Thursday March 27

Blogs

4.30pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Failure in the education system

Some fascinating statistics from Michael Gove MP setting out how too many children are let down by our education system... - Read More

3.10pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Monitoring skills

That's why inexperienced politicians will struggle to make effective use of the advice of Civil Servants and other advisers - they don't have the experience necessary to spot the useless ones... - Read More

1.45pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
How much worse off are you?

...this year’s average increase is still above the government rate of inflation and comes on top of ten years of council tax increases... - Read More

9.15am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

How about government cut its emissions by sacking these non-jobbers, saving on running costs their offices, computers, lights etc all use up and handing you back some of the cash you’ve lost in Council Tax over the past ten years…it’s just a thought... - Read More

Media Coverage

- Councillors attacked over 'luxurious and pointless' £62,000 taxpayer-funded trip to the U.S.

"Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'This is a gross waste of taxpayers' money.

'Essex residents pay their taxes for frontline services. But while those services struggle, politicians seem happy to swan off abroad.

'This junket is of minimal importance compared with sweeping the streets, policing the county and providing care for the vulnerable.

'Councillors should stop and think before going to every event they are invited to and expecting the taxpayer to pick up the tab.'" - Full Article

- Three years and £150,000 to find nine men jobs

"The Taxpayers Alliance has questioned the value of the investment and Chief Executive Matthew Elliott said: "It is a huge amount of money for a miniscule amount of jobs.

"It goes to show the public sector should not be involved in trying to micro-manage job creation.

"Most small businessmen I speak to would rather have lower taxes and then they would be able to create more jobs," he said.

The public sector had a poor track record for creating job opportunities and "always spend a lot of money and get poor results," said Mr Elliott." - Full Article

- Council junket draws criticism

"But Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is an appalling waste of taxpayers' money.

"Faced with rising taxes and struggling services, this trip is the last thing councillors should have been doing - and the taxpayer should certainly not have to pick up the bill. It's time people in local government thought about what is really important to taxpayers." - Full Article