Andy Williamson is an erstwhile boss of a thinktank, so naturally, he thinks they are jolly spiffing things. And, of course, need our money to function. He bemoans their current lot as we face cuts that aren’t really cuts at all and a lack of funding for the rent seeking vampires that feed on our lifeblood – oh, sorry, thinktanks.
Mostly, they do good work, making a considerable impact nationally and in more localised ways. For example, work on supporting the working poor by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), for example, led directly to the development of child tax credits by the last Labour government, while the findings of the Hansard Society’s Puttnam commission have led to significant increases in funding and support for outreach and educational services, making parliament more accessible, particularly to young people.
So, “mostly good work” resulted in a complicated system of tax credits that could have been achieved much more simply by lifting more people out of tax in the first place – and I could have suggested that for the sum total of bugger all – and outreach services… This is what we are paying through the nose for?
Frankly, the only message I would have for Williamson and his ilk involves mathematics and travel.
Thinktanks need to be critical, imaginative, creative places where a culture of new ideas is backed up by rigorous research.
Cut harder, cut deeper.
Think tanks seem to do a lot of thinking, but very little coherent comes from all their supposed neural activity. Perhaps if you lot in the UK had a cull…..
A proper one this time, not one of Call me Dave’s imaginary bonfires of quango’s. š
Oh, I’d love to see a proper cull. I think Bucko has a shotgun license… š
as we face cuts that arenāt really cuts
An awful lot of non-imaginary people are losing their jobs thanks to these imaginary cuts. A friend of mine has worked all this life as a reference librarian and now faces the sack because apparently this super-soaraway society can no longer afford to have libraries. He now faces returning to the library as a ‘volunteer’ for his workfare, thus replacing his modest salary by an even more modest JSA. More fool him for not becoming a thieving bankster and evading his taxes.
“An awful lot of non-imaginary people are losing their jobs thanks to these imaginary cuts.”
I know, I feel for those buggywhip manufacturers and the Street Gaslight Workers Union…
So, āmostly good workā resulted in a complicated system of tax credits that could have been achieved much more simply by lifting more people out of tax in the first place.
Precisely.
Firstly, this government has spent more this year than its predecessor. The so called cuts are merely a reduction in the rate of increase. Given the parlous state of the nation’s finances, this is nothing like prudent enough. When you are in hock to your eyeballs, you reduce spending. The coalition has not done this.
Secondly, librarians are not being thrown out of work because of central government spending restrictions, they are being throw out of work by local government making a point by reducing spending at the front end, rather than get rid of overpaid fat cats in the council offices. What we need is a few highly paid chief executives trotting down to the job-centre, not the librarians, but, then, fat cats in the public sector have a habit of making sure their own nests are well feathered. There are bound to be plenty of places in local government where spending restrictions can be made without affecting front-line services, but that doesn’t make for a juicy headline that attacks central government, does it?
It has nothing to do with bankers and nothing to do with tax evasion. You really have swallowed the Guardian propaganda whole, haven’t you?
I don’t agree with Stephen’s analysis of the ‘cuts’ but that councils would cut front line services rather than chief executives was wholly predictable and probably intended. That way the government avoids ( some ) of the blame but no one in the local council/party nexus is inconvenienced and things they probably wanted to get rid of anyway, such as libraries and bus services are disposed of. This isn’t a particularly Tory thing, Labour councils are probably even bigger offenders, if Labour had won the election exactly the same thing would have happened. Local government isn’t about service to the community it’s a microcosm of national politics, the important thing is jobs and privileges for self- important people and the cash still rolling in for government vanity projects. Our libraries Stephen are falling for the greater good of the Olympics and Civil Service pensions.
It has nothing to do with bankers and nothing to do with tax evasion. You really have swallowed the Guardian propaganda whole, havenāt you?
Says the man regurgitating the Telepgraph line. You libertories may want to deny that cuts are taking place. You can live in your own little fantasy world if you like. Unfortunately my friend can’t.
if Labour had won the election exactly the same thing would have happened
What makes you think I have any more liking for Labour than the cunts who are in charge now?
Bollocks, frankly. A reduction in an increase in spending is not a cut – no matter what fantasy world you inhabit.
The bankers weren’t responsible for Bill Clinton’s social engineering that led to them having to lend to people who couldn’t pay it back. They did the only thing sensible, spread the risk to other banks. The bankers weren’t responsible for idiot politicians who sold off our gold reserves at an all time low. The bankers weren’t responsible for proliferate spending during the good times because in their hubris they believed that they had ended boom and bust. Nor did bankers set the regulatory regime that actively encouraged risky behaviour.
There is fuck all evidence that bankers are evading tax (if you have any, I suggest you get onto the hmrc pronto and inform them) – unless you are doing a Richard Murphy and confusing evasion (illegal) with avoidance – which is not only legal but a sacred duty. The less money the fucking politicians have to spend, the less they can waste on thier stupid schemes – five figure salaries for the arseholes running quangos, think tanks and fake charities, for example.
As for your friend, he is unfortunate, but it is not down to central government, but the spitefulness of the local ones who are using him and his like to make a political point.
Central government has, quite rightly, told various agencies such as local government and police authorites to cut their spending. They have not told them to cut front line services, because there is no need.
Fuck all to do with the Telegraph, fuck all to do with bankers and fuck all to do with tax evasion – everything to do with nasty spiteful political games by leftists who think that other people’s money comes on a magic money tree and is theirs to spend as they wish. Well, tough. Reality just struck. There is no money tree and there is no endless supply.
I suggest your friend does as I did – take a job at Sainsbury’s stacking shelves until times change.
Stephen, I wasn’t suggesting that you are any more enamoured of Labour than the Tories, just pointing out that the outrage at the supposed cuts is largely driven by Labour and their friends who are being utter hypocrites. Do you have any alternative to cutting the deficit that doesn’t involve counter productive tax increases or printing more money ?
“You libertories may want to deny that cuts are taking place.”
Thornavis makes that very point in his reply, that it’s the WRONG services that are being cut (as ever). Did you not read all the comments?
What are your alternatives to spending money we haven’t got like a drunken sailor on shore leave? I too would love to know.
Wouldn’t we all? I have some suggestions, mind, but they involve slashing and burning at the heart of government, reducing its size dramatically and throwing all those rent seekers out onto the job market…
I’d also slash taxes to the bone as well. If all they have to spend is a pittance that covers defence, justice, health and education, they will have to live within their means or go bust. Likewise local government – we shouldn’t be giving them enough to fund five-figure salaries for council executives in the first place.