The TaxPayers' Alliance - Home

Thursday July 31

Blogs

6.20pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
"Local councils are unpopular" shock

After a torrid eight months contributed to more than a little by our Council Spending Uncovered campaign which revealed huge amounts of waste and excess in local Government, the Local Government Association's Head of News, Richard Stokoe, has written in PR Week, making a heartfelt plea for sympathy for Town Hall spin doctors. I suspect there will be a decidedly small number of tears being shed by taxpayers... - Read More 

6.05pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Dependent Watchdog

"As the independent gas and electricity watchdog, our mission is simple: to get the best deal we can for energy consumers."

So says energywatch [sic]. And over the last 24 hours they have been sounding off mightily over the hike in British Gas prices. Indeed, its Campaign Director Adam Scorer has just laid into Centrica for daring to increase prices while still in profit... - Read More

5.15pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Stafford make cutbacks

It’s good that this council are looking at how they can save, but if they’re really serious about giving residents value for money there’s much more they can, and should, do... - Read More

11.45pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Great minds think alike... but fools seldom differ

According to reports, a spokesman for Blackburn's town-centre partnership said: "Great minds do think alike." There's another saying that applies to the same phenomenon, though - "Fools seldom differ." I'll let you decide which of the two is more appropriate... - Read More

10.30pm, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

Enviro-Crime Enforcement Officer
£29,241 - £30,774 pa

You care about the environment… More than that, you want to achieve change... - Read More

10.15am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Cracks starting to show in the green stealth tax crusade

Until recently, advocates of Green taxes actually seemed to relish the fact that they were causing people discomfort - welcoming the scratching of the hair-shirt as a sign that some kind of deserved penance was being paid. For the most extreme, the more ordinary people's pips squeaked, the better... - Read More

Telegraph.co.uk, Matthew Elliott: How to make crime maps work
EUReferendum, Drip, Drip, Drip
Charleston Daily Mail, Don Surber: Green backlash
PR Week, Local councils are in image crunch
Chorley Guardian, MP defends fact-finding trip to Cayman Islands
Lancashire Evening Post, MPs take 'fact-finding mission' to Cayman Islands
North Somerset Times, Taxpayers funding our councillors' pensions

Wednesday July 30

Blogs

11.45am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
It's time to delete innocents from the DNA database

The unfortunate fact is that the old "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" blarney simply isn't true. I can think of a host of things to fear: having to pay through the nose for unnecessary technology projects; having my personal data hawked around the marketplace without my permission and used in various research projects; someone losing or stealing my most personal, most irreplaceable data; and, finally and most worrying of all, going through all this cost, angst and intrusion only to see people actually involved in terrorism and crime keep getting away with it because the authorities are too focused on shiny hi-tech measures that impact on the innocent to properly deal with the guilty... - Read More

10.15am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
First, do no harm

With Ofgem confident that our energy market is reasonably competitive isn't hounding electricity companies just a crude attempt to displace popular resentment of high prices?  If the Government were really committed to bringing down prices it could easily do so by scrapping some of these ineffective climate change regulations... - Read More

9.30am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Milibland

The whole thing reads like an apologia rather than a leadership bid.   The muddled analytical confusion – not just of the Tories, but of the current situation within the British political economy – shows how the contradictions in the Labour Party are coming to fruition and opens the way for a Left critique and definite challenge should Miliband stand... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, Serious Fraud Office under fire as conviction rate halves as budget doubles
Daily Mail, Climate change policies are costing families an extra £50 on annual electric bills
Mirror, NIO drives up £291,000 bill on cars for just two Ministers
Daily Express, The soaring cost of equality
Daily Express, Turn out the lights - we're becoming a nation of Scrooges
Telegraph.co.uk, Matthew Elliott: NESTA shows the ineffectiveness of Britain's quangocracy
Yorkshire Post, Government accused over electricity bills
Liverpool Daily Post, Climate costs
Weston & Somerset Mercury, Taxpayers fund councillors' pension schemes
BBC Radio Ulster, The TPA's Mark Wallace put the case against taxpayer funding of political parties

Tuesday July 29

Blogs

5.40pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Top Down or Bottom Up politics?

Bit by bit we are winning and it’s through your resolve and hard work in getting the message out and passing on the ideas for lower taxes and the principles behind them.

