Graphs at a glance: Why don't the young vote? If you really support your local candidate, get your kids out of bed to the ballot!

2,400 or so years ago an ancient Greek, possibly the philosopher Socrates, said:"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."2,400 or so years later another figure from the past, Michael Gove MP formerly Secretary of State for Education, was still searching for bright ideas to get the young...

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 29th January)

Tax crackdown on the rich: HMRC Affluent Unit nets an extra £137mHMRC's Affluent Unit covering UK residents on annual incomes over £150,000 - or wealth over £1m - raised £137.2m in tax, up from £85.7m in 2013. The Affluent Unit, set up in 2011, doubled in size in 2013 with the recruitment of an additional 100 tax inspectors. About 500,000 UK residents fall into its remit. Also, HMRC's ability to investigate people has been made easier by a computer system called Connect. Costing £45m, Connect was launched in the summer of 2010 and designed by the...

Read More

Our NHS is short of £5bn a year. But comparable countries' public/private mix costs them even more

We're told we'd need to find an extra £5bn every year to be able to afford an NHS that maintains standards, free at the point of delivery.We're told it's only possible if we allow the private sector to take on more of our healthcare delivery.We're told that other countries, including the progressive lefty ones, use a mix of public and private to be able to afford modern healthcare.But a look at the data from other countries shows...Our system is the most efficient and cost effective.We’re spending less than almost everyone else – i.e. not enough.If...

Read More

Graphs at a Glance: Is the quickest route to voters ballots via their newspapers?

Some newspapers claim to be able to swing their readers like bats beating carpets. Figures from Ipsos-Mori, the polling organisation, show a clear difference in the swing magnitude between the various papers' readerships. While the Sun and the Daily Star have the greatest swings, they also have the lowest voter turnouts. The graphs below show Sun readers appear to have shifted from Labour to Tory. The Daily Star's swing seems to be less due to readers shifting from Labour to Tory than to readers shifting from Labour to any party other than...

Read More

Increasing NHS spending makes good business sense

Fee and KJ pitch Chris with a brilliant idea it seems no one's thought about...SOURCE GUARDIAN: NHS will need an extra £65bn by 2030, say analysts The Health Foundation analysis identifies the sum as the extra amount of Treasury funding the NHS will need by then because it is unlikely to meet unrealistically optimistic productivity targets. It says the NHS will need its budget to rise by 2.9% a year above inflation each year between 2015-16 and 2030-31 if it is to maintain the standard of services and avoid having to ration access to treatment....

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 22nd January)

Firms benefiting from lower oil price should raise wages, says Cameron A glut in global oil supplies has caused Brent crude prices to more than halve in little more than six months. Britain's political parties are competing to try to show they can best help voters benefit from the fall, as a national election looms in May. "I want to see companies' success passed through in terms of wage increases," he was quoted as saying by the BBC on Saturday. "It has to be done in a way that's affordable, and in a way that companies can continue...

Read More

Graphs at a Glance: Has inequality reduced since the Conservative-LibDem government of 2010? Yes, and No.

In a bakery not far away there was a baker, who treated his customers extremely unequally. To some he gave plain buns, others spiced buns with candied fruit, and to others iced buns. He said the bankers worked harder than the nurses, and so deserved the icing. And the accountants were cleverer than the teachers but didn't work as hard as the bankers, so they deserved the candied fruit buns. Iced buns are much better than plain buns, inequality was very great. One day the icing machine crashed, due to a leak in the water pipes leading it to flood....

Read More