The TaxPayers' Alliance - Home

Monday June 30

Blogs

4.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
More criticism for Birmingham festival

With ludicrous irony, it turns out that the Birmingham Climate Change Festival has been criticised by none other than the Friends of the Earth spokesman Chris Crean for not being very green... - Read More

2.10pm, Better Government
Mike Denham:
Community Empowerment Deadend

Community and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears has just told Public Finance magazine about her plans to devolve power right down to street level. It makes dismal reading... - Read More

1.15pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
The Local Government Association: No charm, just offensive

The Local Government Association - paid for by you and me through local councils' membership subs - have today launched one of the most ill-advised and inappropriate advertising campaigns since Gerald Ratner (who described his own jewellery firm's produce as "crap"). Here are two of their deligthful offerings, soon to be adorning a bus stop near you... - Read More

11.30am, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
More On 10p Tax Fiasco

On Saturday (yes, Saturday), the Treasury Select Committee published its report on the 10p tax fiasco. And even though many feel this Committee is little more than a Labour mouthpiece, it lets fly... - Read More

10.00am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The public want NHS reform, not more wasted spending

A new YouGov poll for the Telegraph shows that the public are now convinced that the NHS needs reform rather than ever more funding in order to really improve.  In our report we set out the principles that should guide such reforms... - Read More

Daily Express, 14p a liter off petrol: it can be done
Daily Express, MP couple to cost us even more on new flat
Daily Telegraph, 'Disgusting' council poster campaign criticised
Telegraph.co.uk, Glastonbury 2008: climate change, crowds and craziness
DailyMail.co.uk, MPs to spend £6m on plush new offices in their constituencies
Shields Gazette, Fury as council writes off £350k tax debt
ITN, MPs in new expenses row
BBC London, Council parking revenues soar

Over the weekend...

The Observer, Pendennis: Food for thought from ministers' expenses claims
Sunday Telegraph, Waste Watch
Newcastle Sunday Sun, North councils write off bad debts in secret
Glasgow Sunday Mail, £3m overtime bonanza
BBC Radio 5 Live, Councils waste money on shock poster campaign

Friday June 27

Daily Express, Going green will mean five years of rising bills
Daily Express, Greedy MSPs: Give us more money
Public Servant Magazine, Letters: Do a good job and you've nothing to hide
Guardian.co.uk, Tim Davie: BBC's marathon man with a colourful track record
Daily Record, MSP wants more pay

Thursday June 26

Blogs

5.35pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Further thoughts on MPs' expenses proposals

Further to our Chief Executive's post on CentreRight.com yesterday, giving the TPA's initial reaction to the Parliamentary Members' Estimate Committee review of MPs' expenses, a good 24 hours of robust debate have highlighted in more detail some of the good and not-so-good things about the Committee's proposals. It's worth noting that the report has, of course, been written by a Committee of MPs... - Read More

 

Financial Times, MPs plan stricter rules on their expenses
Daily Express, Cabinet couple to face sleaze probe
Daily Express, MPs battle to keep the gravy train rolling on
The Mirror, 50p...just how much MPs have bravely slashed from their expenses
Daily Telegraph, 'John Lewis list' goes in cash crackdown
BBC News Online, Criticism for police catwalk show
New Statesman, Who really holds the country to ransom?
International Herald Tribune, Trash: Can't keep it, can't throw it away
Yorkshire Post, Plug pulled on new kitchens for MPs from the taxpayer
Gulf Times, London MPs in line for a pay bonanza

On TV last night...

Channel 4 News: Ed Balls and Yvetter Cooper investigated over expenses (8 minutes, 12 seconds in)

Wednesday June 25

Blogs

11.20am, Burning Our Money
TIm Aker:
Non-job of the week

It’s long been a bug bear for us that taxpayers have to fund party political ‘assistants’ for the political groups on councils.  What takes the biscuit this week goes a step further.  From Hackney Council, we present to you the non-job of the week... - Read More

10:10am, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
Providing welfare - invitation to the private sector
The Governments looks set to ask private companies and charities to help run the welfare system ... Read More