You can help us by recommending us to likeminded, over-taxed people you know and ask they join the campaign... - Read More

10.00am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Woefully inadequate

The description of a "muddle through" ethos is pretty telling.  Our public services are too often the victim of muddle through management.  Ministers, who are normally inexperienced and only in place for a couple of years at a time, can't do much more than muddle through.  The shortcomings of political leadership lead to weaknesses in the rest of the organisation... - Read More

9.30am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
First principles for a low tax society

From these first principles – that the money you earn should be spent by government for the safety and security of your rights to freely exchange on the market – that lower taxes are, for me, a moral and philosophical requirement to a just society.  Futhermore, voluntary activity shouldn’t be mitigated by arbitrary decisions from government.  What the government can plan for, quite easily, voluntary activity can distort... - Read More

9.20am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
The Sun Says: Cut Taxes

This is great news and a clear signal to Brown, Cameron and Clegg: the TPA's campaign is resonating throughout the country. People want the public sector to tighten its belt, sharpen up its act and lighten the load of taxation - and they know it can be done... - Read More

Daily Mail, The bucket and spade bureaucrat
Belfast Newsletter, NIO car bill 'clocking up' costs
Gloucester Citizen, Stroud man says he is no 'nosey parker' for monitoring CCTV

Monday July 28

Blogs

4.30pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
A welcome crime announcement

She's right about the power of informing people, and the importance of getting people involved in policing - she falls down, though, on the question of what to do about it. It's an improvement to use crime mapping to inform people, and it helps people hold the police to account, but if you want people to "get involved" why not give them democratic control over policing? We haven't hear hide nor hair of that idea from the Government yet but then again, they weren't in favour of crime mapping 12 months ago... - Read More

3.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Bridge plans dropped after five years

It is most worrying that a body like World Class Stratford could wield enough power to push local councils on against their better judgement, and though Stratfordians have ultimately emerged victorious from this hard fought and prolonged fight, it shouldn’t be too long before AWM are flexing their financial muscle once more and attempting to leave their mark on this vulnerable town... - Read More

1.50pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
How Darling can help us and help himself

The Government are rightly getting a lot of flak at the moment for the economic conditions, the massive tax burden and the serial failures of public services. They would do well to remember that as well as helping me and my local newsagent by cutting taxes, they would be helping to take some of the pressure off themselves. Whether they do the right thing for self-interest or for the public and economic good, here's hoping they do it soon... - Read More

1.35pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
A superb day in Norwich

The sun shines on the righteous, they say, and it certainly shone for us on Friday when our Norfolk TPA branch were campaigning and petitioning Norfolk residents for lower Council Tax.  The only downside was that some hoodlum stole a supporter’s handbag.  Nevertheless, in a morning’s work we signed up well over 200 new supporters... - Read More

1.30pm, Campaign
Matthew Sinclair:
It isn't environmentalism that has driven Conservative poll success

It would be a real mistake to look at the Tories' current opinion poll lead and forget the lessons learned while getting to that, enviable, position.  Major interventions in the economy designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions have not been popular.  When the Quality of Life Policy Group's report came out it was a public relations disaster, it was the promise of an inheritance tax cut that improved the Conservatives' fortunes.  Attempts by both parties to wrap themselves in the green banner have a dismal record of proving unpopular and, when translated into policy, ineffective.  Future environmental policy will need to be more considered and pragmatic... - Read More

12.45pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
British Energy - Another Giveaway?

Now in truth, taxpayers should not want the government to own an electricity generator, and we support a sale. We're just worried that our fumbling government will be bounced into yet another giveaway, either in terms of the sale price, or in terms of the longer term erosion of competition in the wholesale electricity market... - Read More

Daily Express, Criminals owe courts £500m
Daily Mail, Disgraced MP Derek Conway must pay back £13,160 expenses he claimed for son's 'wages'
The Mirror, Sleazy terms: disgraced Tory MP is given a year to pay back £13,000 taxpayers' cash that he wrongly gave to son
American.com, Matthew Sinclair and Chris Pope: The Strange Death of the Tory Climate Crusade
Telegraph.co.uk, Disgraced Tory MP Derek Conway given year to repay money
Politics.co.uk, Conway forced to pay back cash

Over the weekend,
Sunday Telegraph, Waste Watch
Mail on Sunday, NHS translation bill soars due to migrants
Daily Mail, My high-risk job is worth £220,000...... says town hall official paid more than the PM
Sunday People, Spy council's videos at tip
Sunday Mercury, Climate change festival slammed as a waste of money
Sunday Mercury, Leader: Just rubbish

Friday July 25

£1.5 BILLION: THE TAX ON HOLIDAYS

New research from the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals the true cost of taxes on holidays abroad. With hard-working people saving all year round for a well-deserved break, few of us are aware of just how much of our holiday money goes straight into the Treasury's coffers.

Download the full report here (PDF).

To watch a brief interview with the TPA's Mark Wallace discussing the report, click here.

