These are testing times for local democracy. But thespending cuts are only part of the story, for a trend is emerging in localgovernment to divest itself of both services and responsibilities to itselectorate. We have already seen the rise of the mega-borough,particularly in London, that diminishes or even sidelines the will of the voter. In [...]
Westminster Council’s determination to drive out thecharities that provide a meal to the city’s rough sleepers has taken a bit of a twist. The council, which was planning to introduce a bye-law underwhich soup-run charities would be prosecuted, now wants to meet “interestedparties” to try to reach a solution. It follows a consultation that brought [...]
The comments by former Test opening batsman turned commentatorGeoffrey Boycott about cricketer Michael Yardy, who has returned from the WorldCup with depression, have rightly drawn opprobrium from many quarters. The Mental Health Foundation and former Labour spin doctor AlastairCampbell, who has had depression himself, have attempted to put the recordstraight after Boycott implied that, if Yardy [...]
It was already known that chancellor George Osborne wasminded to merge national insurance and income tax. Yesterday we found out thathe meant it as he announced a consultation on the issue during his Budget statement. On the surface, a merger would sound common sense, if onlyfor the sakes of simplicity and modernity. National insurance contributionswere [...]
With child protection so prominent on agencies’ radar, the insouciance accorded child trafficking by some politicians strains credulity at times. The exchanges in the House of Lords between Liberal Democratpeer Dee Doocey and the Conservatives’ transport spokesman, Earl Attlee, underline this shocking oversight to the point of shame. Baroness Doocey asked Attlee what measures were [...]
Not being one to kick a care home provider when it’s down, Ihave been following closely the misfortunes of Southern Cross Healthcare. I was intrigued, then, to read the comment of itsspokesperson, Ben Brewerton, as he attempted to reassure the families of theprovider’s 31,000 residents that Southern Cross would not be going intoadministration. The residents, [...]
It was prescient of work and pensions secretary Iain DuncanSmith to choose the Sir Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture to inform us that givingmoney to poor people can make their lives worse. Sir Keith, Margaret Thatcher’s economic guru…OK, enoughsaid. Back to last night. Duncan Smith said the political classeshad become “damagingly fixated by income levels alone”. [...]
If you remember the millennium celebrations like they wereyesterday, perhaps imagine fast-forwarding the same period of time plus acouple of years. Doesn’t seem long, does it? That will be when England is likely to face a shortfall of750,000 homes, 325,000 of them in London alone, according to a report from theInstitute for Public Policy Research [...]
Until this week I had never seen BBC One’s NeighbourhoodWatched documentary series about the work of social housing officers inManchester. Now into its second series, the latest programme followedthem to an estate at Ashton-under-Lyne run by the New Charter Housing TrustGroup. The second of the four-part series suggested that most oftheir work entailed resolving matters [...]
Lucky for the coalition that Libya is dominating the newsthat it was able to slip in a major change to social policy that erodes furtherthe miserable living standards of the lowest of low-income families. As Community Care reported, welfare minister Steve Webb (pictured) hasannounced a clampdown on Social Fund crisis loans from April. Intended for people [...]
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