BBC News Online, Controversial gallery set to open
Daily Express, Carbon Gestapo set to rule our lives
BBC World Service, Politics UK: Lord Ramsbotham discusses his TaxPayers' Alliance prisons report (17 minutes, 10 seconds in)
Evening Standard, London MPs pay bonanza
LBC Radio, Will the MPs' expenses proposals solve Parliament's problems?
Independent Radio News, TPA says Parliamentary expenses plans don't go far enough
DailyMail.co.uk, End of the John Lewis list: MPs to be banned from buying TVs and installing new kitchens on expenses
Express.co.uk, MPs expenses: is this really the end of the gravy train?
Politics.co.uk, MPs banned from claiming expenses
Exeter Express & Echo, Some disruption is inevitable and 'the point of the strike'

On TV tonight...

Look out for the TPA appearing on Channel 4 news to discuss MPs' expenses.

Tuesday June 24

Blogs

3.40pm, Burning our Money
Mike Denham:
Bat Girl Meets Remploy

And if you're the head of Remploy (with your £29,000 company sports car), you may be wondering why your job placement people aren't placing more people into real jobs. Your Masterplan quite clearly calls for an extra 15,000 punters to be placed into Real Jobs every year, so why has your placement business only placed 7? - Read More

The Sun, Residents in snoop dodge
Guardian, 600,000 public sector workers threaten to strike
Politics.co.uk, Councils urged to review surveillance techniques
Northern Echo, Taxpayers facing six-figure bill after council's appeals

Monday June 23

Blogs

3.40pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
With great power comes no responsibility - The Planning Commission

Parliament is gearing up for its next major confrontation with the government this week, with the return to the Commons of the controversial Planning Bill. It’s become something of a Christmas tree, and begins its third reading this Wednesday overburdened with unnecessary amendments (some reports claim there have been more than a 100 changes since its last reading). Any positive contribution this bill might have had in clearing up planning law is now probably lost... - Read More

Daily Star Jeremy does a Wossy
East Anglian Daily Times, Big rise in county council's top earners
Guardian.co.uk, Charlotte Leslie: Welcome to the quangocracy
LBC Radio, Nick Ferrari Show, MPs' expenses running out of control
BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, Millions spent on judges' accommodation

Coverage over the weekend:

Mail on Sunday, London Tory MP gets £100,000 for 'second' home just nine miles from the Commons
Glasgow Sunday Mail, £200K cash splash
Ipswich Evening Star, Politicians' cash breaks £1 million mark
BBC Politics Show West, Councils reduce workforce to make payroll savings (Click to watch)

Friday June 20

Blogs

5.50pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Cash, communications and consultants

Suffolk CC's Communications chief left abruptly after the County Council's Chief Executive's outrageous new salary hit the national news. The news that his replacement will earn £81,000 also attracted criticism (not least from us). Now it emerges that in the interim, consultants are being paid £500 a day to stand in and run the department... - Read More

2:50pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
In assessing UK schools, 2+2 had a number of different answers

The National Union of Teachers and Schools Minister Jim Knight have been having a right old barney today about the question of failing schools... The problem is that there are so many different measures of success, and so many political and vested interests in the debate that we seem to have lost sight of what should be the priority - whether children get a good education ... Read More

1.10pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Behavioural training for rowdy councillors

The utter mayhem at council meetings at one town council in Shropshire has prompted the Standards Board for England to order the members of Whitchurch Town Council to attend behavioural training... - Read More

10.20am, 2012 Watchdog
Mike Denham:
Olympian Inferno

The National Audit Office has just published its latest update on the 2012 money inferno. They highlight three major concerns - security budgets, the Olympic Village and the 2012 Legacy... - Read More

Daily Express, Dustbins: Now it's back to weekly collections
Newcastle Journal, No Dualling But £348m Goes On A1 Consultants
Surrey Advertiser, SEEDA Chief under attack for taxi bill
Kent and Sussex Courier, Taxpayers' money poured down drain
Northumberland Gazette, Demands increase for pay details
Smooth FM, Fiona McEvoy criticised Birmingham City Council for doubling their annual fine dining bills at a top restaurant

Thursday June 19

Blogs

6.15pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
Senior civil servants to get facebook lessons