Blogs

10.15pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
New CEI video on the cost of regulation

The Sun, Holiday taxes hit £1.5billion
The Metro, A 'Dad's Army' to monitor our CCTV
Daily Mail, Two days 9 hours and 25 minutes ... that's how long it takes Britons to start relaxing on holiday
Daily Mail, Wanted: Nosey parkers to monitor police CCTV cameras
Daily Express, Labour's £30 tax on our holidays
Daily Express, Pay every time your dustbin is emptied
Daily Express, Anger as prisoners get a 10% weekly 'pay rise'
Daily Telegraph, £1.5bn tax on summer holidays
Daily Telegraph, Calling nosy parkers...Big Brother wants you
Mirror, 'Holiday-makers don't start enjoying break until two days in'
Daily Star, Give us a break
Telegraph.co.uk, Matthew Elliott: The Government grabs £200 from an average family holiday
Belfast Telegraph, Taxman takes £1.5bn from your holidays
Hackney Gazette, Council pay shocker
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, £1.5bn of holiday taxes
BBC Radio Somerset, Fuel prices will hit council taxpayers hard
BBC Radio Cambridge, Tax costs holidaymakers £1.5bn
Time 107.5FM, Councils pay record amounts to agency staff

Thursday July 24

Blogs

6.00pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
SATS chaos rumbles on

The really worrying thing is this: even if we punish those responsible for this case, the underlying conditions that produced this failure will persist across the public sector. Too many bad contracts are signed on our behalf by people who lack the experiece to negotiate them properly, who are relatively safe in the knowledge that they are near-impossible to hold to account if it does go wrong, and if they do lose their jobs then they will get a great big golden parachute, funded by the taxpayer. Unless we make fundamental changes, this will happen again - maybe not in schools, perhaps in the army or in hospitals - but it will happen again... - Read More

5.00pm, Campaign
Matthew Sinclair:
Councils finding spurious reasons to avoid answering Freedom of Information requests

Don't let council officials get away with refusing to respect your right to know.  Get in touch with the leader of Rother council and let him know what they've been up to, and that you aren't impressed! - Read More

3.30pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Welfare Reform

Purnell has certainly moved in the right direction (and has got the headlines to prove it). But the details are still flakey, and what he's not done is to copy the highly successful US innovations in time limiting benefits. Yesterday a BBC reporter opined that was because UK public opinion is softer than US public opinion, and we would never condone such harsh measures.

To which we say, it's never been offered... - Read More

10.00am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
What is a councillor worth?

Finally, as I noted last week, councillors have very little power to overturn or even check decisions made by officers.  That officers at Thurrock Council could arbitrarily employ more staff for the public payroll, despite the objections of the elected councillors, shows that the current diffusion of authority in Town Halls leaves councillors with little power to shape their boroughs...

A democratic deficit is oft mentioned when discussing the value we get from MEPs and MPs.  It’s time we started looking at the scandal going on right under our noses: an elected position, powerless, yet continuously voting for higher and higher salaries costing the council tax payers hundreds of thousands of pounds a year... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, New Rock chief lured from Barclays with £2.6m-plus deal
Daily Star, Crisis? MPs are off for 11 weeks
Guardian, Banking: New Northern Rock chief walks into bonus row
Daily Mail, New boss of Northern Rock to become highest paid worker in the public sector
Daily Telegraph, Thirteen million drivers to pay higher road taxes
Mirror, Your Money: £2m for new boss of Rock
Oxford Mail, Tories come clean on expenses
Birmingham Mail, Fears Birmingham families are paying too much Council Tax
Abingdon Herald, Tories publish expense claims
Bristol Evening Post, Outrage at quango's £1m PR bill for South West taxpayers

Wednesday July 23

Blogs

12.00pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Fingerprinting and a city centre smoking ban: Birmingham City Council spends your money

Today The Stirrer followed up on a story reported there yesterday about children at Birmingham schools having their fingerprints taken in order to eat a school meal. The website became aware of the procedure after being contacted by a parent who felt concerned that this contravened civil liberties... - Read More

10.00am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

Essex County Council have become a pain when it comes to squandering taxpayers’ money.  They’re very good at it.  During the last run of The Apprentice on the BBC, Essex CC announced they would give the runner up a job at Essex CC.  They didn’t say what the job would involve, but that they would be willing to spend taxpayers’ money on employing a ‘celebrity’ to do God knows what.  With a record like that it isn’t surprising to see this job advertised at Essex CC... - Read More

Daily Express, Villagers' 1.5-mile trek just to put the bins out
Daily Express, We pay £1m for ministers' junkets and luxury travel
Daily Mail, Pay the obese to lose weight
Liverpool Daily Post, Top brass get lower rises than others, report says
Western Mail, Tories attack bonus leap for top Assembly officials
Telegraph.co.uk, Northern Rock's new chief becomes Britain's best paid civil servant
Real Radio, Mark Wallace argued that it was wrong and ineffective to bribe the obese to lose weight

