the unemployed has many immoralities. Cameron's crusade to stop rewarding "those who can work, but don't" provides him with cover to cut benefits for everyone. Perhaps Cameron's bedtime reading extends to the 12th century crusade against the Cathar heretics in southern France. At the culmination of the siege of the town of Bezier the soldiers asked their leader how they could tell the difference between good Christians and naughty Cathars (who were also a variety of Christian). Their leader said:

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius

Kill them all. God will know his own.

 
In the year to September 2013 nearly 900,000 people had their benefits stopped.

"figures showed that in the past year nearly 900,000 people have had their benefits stopped, the highest figure for any 12-month period since jobseeker's allowance was introduced in 1996. In recent months, however, 58% of those who wanted to overturn DWP sanction decisions in independent tribunals have been successful. Before 2010, the success rate of appeals was 20% or less."

The high rate of decisions being overturned by independent tribunals must be galling to Cameron. But they are sharper than a serpent's tooth at the Department of Works and Pensions. You would expect no less from the people who reduced the number of disabled people claiming travel benefits by redefining 'disabled'. 

The Guardian got its hands on a leaked DWP document, in which it is proposed to charge people a fee to appeal against DWP decisions. Taking money off people who have been denied money because they don't have any money will surely bring down the number of appeals.

David Cameron concluded his epistle to the Telegraph:

"Seeing these [benefits] reforms through is at the heart of our long-term economic plan – and it is at the heart, too, of our social and moral mission in politics today."

Another Hoorah for Tory morality!

Read More

It’s not only food banks. 5,000 were admitted to hospital with malnutrition in the last year

Chris, Fee and KJ take a step closer to understanding Cameron's moral compass...

SOURCE TELEGRAPH: Bishops condemn Government welfare reforms
In an open letter 27 bishops have criticised Government welfare reforms saying that too many people were having to choose between "heat or eat" as a result of "cut backs and failures in the benefit system." The Anglican bishops write: "Half a million people have visited food banks in the UK since last Easter and 5,500 people were admitted to hospital in the UK for malnutrition last year."
SOURCE GUARDIAN: David Cameron defends 'moral mission' on welfare
David Cameron has defended the government's welfare changes in the face of criticism from the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, insisting they were part of his "moral mission" for the country. In his response the PM said: "...they are about giving new purpose, new opportunity, new hope – and yes, new responsibility to people who had previously been written off with no chance. Seeing these reforms through is at the heart of our long-term economic plan – and it is at the heart too of our social and moral mission in politics today."

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Despite clear official warnings, Cameron's "cuts for cuts sake" cut the flood defence budget in 2010. See the data, and all the other such cuts so far

Graphs at a glance: Government policy of cutting the cost of Justice risks denying justice for the innocent and the guilty

To avoid their obligation to build unprofitable affordable housing, developers can pay councils to do it instead. But London councils are sitting on this £160m bonanza, leaving 1,600 homes unbuilt

Graphs at a glance: how local authority spending cuts have hit areas by level of deprivation

Graphs at a glance: Impact of occupation, unemployment, and geography on death rates in Britain

Graphs at a glance: Government spending on education, health and other services are being cut to pre-1948 levels

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 20th February)

Unpaid intern sues British fashion house Alexander McQueen for wages

The fashion house founded by the late designer Alexander McQueen is being sued by a former intern who worked unpaid for four months. Rachel Watson – not her real name but the one her lawyers want used – is claiming up to £6,415 in "lost wages" and says the fashion house broke the law by not paying her the national minimum wage. Watson's internship in 2009-10 included drawing artwork for embroidery, repairing embellished clothing, and dyeing large quantities of fabric. GUARDIAN

More than one million workers face the axe in 'largest public sector cull for 50 years'

As many as two in every five public sector workers could face losing their job over the next five years if the government goes ahead with its planned cuts. However because the government has ringfenced cuts to the NHS and schools, the rest of the workforce, in areas such as policing, defence and public administration, faces an even higher ratio of job cuts. The cuts would dwarf cuts of 350,000 seen in the early 1990s. The increase of 600,000 in the public sector seen under the Labour governments of the first decade of this century would be more than reversed. The impact of the decline in public sector employment will vary in different parts of the country, and dramatically changing the nature of the UK labour market. The percentage of workforce in the public sector is largest in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East and smallest in London, the West Midlands and the South East. DAILY MAIL