One of the most worrying things I came across in my investigation into Britain's quango state - Unseen Government - was the noticeable decline in Cabinet Office time given over to monitoring quasi-government. This was surprising, as being the gate keepers of government one might assume this to be one of their primary functions. But all is now revealed... - Read More

6pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
An opportunity to free our schools

Fraser Nelson gives a clear, informed argument in favour of liberalising UK education, encouraging David Cameron not to miss this opportunity to revive Britain's ailing school system... - Read More

2.20pm, 2012 Watchdog
Mike Denham:
2012 - Groping In The Dark

It's the same old same old. Grandiose projects, wishful thinking, wholesale salami slicing, short-term savings at the expense of long-term costs (now referred to as "value engineering")... anyone would think Big Government was a lumbering brainless over-priced dinosaur that can't even tie its own shoe laces... - Read More

1.20pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Local business threatened as more Red Routes planned

City council bosses in Birmingham have announced plans for four more Red Routes despite the furore over the Stratford Road route with businesses up-in-arms as trade fell due to the ‘no stopping’ policy... - Read More

9.30am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Non-jobbers sacked at City Hall

Boris Johnson’s Mayoralty gave a thumbs up to London's taxpayers as it’s emerged that he’s sacked the first tranche of politically correct non-jobbers in City Hall.  Gone already are the 40 copies of the Morning Star City Hall bought every single day.  Now out of the door are the non-jobbers who read it! - Read More

Guardian Comment is Free, Matthew Elliott: Pay restraint begins with parliament
Guardian, Tory couple told to stop claiming allowance on flat
Daily Mail, £11million bill for perks at the Home Office
Daily Mail, £2m of your money to buy foot spas for gipsy women
Daily Express, Home Office staff waste £1m on taxis
Daily Express, Stamp duty soars £9,000 in 10 years
Daily Express, Fuel cost rises hitting emergency services
Daily Express, Council tax rise to cover £800m in unpaid bills
Daily Star, £500K bill to keep terrorist monster safe
Essex Chronicle, Apprentice job offer is withdrawn

Wednesday June 18

Blogs

1.50pm, Campaign
Glyn Gaskarth:
Taxpayers fund £500,000 Human Rights farce as Islamist hate preacher allowed out

The right of British people to protection comes below that of

a foreign national to not be deported to their country of origin. Abu Qatada preaches hate against the west and this our country. However, the very freedoms he preaches against now protect him from deportation. Not considered is whether the British people want him here or whether we would rather spend the £500,000 it costs to keep him on a leash on other things... - Read More

10.40am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
The Two Britains

Yesterday the country looked on aghast as Abu Qatada was released from prison despite being Osama Bin Laden’s “right hand man in Europe”.  I blogged a few weeks ago on how the government had its priorities wrong regarding prison sentences and justice policy.  Yesterday’s justice-blackout epitomised the government’s approach to law and order as a shambolic abrogation of the responsibility to keep us safe... - Read More

9.55am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

Having reviewed the papers for the ‘non-job of the week’ over the past year, more and more of these party-political, taxpayer-funded non-jobs are cropping up.  Our local branches have been highlighting their growing presence in the council jobs pages and, I’m sure you’ll agree, taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for partisan, party political appointments.  Have a read of the non-job of the week... - Read More

Sun, £10,000 wage hike for MPs
Daily Mail, No rises for us, Brown tells Cabinet
The Guardian, No pay rise this year, Brown tells ministers
Daily Express, £250m rise in Olympic stadium bill
Daily Express, Massive bill as hate cleric walks free
Daily Star, MPs' pay row
Birmingham Post, Ministers show restraint with pay rises
Politics.co.uk, More Tory MPs breach expenses rules

Tuesday June 17

Blogs

2pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Demand an end to the Lisbon Treaty

Further to my post on Friday, the leaders of EU member states - including our own - have been lining up to discuss how to ignore the Irish referendum result rejecting the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty. I'm pleased to see, therefore, that EUReferendum's Richard North and Open Europe's Neil O'Brien have team up on a petition demanding that the UK Government respect the referendum and drop ratification proceedings. Do sign the petition... - Read More

1.10pm, Economics 101
Matthew Sinclair:
Is wave power worth £15 billion?