Tuesday July 22

Blogs

12.00pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Equality and Human Rights Commission throwing its weight around

A remit like that would be a universal excuse for a myriad of policies that would be barking mad at best (see the Fabian Society's "Ban the word Chav" contribution to get an idea of this category), economically hugely damaging at medium and sinister at worst (consider that the Government's recent race and gender "equality" laws have founded equality on the principle of actively discriminating against others)... - Read More

9.45am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Armed forces being run into the ground

...over years and decades if the armed forces are not properly managed and resourced the strain will tell and, in some future crisis, we won't be able to call on the effective military we expect.

Unfortunately, as most ministers are only in their posts for a few short years, they have every incentive to leave these problems to another day... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, Council chiefs' pay doubles in a decade
Daily Telegraph, MoD accused of 'conspiracy of optimism' on defence projects
City AM, Matthew Elliott: Why Chancellor must kill off his corporate tax plans for good
Daily Mail, Olympics fat cats pocket more than £500,000 in bonuses despite rocketing costs
Daily Mail, Spiralling costs of MoD projects could 'leave troops short of equipment', MPs warn
Daily Express, Anger at MPs' hols
TalkSport, The John Gaunt Show: Parliamentary restaurants subsidised to the tune of millions

Monday July 21

Blogs

1.30pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
The Money Belongs To Us

But the short-term need to clear up the immediate mess should not detract us from asking for more detail on the Mr Osborne's longer-term fiscal rules. It's good news that they'll be independently monitored, but "sharing the proceeds of growth" remains far too vague - especially in a world where growth may be much harder to come by... - Read More

10.35am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Rewards for failure at Network Rail

Network Rail has its debts guaranteed by the Government and enjoys a monopoly.  It may not be entirely owned by the state but it is hardly a private sector organisation either.  Taxpayers have a very real stake in how the company is run both as its guarantors and as rail passengers who depend upon an efficient and reliable service... - Read More

Metro, Unpaid court fines rise above £500m (not online)
Evening Standard, 2012 bosses pick up £1.7m bonuses despite cost rises
BBC Radio Three Counties, Mark Wallace supported the Government's welfare plans, but questioned whether they will be delivered
BBC Radio 5 Live, Do MPs deserve their 11 week summer holiday?

Over the weekend,

The Sunday Times, Minette Marrin: Deliver us, minister, from your dreadful incompetence
Sunday Times, Huge pay rises for watchdog bosses
Mail on Sunday, Tories accused of expenses binge as crackdown looms
News of the World, Baby bonds crash
Daily Telegraph, Leader: Spending our way further into trouble
The Times, Fire brigade criticised for rescuing injured seagull
Sunday Express, No such thing as a free lunch? Tell that to MPs
Sunday People, Gunner Gordon
BBC News Online, Fire brigade defends bird rescue
Carlisle News & Star, Letters: Striking workers benefit at others’ expense
Western Daily Press, Seagull's rescue by fire brigade sparks outcry

Friday July 18

Blogs

4.45pm, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Still a long way to go on tax and spend

This is extremely welcome and significant, whether out of a change in principle, or a sense that votes are up for grabs.  The Liberal Democrats are the only one of the three main parties to pledge to reduce the overall burden of tax.  We wait to see their detailed costings and the specific areas of government spending they will cut, but, as Iain Dale wrote in today’s Telegraph [link], “it’s a damn sight more than any other politician has had the guts to do”... - Read More

3.30pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
What the Thurrock are they playing at?

...a whopping £130,000 bill for the Council to employ 3 more health and safety officers at Thurrock Council... - Read More

10.20am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Depoliticising politics

By reforming, decentralising and allowing taxpayers’ money to follow the taxpayer into competitive services, we would see taxpayers’ making the choices about where their money goes so they have the responsibility of finding – and receiving – the best service.  Undoubtedly taxpayers would opt for the service professionally run and delivered.  If the service fails, they have the option to remove their custom.  With government education, health and – dare I even say it – policing, there is no alternative, the politicians rule and make your decisions.  It’s like Henry Ford’s analogy: “you can have whatever colour car you like, as long as it’s black”... - Read More

9.20am, Better Government
Corin Taylor:
Choice needs to go much further than at present

This is an important reminder that half-hearted reforms will not be sufficient to really improve our public services. Only putting real spending power in the hands of ordinary people will achieve that... - Read More