Over 2.6m households spend more on bills than they earn - and their monthly shortfall has doubled in a year

Figures from Legal & General show that one in eight homes (12.6 per cent) are struggling to cover their bills – up from one in ten last year. Households who struggle to pay their bills suffer a shortfall of £85, up by over 50 per cent in the last year. In some regions the average shortfall is considerably higher. The dire findings by Legal & General’s 'Moneymood survey' comes despite the fall in inflation to 1.9 per cent, which is likely to ease the strain on household's disposable incomes. But although inflation dipped to a low last seen in November 2009, the number of people who don't have enough cash for their bills has shot up by 756,000 to 2.6million up from 1.9million last year. The cost of gas and electricity has been one of the largest contributors to inflation over the last 27 months. DAILY MAIL

SFO charges three ex-Barclays bankers over Libor rigging

The charges were announced by the SFO and takes the total number of individuals facing criminal proceedings over allegation linked to Libor-rigging to six. The SFO is continuing to investigate the manipulation of benchmark interest rates and further charges are expected. David Green, director-general of the SFO, described the investigation into Libor as "enormous" and said he was "sure" more individuals would be charged in connection with the allegations. The three charged men, Peter Johnson, Jonathan Mathew and Stylianos Contogoulas, were among a list of 104 current and former Barclays bankers who last year attempted to keep their identities anonymous as part of a legal case brought against the bank by a care home operator that claims it was defrauded into buying interest rate hedging products. Barclays declined to comment. TELEGRAPH

Bank of England governor calls for bankers' bonuses to be deferred

Mark Carney has stepped into the row about bankers' bonuses with a demand that a large chunk of the pay packages for senior staff should be deferred "for a very long time". Carney's comments followed news last week that Barclays was paying bigger bonuses despite announcing plans to shed staff in response to a fall in profits. Carney said the Bank of England now had the powers to step in and limit bonus payments if a bank was deemed to have inadequate levels of capital. GUARDIAN

Half of rail passengers dissatisfied with train companies

A survey of 7,000 regular travellers by the consumer campaigns group Which? in November last year, showed that Greater Anglia and Southeastern had a satisfaction score of only 40 per cent, while the best-performing company was Merseyrail. A fifth of commuters said they did not have a seat on their last journey, and over 10 per cent said toilets were not in good working order, rising to 20 per cent for London Midland, 19 per cent for Southeastern and 17 per cent for First Capital Connect (FCC). Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Seven rail franchises end in the next two years and we want to see passengers' experiences put right at the heart of the tender process so companies respond to consumer expectations and can be held to account if they don't.” INDEPENDENT

David Cameron defends 'moral mission' on welfare against criticism by Archbishop Nichols

Cameron was responding to strong criticism by the head of the Catholic church in the UK, archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, that recent changes to the benefits system had left many people facing hunger and destitution. Nichols said: "There must be something wrong with the administration of a system which has that effect on so many people's lives." Cameron replied: "Our welfare reforms... are about giving new purpose, new opportunity, new hope – and yes, new responsibility to people who had previously been written off with no chance.” Cameron said that making people stand “on their own two feet” was a moral issue, adding: “Seeing these reforms through is at the heart of our long-term economic plan – and it is at the heart too of our social and moral mission in politics today." GUARDIAN

Read More

So the Giant NHS Database Care.Data has been postponed. Is that a good thing?

The "Care.Data" national health database has been postponed because in spite of the NHS apparently sending leaflets to every household in England (I can't remember receiving one) most people don't know about it. As, according to the BBC, there is a 66% chance you don't remember either, we will help you out.

For balance, we offer you two videos at the bottom of this post:

1) From the NHS explaining what Care.Data is and why it is a good idea

2) From a YouTube video, forwarded to us by an old friend, explaining why it isn't. (This video starts off in a foreign language, but after 40 seconds moves into English).

The key issue is whether our personal data will remain confidential. What do we think? Well, confidentiality of this data will be maintained so long as you trust politicians

a) to stand up to the generous lobbying of those who would like to intrude into our confidentiality. 

b) not to use the database to further cut public spending by filtering and selecting which of us will and won't get the benefits of public services and allowances.