The Independent on Sunday reports that David Cameron is to propose greater use of wave power...While we aren't charged for waves tapping their power has very significant costs.  It is possible to perform a back of the envelope calculation to work out just how much it would cost to shift 20 per cent of our electricity generation from coal, gas and nuclear to wave... - Read More

10.55am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
High-taxing Snooper State on the back foot

The twin aims of increasing state surveillance and using such technology to increase taxes have taken a bit of a beating in recent days - good news for taxpayers, who would have had to foot the bill for Government's incompetent implementation of the technology and cough up for the higher charges, too... - Read More

9.40am, Burning Our Money,
Mike Denham:
Aid To Africa

Yesterday I took part in a BBC World Service programme to discuss aid to Africa. In case you missed it, an international panel of the great and the good - everyone from Kofi Annan to Tony Blair - has just issued a report calling for aid to Africa to be increased drastically. The Africa Progress Panel says western taxpayers are falling way behind on the pledge made in 2005 at Gleneagles to double African aid by 2010. Their suggested remedy is to impose new ringfenced taxes... - Read More

9.20am, West Midlands,
Fiona McEvoy:
Public shell out for council workers' breakfast

Today’s The Sentinel newspaper reports that workers from Staffordshire County Council and Stafford Borough Council will be treated to a free breakfast, plus numerous other taxpayer funded treats... - Read More

Daily Express, Thousands of readers join our crusade to cut fuel tax
Eastern Daily Press, Why council had to bin waste plans
Exeter Express & Echo, Scheme recommends pensions for councillors
DailyMail.co.uk, Outrage as MPs ask for 21% pay rise
TimesOnline, Gordon Brown imposes ministerial pay freeze

Last night's television:

ITV Anglia, The TPA's Norfolk Spokesman Tony Callaghan slams bin chips

Monday June 16

Blogs

3:45pm, Better Government
Nicholas Connor:
The Ministry of Defence: In need of urgent reform
If the government is going to continue to want an effective armed force, they need to incorporate those who understand the needs and processes of the armed forces much more closely. Freezing out men such as General Dannatt because what they say is politically inconvenient will do nothing to convince people that the government is committed to those who literally lay down their lives in the pursuit of government policy... - Read More

12:10pm, Better Government
Corin Taylor:
Top civil servant brands civil service as "utterly antiquated" 

...a damning indictment of the civil service, from one of their own... 'The whole thing has taken weeks of waste and not one of the people batting it between them earns less than £40,000 a year...' - Read More

12:10pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Unsafe In Their Hands

As explained by Thomas Hobbes more than three centuries ago, we have to put up with government so it can keep us safe. That's the deal.
Which of course is why government arranges for Torquay's highly dangerous palm trees to be sawn down, why a 150 year old Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) in Swansea faces the chop for having "hypodermic style" needles, and why the scourge of conkers has been forever banished. Yes, when it comes to health and safety, we can all rest easy in the firm knowledge that our ever-vigilant state is protecting us from every danger. Except that is, for one area - where the government itself is the danger... - Read More

12:00pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
Hear, Hear Mr Clegg
In a forthcoming speech, Mr Clegg will make the case for a dramatic change in the UK's approach to schooling, outlining plans to deliver power back to the local level... - Read More

Daily Express, Now bins to be emptied once a month
Daily Mail, Rubbish collections cut to once a month as 'bin police' move in
Daily Mirror, Your bins will soon be emptied once a month
BBC World Service, The TPA's Mike Denham discussed aid to Africa

Weekend media coverage:
Sunday Express, Great Council Tax Give-Away
Sunday Telegraph, Monthly rubbish collections on the way, waste chief warns
Sunday People, Mad axe man has the chop
Kent on Sunday, Quango boss slammed for £53,000 travel expenses
Wales on Sunday, £4m unpaid council tax written off
Daily Express, New evidence that hated HIPs hit the property market
Daily Express, Addicts cost us £291bn
Daily Mail, £833,000, the real cost of a drug addict
Lincolnshire Echo, Letters: Quango gravy train is still going strong
Personnel Today, Teambuilding: Thanks for the memories – and the smoothie making
TamilNet, Sri Lanka’s envoy urges UN call on British monarchy

Friday June 13

Blogs

4.45pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Time to listen to the people on the EU