The Sun, 7 firemen to rescue 1 seagull
The Sun, Sirs 'extra 1hr' strike
Daily Mail, 'Pay up or we'll sue', Equitable Life victims tell Ministers as report orders Government to pay out £4.5 billion
Telegraph.co.uk, Matthew Elliott: Business expertise is sorely lacking in Whitehall
Irish News, Crime cost taxpayers in north £240 per person last year
Newcastle Journal, Ministers lacking quality
Newcastle Journal, Tax Offices To Be Closed
Birmingham Post, Ministers 'lack experience'
Loughborough Echo, Letter: What a waste of money
Yorkshire Post, Officials defend £40,000 spent on property convention
Exeter Express & Echo, Authority defends £350,000 annual bill for councillors
Politics.co.uk, Govt ministers 'couldn't run private companies'
Talk 107, Mark Wallace discussed the fact that council tax is too high, irrespective of what system is used to collect it

Thursday July 17

New TaxPayers' Alliance research

Structure of Government 2: The Failure of Management

Download the full report here (PDF)

Blogs

4.30pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Coventry staff cash in on carbon cutting

Without intending to insult the intelligence of Coventry City Council general staff, I doubt many of them are scientists specialising in climate change or environmental issues, and therefore many of their suggestions are more than likely going to be lifted from the internet or picked up from another external source, so why can’t those who are receiving taxpayers’ money to investigate climate change issues do the research, save the other 17,000 the time, and save local residents the cost of this ridiculous hotline?  - Read More

2.45pm, Economic 101
Matthew Sinclair:
The OECD reveals the inefficiency of biofuel subsidies

At the moment, neither biofuels nor renewables are anywhere near efficient enough to replace fossil fuels.  Pretending otherwise and throwing huge amounts of subsidy at technologies that just aren't ready for the big time is a ruinously bad idea... - Read More

11.15am, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Wolverhampton tighten their belt

It’s good to see a West Midlands council working practically to recover money that is being haemorrhaged internally. Let’s hope it won’t take the others too long to follow-suit... - Read More

10.30am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

These backroom non-jobbers don’t clean the bins, sweep the streets or keep us safe, so what service is there that taxpayers are involuntarily funding?  They’re there to appease the politically correct, the do-gooders who believe government is the miraculous solution to all our woes... - Read More

9.45am, Better Government
Corin Taylor:
The IPOD generation: politics should not be business as usual

These are encouraging findings. In the future it will no longer be possible simply to spend enormous amounts of money on public services with no plans for reform and get away with it for so long. To attract support, political parties will have to be smarter than that... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, Taxpayers' Alliance contrasts business leaders and politicians
Daily Express, MPs replace 'John Lewis list' with IKEA
Daily Express, When 999 really was an emergency
Daily Express, 2p off petrol tax: it's a farce
Daily Mail, MPs vote to keep getting furniture on the taxpayer
Daily Mail, Bin collection cuts fuel surge in fires
Telegraph.co.uk, Motorists face £5 charge to beat jams on motorway hard shoulder
The Mirror, OUT MPs' John Lewis list ripped up IN But they still get £2,400 Ikea list to kit out homes
Metro, 'John Lewis list' replaced by IKEA (not online)
Channel 4 News, MPs scrap John Lewis list
Daily Record, Lewis list 'replaced by IKEA'
The Herald, MPs' John Lewis list gets Ikea makeover
Newcastle Journal, MPs Ditch Lewis List But Keep Handouts
Cambridge News, £6.6 million taxi bill for schools
Belfast Newsletter, Bid to ban smacking 'has cost £90k so far'
Yorkshire Post, MPs back partial expenses reform
Irish News, MPs drop John Lewis for Ikea list say Tories
Spectator, Business Blog: Good thing they’re not in business
Evening Standard: Letters: Poor families hit by car tax changes
BBC News Online, MPs vote to review expenses rule
BBC Radio 4, Mike Denham debates charges for public services with Charles Clarke on the Today Programme

Last night:

BBC Newsnight, Matthew Sinclair argued that perceived weakness on the part of the Government was contributing to the extraordinary number of public sector strikes.  Watch here.

 

Wednesday July 16

Blogs

6.00pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
MPs' expenses fudge, whilst Tories partially open the books

In other news, it's encouraging to note that there has been at least one step towards transparency by the Tories today, who have published the categorised expenses claims of their frontbenchers and many of their backbenchers for the last three months. We've had a look through, and will of course be scrutinising them even more closely in coming days, but do have a look yourself - they can be found here... - Read More

10.45am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Reform, not words, spending or empty gestures, please!

