The passengers are revolting. The Conservative MP David Willetts is one of the commuters complaining about the number of announcements on South West Trains' Havant to London rail line.
It is Broken Britain week at Conservative Party HQ, with shadow home secretary Chris Grayling attempting to remind us how bad things have become. And he mentioned political correctness only once.
Panorama last night looked at the move towards ending warden assistance in sheltered housing - and the longer I watched the programme the greater the impression I formed that councils and organisations were exploiting the unwillingness or inability of residents to complain.
Any busker whose repertoire includes George Michael's Faith deserves to be banned from the streets to my mind.
A report has demolished the myth peddled by some that the whole world is champing at the bit to settle in the UK.
Do you know any Tory social workers? Conservative Party chair Eric
Pickles says he does and they are lining up to become MPs after the next general
election.
On the day that think-tank Compass urged the setting up of a high pay commission, another organisation published an audit of the UK's low earners. And guess what? Social workers were among them.
So would you buy your clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch?
And now comes the inevitable compensation claim. It is reported that the biological father of Baby Peter is to seek reparations from Haringey Council for the toddler's death.
Ah, the power of the
fourth estate: so mighty were the combined forces of the Mirror group and the
Times, along with the BBC, that a High Court judge simply had to reveal the
identities of the mother and stepfather of Baby Peter.
So what is
"inefficient" use of money? Is it: a) subsidising over-60s to so that they can
travel free on buses; or b) widening the M25 at a cost of more than £5bn so
that traffic can queue in four lanes instead of three?
Perversely, it was probably a good thing that two court hearings concerning loan sharks coincided yesterday. One alone could have given the impression of an isolated case.
In an admittedly
superficial experiment to put myself in the position of a potential settler on
these shores, I took the UK citizenship test. I failed and should be deported
immediately.
The appalling statistics about pensioner poverty and the number of children living in overcrowded housing were timely.
| Outside Left questions the thinking behind today’s social policy, with a sometimes wry, occasionally cynical, always straight-talking look at the political elite that shapes it, written by sub editor, Mike McNabb. |
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