The collective leaders of the EU and its member nations should listen to the message being sent to them by the Irish people today. Judging by their track record, and their early responses, though, they won't listen and will do their best to ride roughshod over our express wishes. If that happens, taxpayers' money will continue to be spent inefficiently and unaccountably behind closed doors, screeds of unscrutinised legislation will continue to flow from Brussels into Whitehall, British business will continue to be throttled by red tape and public resentment of the undemocratic way the EU operates will continue to grow. One thing is sure - we cannot go on like this... - Read More

4.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
The not-so-magnificent seven

Birmingham City Council have made the front page of today’s Birmingham Post due to the fact that they are currently advertising for seven (yes seven!) ‘Assistant Directors of Finance’... - Read More

10.40am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Freedom of Information Case Study: The £50,000 Font

We make great use of FoI requests both in compiling large research papers and in uncovering one-off instances of waste, which in turn attract media attention to the fact that all too often our money is poured down the drain. Increasingly, our activists are sending off their own Freedom of Information requests to uncover waste around the country, so I thought it could be handy to provide a quick anatomy of a successful use of the Act... - Read More

10.00am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Alan Milburn calls for tax cuts for the poor

Quite right! It won't be long before more in the Labour party recognise political reality. A benign "Dutch auction" between the parties on tax at the next election is exactly what hard-pressed taxpayers need... - Read More

9.50am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Baby steps towards educational freedom

More than that, this only allows schools freedom in one direction.  The Government have now gone some way towards accepting the principle that the right response to a shortage places at the best schools is to ensure their are more such places, instead of dreaming up new ways of rationing quality education.  Why are they restricting educational freedom to the expansion of existing schools? - Read More

9.40am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
High taxes costing Government support

With the latest polls showing that only 2 per cent think they don't pay enough tax, the political party that sets out a plan to rein in government spending and substantially reduce the overall burden of tax will reap the electoral rewards... - Read More

The Times, Purbeck District Council levies £1,000 charge for home extensions
Daily Express, Abolish the Monarchy UN report tells Britain
Daily Express, £53,000 taxi bill for quango boss . . . and you pay
Daily Express, Outcry at £1,000 tax on an extra bedroom
Daily Express, Slash stamp duty and axe HIPs, Brown told
The Gazette, Essex: Could Claire be on way to county?
Brighton Argus, Quango boss blasted over taxi claims
StarArticle.com, The British monarchy should be abolished

Thursday June 12

Blogs

11.50am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
How would we reorganise the NHS?

The Telegraph ask an important question, how should the NHS be reorganised? - Read More

10.15am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Buying votes in parliament

Now the precedent has been set, how much more will it cost taxpayers to maintain the Government's majority? There are a lot of votes coming up and a lot of unpopular and controversial measures to be discussed... - Read More

10.00am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Non-dom taxes don't just hit the rich

It may be true that the Conservative plans to increase tax on non-doms were more practical than the Government's, but we must not forget who started the debate. Is the Shadow Chancellor a true friend of wealth-creators? We will have to wait and see... - Read More

9.45am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

Anything else the council wants to offer as way of benefits?  In tough economic times, councils shouldn’t be recruiting at the rate they are, stuffing Town Halls full of non-jobbers while the taxpayer has to foot the bill as well as struggling with the soaring costs of food, utilities and fuel... - Read More

9.45am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Irish understand importance of tax

The fact is that the benefits of low business taxes for Ireland's economy and hence for ordinary people in Ireland are clear, even to the Left. If only politicians could be that clear in Britain, then companies would not be leaving because of our increasingly uncompetitive business tax regime... - Read More

9.15am, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Congestion charge won't benefit Manchester

The proposed Manchester congestion charge – however it’s packaged – is a very real threat to local businesses, a strain on working people (pushing only those who can’t afford it off the roads), the promise of a large debt, entirely unneeded in view of falling traffic figures and, most importantly, unwanted by the local people who’ve been well and truly bullied into it.