Madness is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  The government, I can therefore announce, is bonkers.  It’s the one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest, one it built with taxpayer’s money... - Read More

9.15am, Campaign
Nigel Holder:
Transferring Wealth from the State to the Citizen

The has been much talk of late about the role of the State as a commissioner of services, with competition being provided through a multiplicity of providers, some of whom may be in the private sector.  It is important to recognise that true competition only exists when an individual citizen freely can make a value for money distinction between providers that are vying for trade in a free market place... - Read More

The Mirror, What a discgrace: £137k pay off for benefits fiasco boss
Newcastle Journal, Missing Discs Boss's £7,000 A Month Pay'
The Guardian, HMRC chiefs' payouts revealed
Daily Telegraph, Data loss mandarin gets £2.2m farewell
Daily Telegraph, Cameron refuses to rule out tax increases
Daily Mail, £2.3m eases pain for data loss chief
Daily Mail, Cameron leaves door open for Tory tax rises
The Sun, 1.5m face bills after tax blunder
Daily Star, Disc blunder chief gets a £2m pension
Daily Express, Anger at £2m bonanza for data bungler
Metro, Data bungle civil servant gets £2.3m
Accountancy Age, Huge payoff for HMRC boss Gray
Sunderland Echo, Fury over pay-off for boss
Birmingham Post, Pay-off of £137,000 after HMRC boob
Liverpool Daily Post, Customs cash row

Tuesday July 15

Blogs

12.30pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Fat Boy Farrell Investigates

I'm now a hero so that's good. I now get recognised all the time by kids on the street...

So far so good...

...they all call me Fatboy Farrell...- Read More

11.15am, Better Government
Mark Wallace:
DETAILS OF EX-HMRC BOSS'S REWARDS FOR FAILURE REVEALED

The TaxPayers' Alliance releases full details of the massive financial package given to Paul Gray, the former Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) who resigned over the loss of computer discs containing the personal details of 25 million people. - Read More

11.00am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The unions buy Government policy

It is rather sad that unions can secure policy changes like this one just by underwriting the Labour Party's debts... - Read More

9.20am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Swindon gives speed cameras a long overdue heave-ho

Good on Swindon council for finally saying what the rest of us have known for quite some time - speed cameras have become a money-raising scam rather than a road safety measure... - Read More

9.00am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
All talk

Your money in the past ten years apparently served as ‘investment’ in public services.  In return you get dirty hospitals, police barricaded in their stations through an avalanche of paperwork and a government employing PC bureaucrats – as mentioned above – to help problem families stay in their council houses... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, BBC spend on taxis jumps £2m in a year
Daily Telegraph, Parents of troubled teens face coaching courses and eviction threats
Daily Express, Convicts hug a tree to go free
DailyMail.co.uk, Police unveil their latest weapon to fight crime - Top Trumps cards of THEMSELVES
Grimsby Evening Telegraph, Hot on the heels of council tax dodgers
Politics.co.uk, Data loss boss got £137k for resignation
Teletext, Row over HMRC's chief payout

On TV tonight:

Tyne Tees TV (ITV): Mark Wallace of the TPA criticises the massive pay-off given to the former Chairman of HMRC

Monday July 14

Blogs

10.00am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Politicians don't build nuclear power plants, builders do

Of course, in reality ministers are only providing planning permission but the underlying attitude, that things get done when ministers command that they be done, is dangerous.  An attitude which expects Government to take action and interfere from the top in the day-to-day delivery of services is responsible for so much poor performance in the public services... - Read More

Daily Star, Migrants passport scandal
Daily Express, Translating costs soar to guarantee all get a passport
Daily Express, If you want weekly bin runs you'll have to pay for them
The Mirror, BBC taxi bill costs fee payers £13.8m
Daily Mail, BBC's taxi bill soars by 60% in a year to a staggering £14million
Daily Mail, Home Secretary: Reforming MP's expenses would have created extra work for my staff
Daily Telegraph, Fat nurses get £250K scheme to lose weight
CityTalk Radio, Do civil servants deserve massive bonuses?

Media coverage over the weekend:

Daily Mail, Fury as Games chief's bonus hits £200,000
Sunday Telegraph, Profile: Jenny Abramsky: Are you retiring comfortably?
Sunday Telegraph, MPs claim expenses for unnecessary homes
Sunday Telegraph, Wastewatch: Double Perks
Sunday People, The jaunt committees
Sunday People, £3k for doc
Newcastle Sunday Sun, Paying high price for crime fight

Friday July 11

Blogs

5.30pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Local Government report a waste of White Paper

Local democracy is a really big issue, and has a host of serious problems that need solving, but do we hear any truly radical suggestions to put services under democratic control, throw open the doors of bureaucracy and introduce genuine transparency? Not a bit of it - they've dodged the question. To continue the historic theme, if they carry on behaving like this they'll have the Peasants Revolt 1381 on their hands... - Read More

4.45pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Unconstructive quango

A WMTPA supporter recently queried the existence of the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence, a body set-up to “improve the capabilities and competitiveness of the West Midlands construction industry”, the like of which is replicated in each of the regions... - Read More