There are those who will swear misuse of the data will never happen. But in February 2014 the Department of Health proposed that a patient's economic value should be taken into account when deciding on healthcare. Sir Andrew Dillon, head of the National Institute for Healthcare and Excellence (NICE, who set national healthcare budgets and priorities), disagreed saying:

"What we don't want to say is those 10 years you have between 70 and 80, although clearly you are not going to be working, are not going to be valuable to somebody.

Clearly they are. You might be doing all sorts of very useful things for your family or local society. That's what we are worried about and that's the problem with the Department of Health's calculation.

There are lots of people who adopt the fair-innings approach; 'you've had 70 years of life you've got to accept that society is going to bias its investments in younger people."

Sir Andrew may resist. But you only have to look as far as the Department of Education's defenestration of the chair of OFSTED to see how easy it is to replace the Sir Andrews of this world.

Saving money by limiting healthcare for older people is easy - it's hard to hide your age. Will Care.Data make it hard to hide your aches from NHS accountants?

But we wouldn't want to influence you, so we won't tell you what we think. Just see the videos:

Read More

Cutting benefits will push people into work? There are 5 seeking work for every 1 available job!

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Cameron's indiscriminate cuts in 2010 included £100m from flood defence. He didn't expect the weather to show him up so soon. What else will be washed away in the flood of public spending cuts?

Case study: How Barnet Council outsources so someone else will do the dirty work of cutting the jobs, wages, and services for them

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It has to be said that David Cameron had a heavy dose of bad luck with the floods in the first part of 2014. If only the flooding had waited another two years then his party's performance at the 2014 local elections and the 2015 General Election would have been better.

Cameron's government took the bet that cutting spending on flood defences would not be noticed during his term in office. Rather like a man who reckons he won't get caught driving without insurance so long as he doesn't get into a crash. 

A gambling man would say it was a good bet. A gambling man would look at the statistics from the Met Office to see there hasn't been such a deluge in over 60 years since the 1940s. Chances were it wouldn't happen, but chancers usually get caught out in the end.

Cameron, in a Louis XV of France "Après moi, le déluge" moment, gambled on the deluge coming only after he had gone. Louis XV's prediction came true after he had handed over to his son Louix XVI who lost his head in the French Revolution. For Cameron the deluge came early.

Poor Cameron. Even his fib about government spending was quickly rebutted by a Parliament Research Paper quoting the civil servants at DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Cameron claimed, in Prime Minister's Questions of 5th February 2014:

"Let me answer very directly the issue about flooding. This Government have spent £2.4 billion over this four-year period, which is more than the £2.2 billion spent under the previous Government"

Figures from DEFRA giving spending plans as at January 2014 disagreed.


The Parliamentary Briefing Paper quoted figures from DEFRA showing that in both Cash Terms (i.e. number of pounds) and Real Terms (i.e. adjusting for inflation) planned spending as at January 2014 was lower than during the last four years of Labour government upto 2010. Cameron's promise that "money is no object" will push the spending up, though we will have to wait for the next deluge to see if it has been enough.

The consequences of his lost gamble cannot have come as a surprise to Cameron. The Tories were warned of the consequences of their spending plans, to keep flood defence spending at the same cash level as 2008-09. The Commons Climate Change Committee stated in a 2012 report:

If this spend level were to continue over the next 25 years, the Environment Agency estimate that properties in significant risk would increase from 330,000 today to 570,000 in 2035

Gamblers are optimists. Few people gamble expecting to lose. Cameron hopes that the chances of getting drenched a second time before the 2015 election are low.

Government spending cuts have no doubt identified great waste. Continuing cuts are equally without doubt degrading public services and infrastructure. Cameron hopes that he will have left the casino before the cards turn against him again.

From OBR report http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-december-2013/

We Britons, on the other hand, can't leave the casino - what to Cameron is a casino to us is Britain. At least with the floods we see an immediate and direct link between spending cuts gamble and the watery wreck and ruin. The consequences of other cuts will take longer to become apparent, and will therefore be too entrenched to be sorted out by people wearing wellies.

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