Should we, like Terry, want this for Birmingham? Let’s hope not... - Read More

Daily Mail, Taxpayers face a £50,000 bill to give British Council a new typeface
Daily Mail, Addicts will get £200 if they come off heroin
Sun, £50k for pamphlet
BBC News Online, Seeda boss spent £50k on car bill
Birmingham Post, British Council typecast as cash wasters over bill of £50,000
Teletext, Council 'wasting money'
Worcester News, Criticism over £44m council rise in staff costs is ‘unfair’
Evening Standard, Letters: Wind power is too airy-fairy
BBC Radio Southern Counties, Regional Development Agency chairman spent £50,000 on chauffeur driven car travel
Rock Radio Manchester, How can it be right to reward drug addicts  with £200 of taxpayers' money?
BBC South East Today, Agency's £50,000 taxi bill (click to watch)

 

Wednesday June 11

Blogs

5.15pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
Doing anything to avoid doing something

Following a decade where standards have fallen, the approach of incessant tweaking and meddling - of needing to appear constantly active - clearly hasn’t worked. What British education needs now is real action, beginning with a debate about who should provide education in the 21st century; a well equipped and proven civil society, or an increasingly over-stretched and impersonal state... - Read More

10.45am, Campaign
Nicholas Connor:
The United Nations Human Rights Council decide that our monarchy is a pressing international human rights issue

Next time the United Nations comes begging for more support we should remember this insulting waste of money... - Read More

10.30am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Council snoopers - enough is enough!

Enough is enough already.  Who on earth do these petty Town-Hall-Trotsky’s think they are?  We pay them – too much as it is – to dispose of our rubbish, not to go through them to see what people are throwing away... - Read More

Daily Express, UK's poshest council flats - for £75 a week
Metro, Britain's best council flats?
Daily Mail, The luxury council flats that are rented out to tenants for just £75
Telegraph.co.uk, Luxury council flats for £75 a week
Evening Standard, £50m to convert Waterloo's Eurostar platforms
24dash.com, Questions raised over social housing tenants living in luxury harbourside apartments
Brentwood Gazette, Council's apprentice job offer under fire
Western Daily Press, Is it right that council tenants are living in lap of luxury?

Tuesday June 10

Blogs

5.50pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Costly Councillors

All in all, then, that's an annual earning of £24,609 in so-called "allowances", not including the wedge as a member of the Regional Assembly. Not a bad deal if you can get it! - Read More

3.00pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
TPA activists in the news

Never ever doubt the tenacity of a TPA activist and heaven help a politician who gets in their way.  Over the past week TPA activists have appeared in all sorts of press coverage, from TV and radio to running stories in local papers... - Read More

2.40pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Tax Harmonisation: Cutting off your nose to spite your face

The Government have mismanaged the public finances to such a degree that they are really starting to panic - they must be careful that their short term thrashing around to find a scapegoat does not result in the economy, friendly relations with our neighbours and our democratic right to self-determination taking a beating we can ill afford... - Read More

2.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
The Public bosses give away tickets to stimulate interest

By giving away free tickets, The Public will no doubt find local people crossing it’s threshold out of curiosity, but when all offers end and a family ticket for two adults and two children costs £20, those interested in showing their children some culture might prefer to purchase return tickets to nearby Birmingham for a total of £9.33 and visit the impressive collections at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Ikon Gallery at Brindleyplace completely free of charge... - Read More

11.00am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
QinetiQ: Sold down the river by incompetent agents

There are few parts of the public sector where the valour, skill and professionalism of those at the sharp end contrast so strongly with the incompetence, mismanagement and bungling of the bureaucrats in overseeing them than the contrast found in Defence. It is true that the impression is made starker by the high standard of our troops, but it is also down in no small part to the fact that the MoD is one of the least effective arms of government... - Read More

10.00am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Norwich TPA Council Tax Protest

Barbara Lockwood, a longstanding TPA campaigner and Council Tax protester, was in court yesterday charged with non-payment of half her Council Tax bill.  Barbara maintains that as her Council Tax has soared well above her ability to pay and she’ll only pay for what she is getting from the Council.  Would you pay an increased price for a service that’s been cut in half whilst it pays its bureaucrats more and more?  Well, Barbara isn’t going to pay, so she was taken before the courts... - Read More

ZDnet.co.uk, IT costs snap up quarter of NHS budget
The Gazette, County could take Apprentice rejects
BBC Scotland, Should MSPs get a bigger accommodation allowance?