The Sun, Road tax rage
Daily Express, EU allows foreigners to claim British benefits after returning home
Daily Express, Britain needs a stamp duty holiday
Daily Star, Fury at EU dole plan
Rochdale Online, Annual crime cost tops £370
Glasgow Herald, Road tax rise last straw for poor families, claim Tories
Blackpool Gazette, Motorists suffer green tax misery
Wokingham Times, Counting the cost of crime
Newcastle Journal, Increased Road Tax Sparks Fury
Whitby Gazette, Letters: Anyone for taxpayer idea?
Yorkshire Post, Glyn Gaskarth: Four steps to keep Britain safe... and free
South Wales Echo, Viewpoints - Why not set our AMs an allowance?
The Herald, Road tax rise last straw for poor families, claim Tories
Liverpool Daily Post, WALES: Road tax anger grows
ConservativeHome.com, Tax relief for the poor
The Comet, £255 - that's the cost of crime to you if you live in Bedfordshire

Sky News, TPA slams councils for selling personal data

BBC Look North, Newcastle City Council try to solve the housing market using taxpayers' money (click to watch)

Thursday July 10

Blogs

11.00am, Economics 101
Matthew Sinclair:
Finally the Government are facing the facts on Vehicle Excise Duty

When new green charges are put in place the main effect people see isn't a marginal increase in the already huge incentive to run an efficient car.  What they see is a Government using green rhetoric as a smokescreen to conceal yet another imposition on hard-pressed motorists and misleading them about the impact of the new charges.  They are rightly angry... - Read More

10.25am, Better Government
Corin Taylor:
Private sector running £80bn worth of public services

So overall, while the report contains much to be positive about, the current pattern of private involvement in public services leaves much to be desired. The market is currently constrained on both the supply and the demand sides and until that changes, the much-needed revolution in public services will not occur. - Read More

Daily Mail, Voters to be enticed to the polls... with an offer of free doughnuts
Shields Gazette, Council tax could rise by 5% a year
24dash, Government accused of bribing voters with polling booth 'incentives'
Heritage.org, Europe and Israel: Strengthening the Partnership
Lancashire Evening Post, Row over council's allowances bill
Lancashire Evening Post, Car tax hike hits motorists hard
Politics.co.uk, Tory MEPs forced to publish expenses
Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, Force has third highest cost for tackling crime
4ni.co.uk, Road Users Face Car Tax Hike
Edinburgh Evening News, Free tables and chairs on offer as £100k furniture deal looms
Resource & Waste Management News, AWCs are a disservice to the public, says campaign group
Finance Markets, New car tax to hit nearly 10 million people
Nottingham Evening Post, Notts police rue information slip

Wednesday July 9

Blogs

11.00am, Burning Our Money
Tim Aker:
Non-job of the week

Almost half-a-million pounds for only 3 jobs that you’re paying for.  Astonishing... - Read More

Daily Mail, Scots MEP cleared by Euro chiefs over £120,000 claim
Southern Daily Echo, Controversial road works to cost extra half million pounds
Cynon Valley Leader, True cost of crime is added up
Bexley Times, £275 is the cost of crime
Yorkshire Evening Post, £26m transport bonus angers commuters
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Crime costing everyone hundreds of pounds
Green Building Press, Government makes money as citizens freeze

Tuesday July 8

Blogs

3.15pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
EU Commission sends good news on VAT (and a stark lesson on sovereignty)

The EU Commission issued a press release yesterday proposing a cut in the rate of VAT on house repairs and improvements, which is encouraging for the prospects of the Cut the VAT campaign. There's a salutory lesson to be learned on democratic sovereignty, though... - Read More

12.30pm, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
How to undermine a serious issue: the NCB and culinary racism

In fact what's more likely is that nurseries, fearful of being labeled racist, will err on the side of caution. Chips it is then. Introducing children to new cultures and peoples is an important part of pre-school; labelling children's irrational likes and dislikes as racist only works to undermine that... - Read More

The Sun, Clerics of hate 'cost us £5m'
Guardian, Fraud: Whitehall 'doomed to lose £1bn of benefit payments every year'
Daily Express, £2.75m, the cost of paying bill for Hamza's hatred
Daily Express, £3/4m food wasted (That's by the Government lecturing us)
Daily Sport, You pay Abu's £2.7m bill! (not online)
Daily Mail, Thugs paid expenses to work in the community
Contractor UK, 'Big Brother costs £800 per household'
Wigan Evening Post, Anger over increasing crime cost
Public Servant, Big Brother's expensive tastes revealed
Birmingham Mail, Midlands crime toll tops £350
Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, £362 - The cost of crime for everyone on Teesside
Thaindian.com, UK has spent over five million pounds sustaining clerics of hate
Belfast Telegraph, Rich man Woodward under fire for not supporting controls on MPs expenses

