October 2010

I Agree with Nick vs. Shower Jobby: Key Indicator Watch

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 31/10/2010 - 15:23

An interesting upshot from this post at my other blog. I think I've made a strong case that the structural features of the mayor of London's job mean that there will always be tension between City Hall and Whitehall. It's relatively hard to do anything truly new as mayor - so you've got to pick fights with the government in order to position yourself politically.

TODO: Re-Issue Tax Coding Notices for Entire Population

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 31/10/2010 - 15:10

The TUC Blog catches John Rentoul imagining that everyone in Britain is rich enough that they have to do a tax return. Ah, the sweet smell of entitlement. Of course, the substantive point here is that the planned child benefit cut, now disintegrating all over the scope, will require tax return filers to tick a box. But the majority of taxpayers are on PAYE.

Housing Benefit Links

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 31/10/2010 - 14:51

An extremely valuable comment on Dave Hill's blog provides a wealth of data, including a link to the official rate-card that determines how much housing benefit you get by location.

What's That Coming Over The Hill, Is It A Pauper?

Submitted by Tom on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 19:01

Turning the stabprin telescope around, the view from outside the capital is, according to the Home Counties Bible of the Mail, unsettled:

Residents in the Home Counties have been told to brace themselves for an influx of tens of thousands of poor families, driven out of London by reforms to housing benefit.

Pupil Premiums: Not Just For The Poor

Submitted by Tom on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 18:00

Another nugget that came out of the pupil premium debate was that some of the money was indeed to come out of other departments making 'savings', notable the welfare budget:

"Quite a bit of it comes from welfare spending... we've ensured that there is money that comes from welfare which is being spent on pupil premium and, without the welfare cuts, we wouldn't be in the position to have a real terms increase in school spending."

Pupil Premium: New Cash, Old Lies

Submitted by Tom on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 16:18

One of the totems held up by Lib Dem Coalition supporters whenever it's pointed out that teaming up with Dave, George and the gang of horrible muppets who make up the Tory contingent on the Front Bench is not wholly consistent with a principled approach to promoting fairness in society by pragmatic redistribution of wealth is the Coalition Agreement commitment to the Pupil Premium:

We will fund a significant premium for disadvantage pupils from outside the schools budget by reductions in spending elsewhere

We Just Want To Cut Down On Some Of This Excess Population

Submitted by Tom on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 15:35

While Dave and Nick grapple with the vital task of figuring out who'll put the phone down first on their next love-call, in London councils are grappling with the first direct consequence of the newly declared War On The Poor, who appear to have caused the credit crunch all by themselves.  Naughty old poor.  Alex has already covered the potential political consequences, what of the geographical ones?

Creating facts on the ground

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 13:36

Questions someone should be asking in the House:

What effect does the Government forecast the departure of 200,000 people from London will have on the electoral map? And how much taxpayers' money is going to B&Bs as a result?

The Un-Strategic Strategic Defence & Security Review

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 13:07

So, what about that SDSR? I've just got around to reading it - it's not difficult, as it's possibly the lightest MOD document you'll ever meet. Seriously.

As a result, I have the honour to present probably the best thing ever blogged on British strategy - here. It's about Europe, America, Britain, the sea, the land, and much else.

Helicopters

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 24/10/2010 - 11:53

April 2010:

He says this is Brown's last chance to be accountable for his decision. Will he start by admitting that British forces in Helmand didn't have sufficient helicopters?

July 2009:

What Do the Tories Have Against RAF Reconnaissance?

Submitted by Alex on Fri, 22/10/2010 - 17:21

There's also been a defence review. I've not read it yet. However, here's something interesting.

The CSR has decided to get rid of three RAF aircraft types - Harrier, Nimrod MRA4, and Sentinel R1. It was always on the cards that there would either be an accelerated out-of-service date for the Harriers, which are rumoured to need work to make it to the original 2018 deadline, or else reductions in the Tornado GR4 fleet.

More on the Economic Dodgy Dossier...

Submitted by Alex on Fri, 22/10/2010 - 16:56

So, we all remember when George Osborne had the OBR secretly leave out 550,000 public sector workers from its calculations, change its forecast methodology, and all in all reduce its estimates of job losses by 175,000.