Monday June 9

Blogs

4.30pm, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
New semi-compulsory pension accounts could be "mis-selling" scandal

A lesson in how grand government schemes almost invariably fail to produce the desired results may once again have to be painfully learned. That's the conclusion of a new report by Ned Cazalet, an independent life assurance analyst, with, according to the FT, "a record of correctly forecasting industry trends"... - Read More

4.00pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Essex County Council's latest wheeze

For some reason, the TPA seems to end up responding to an abnormally large number of stories about waste or other costly ideas dreamed up by Essex County Council - and today is no exception. I don't know if they're better (or should I say worse?) at thinking up ways to waste money, or are simply better at publicising their whizzo wheezes, but today's news is a corker... - Read More

11.00am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The Tories and the Union Modernisation Fund

Richard Balfe's call for the Conservatives to maintain the Union Modernisation Fund is utter foolishness... - Read More

9.00am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Wealth creating companies pay higher taxes in UK

A worrying story in today's FT reports that the 185 top wealth-creating companies in the UK paid 12 per cent of the added value they created in taxes last year, compared with 6 per cent in Germany and 8 per cent in France and Switzerland. This finding comes from the annual value-added scoreboard, published by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills... - Read More

Daily Mail, Matthew Elliott: Delving deep into the murky world of quangos
Daily Mail, Headache for Cameron as more Tories are caught on Gravy Train
Daily Express, New benefits scandal exposed
Daily Express, Leader: Get tough on scroungers 'too stressed' to work
Daily Express, Holyrood wasting cash on 'needless' language lessons
Daily Express, Expenses used by MPs to boost pay, says Balls
Daily Telegraph, Stress benefits claimants boom under Labour
The Sun, Crystal balls-up
BBC Radio 5 Live, The TPA appeared on the Richard Bacon Show discussing how to make politicians keep their promises
Newcastle Journal, Waterloo Rail
The Portsmouth News, Council is under fire over 'no vans' rule
Norwich Evening News, Council Tax protester appears in court

ITV Anglia, Council tax protestor Barbara Lockwood and fellow TPA activist Tony Callaghan discuss Barbara's court case

Weekend media coverage:
Sunday Times, One rule for Revenue, another for taxpayers
Daily Express, MEPs to get their very own gravy train
Daily Express, Brown blocks our fuel petition
Mirror, Speaker's trips on £10k Commons credit card
Sunday Mercury, Ouija believe it!
Sun, Brits pay the most for diesel in europe
Sun, 'No risk' paedo migrant to stay
Daily Telegraph, Taxpayers fill pensions hole

Friday June 6

Blogs

12.30pm, 2012 Watchdog
Mike Denham:
Still soaking up cash

Third, this isn't really about getting us to take up swimming at all, but box-ticking. It's about demonstrating to the International Olympic Committee that Britain is taking steps to deliver on that 2012 "legacy" promise. Because as you will recall, it was the grandiose promises about legacy that got us into this mess in the first place. This is really about saving face... - Read More

BBC Radio 4, Today Programme, Matthew Elliott explained that taxpayers simply cannot afford to pay for further public pay increases (Click to listen)
Daily Telegraph, Security van makes 120 mile trip to escort prisoner 200 yards in Northampton
Daily Mirror, Security van's 120-mile trip to take prisoner 200 yards
Daily Mirror, Top Tory MEP resigns after expenses scandal
Daily Express, Van drives 120 miles to move a prisoner 200 yards
Daily Star, Royal holiday costs us £200k

Thursday June 5

Blogs

6.00pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
West Midlands cities vie to save the planet

Too long, too costly and typifying Birmingham’s obsession with having a ‘first’ or a ‘quirk’ to brag about in their self-congratulatory publications (wasn’t it going to be the world’s first technology festival at one point?), after nine days of ‘modelling our image of Birmingham’s future in clay’, leaving our messages on video in the ‘Green Diary Room’ and ‘pledging’ to cut our carbon footprint, we can only really wonder just how we’re any better off? - Read More

5.30pm, Campaign
Glyn Gaskarth:
Tony Blair gets it on Terrorism - Gaza

I attended Tony Blair’s testimony to the International Development Select Committee this morning. He had come to give a disposition on Gaza as the Quartets representative. I entered the room surrounded by assorted representatives of NGOs such as Oxfam and some self appointed human rights monitors. Not the sort of company I revel in. Eavesdropping on their pre event discussion I became aware that the differences between us were as intractable as the conflict itself... - Read More

4.40pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The popularity of private schools rises

As we've noted before, most of the big benefits of education at independent schools aren't dependent upon greater resources but, instead, greater freedom for teachers and choice for parents... - Read More

4.15pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Tools fit for the job

It's no good just changing the set of politicians and the set of policies - to get the job done, the state must be properly set up and the practitioners must have the right tools... - Read More

3.45pm, Campaign
Glyn Gaskarth:
Government promises jihadist anonymous sessions paid for by you

Jihadists are not victims. Islamists are not vulnerable. They are sane, logical individuals who happen to believe in an ideology which is profoundly evil. They are not subject to a condition from which they need to be cured. They are not planning suicide attacks or helping those who do because they need a hug and a chat. This announcement by the Government completely misreads the motivations and mentality of those we seek to target. It is borne of a Muslim as victim thesis the government’s politically correct mindset cannot admit is false. As my colleague Nicholas Connor has said, the £12.5 million should be spent on re-education classes for Jacqui Smith. Until she abandons her politically correct views on Islamism we, and not the Islamists, are vulnerable... - Full Article

10.30am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Amateurish professional politicians

The solution isn't to find politicians with different backgrounds but to avoid relying on them to deliver effective public services.  Instead, we should hand control back to civil society... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, Manchester immigrants need 'sense of humour'
Daily Telegraph, Council which pays chief executive Andrea Hill more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown now splashes out on press officer
Daily Mirror, Bosses in pay row
Guardian, Stuart White: Citizens in favour of a progressive tax regime should come together to say what politicians can't
Daily Express, £120m tunnel to keep peers dry
Politics.co.uk, MPs spent £170,000 keeping expenses secret
DailyMail.co.uk, Prisoner driven 120 miles to avoid walking 200 yards between courts - to protect his human rights
Southern Daily Echo, Fortunes are rising
Lincolnshire Echo, Business leaders back fair deal for Lincs Campaign
ConservativeHome.com, Good policy is 10% brainwave, 10% idea development and 80% implementation

On the TV tonight:
ITV Anglia, Should English Heritage be selling Apethorpe Hall for a £2.5m loss?
BBC Look East, Apethorpe Hall goes on sale for £4.5m - after costing taxpayers £7m

Wednesday June 4

Blogs

1.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Worcester branch hit their stride

The new, activist-run Worcester TaxPayers’ Alliance have made a splash with their very first story about Worcestershire County Council... - Read More

12.30pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Private companies to take over hospitals

This is good news and provides genuine accountability for hospital managers delivering poor quality services.  Ironically, the problem with this new initiative was well summed up by Alan Johnson when he set out the scheme... - Read More

9.30am, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Wreck Of The Supercomputer

But the commissars are still trying to hide the truth. Rather than openly admit the Supercomputer is now dead, and formally pulling the plug, Whitehall prefers to continue the fiction that eventually it will somehow rise from the slab. Which among other things, means they are now asking BT to pick up the Fujitsu contract... at whatever price BT care to name... - Read More

8.50am, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Gold Standard Cock-Up

We've blogged the MOD Chinook fiasco many times. In brief, in 2001 the RAF took delivery of 8 Chinook helicopters at a cost of £259m. But the special purpose bespoke avionics the MOD in its wisdom had ordered were so dysfunctional they couldn't be used (except possibly in a clear blue sky with no wind)... - Read More

Daily Mail, Revenue cuts the time to claim back overpaid tax
Daily Express, Anger at £100k wages for new homes quango
Daily Express, Costly petrol is driving out the volunteers
Daily Mail, 'You need to have a good sense of humour to live here'
BBC News Online, Council's big salaries criticised
BBC News Online, Record hits on council TV channel
Manchester Evening News, 'Manc values' to be introduced
Fenland Citizen, Council's 'fat pay packets' slammed
Edinburgh Evening News,