Monday July 7

The Cost of Big Brother Government

Download the full report (PDF)

Blogs

6.00pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
More money for The Public

Whoever thought that this project would cease guzzling money from the public purse once its pink blobby doors were finally opened was sadly misled. It’s just one week since the big reveal, and already Sandwell Council are entering crisis talks regarding a £1million funding shortfall, and we can only hope that this isn’t the first of many... - Read More

3.15pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Politicians should stop blaming the people for high food prices

Brown is hoping that he can create enough of a distraction for voters to miss that it is the politicians who are the real problem.  Here are five ways, among others, politicians contribute to high food prices... - Read More

Daily Telegraph, 'Big Brother' government costs us £20billion
Daily Telegraph, Is Labour's surveillance society costing us too much?
Daily Express, Taxpayers footing the bill for tubby Scots' 'moob jobs'
Daily Express, Brown hires a 767 jet to fly to green summit
Daily Express, Stressed-out police costing £1m a week
Mirror, 'Our spy society is costing us £20billion'
Daily Mail, Teachers sent to give sex lessons at gipsy campsite
Daily Mail, More men get 'moob jobs' on the NHS
The Scotsman, Men opting for moob surgery
Express & Star, Crisis fear as Public faces £1m shortfall
Computer Weekly, ‘Big Brother government’ costs £20bn
OpenDemocracy.net, A better way to fight terrorism?
Essex Echo, MPs defend second home expense vote
Talk107, Should moob surgery be available on the NHS?
Samizdata, Quote of the day: Matthew Sinclair
Samizdata, What the database state costs
Smash Hits India, UK's `surveillance society' costing taxpayers 20 billion pounds
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, What A Fuel!

Coverage over the weekend:

The Sunday Times, NHS costs rise as 'moob' jobs soar
News of the World, Wad a scandal: £128m bonuses for civil servants
Sunderland Echo, We pay £248 each to combat crooks
Sunday Herald, Scots MEP cleared after investigation

Friday July 4

The Cost of Crime

Download the full report (PDF)

Blogs

2.15pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Cost of Crime UPDATE

Since our study, The Cost of Crime, was released we've had some interesting responses - some trying, and failing, to undermine our report while most are very positive - and some new figures from Nottingham and Lincolnshire... - Read More

11.30am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Friction TV video for the Cost of Crime report

9.30am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
What's yours is theirs, too

We’ve seen government invade our privacy, misusing anti-terrorist legislation to spy on individuals going about their daily business.  Now we face seeing the government using its powers to invade bank accounts and appropriating as it sees fit.  Everyone in the real world has to make careful decisions over their spending as the economy enters tough times.  Government should do the same and not treat the British taxpayer as their private pot of cash... - Read More

Daily Mail, Crime costs each of us £275 a year
Daily Mail, More than a quarter of MPs put relatives on the payroll - at the taxpayers' expense
Daily Mail, GPs blocking patient choice says Minister
Daily Express, £275-a-head cost of crime
Daily Express, ‘Retreat' on fuel duty rise...but it's not enough
Daily Express, Scandal of members who use our cash to pay family
Daily Telegraph, Soaring fuel costs could mean services are cut, warn councils
Daily Telegraph, Crime costs every person £275 a year
Daily Telegraph, MPs vote to keep 'John Lewis' expenses and let the taxpayer fund their furniture
The Sun, Criminal waste
The Sun, Ministers are snout of order
Mirror, A Fool House
Daily Star, £275-a head cost of crime
Daily Sport, £275: What crime costs you! (not online)
Scotsman, Are MPs living in a dream world by voting to keep £24,000 allowance?
Newcastle Journal, Transport Officials Get Millions
Daily Mail, Hospital trust paid locum £3,000 a day to cover for sick member of staff
The Guardian, More efficiency is a waste of time
BBC News Online, Cost of crime '£275 per person'
DailyMail.co.uk, Brown 'disappointed' after MPs vote to carry on claiming lavish expenses
Politics.co.uk, Anger erupts over MPs' expenses
Yorkshire Post, 'Arrogant' MPs vote to keep expenses for second homes
Norwich Evening News, Norfolk's cost of crime revealed
Essex Echo, Crime in Essex costs us £232 each, says taxpayer survey
East Anglian Daily Times, Suffolk crime costs taxpayers £270 each
Bucks Free Press, Police "cost residents £316 a year"
Newstrack India, Report reveals that crime costs UK 15 billion pounds a year
Derby Evening Telegraph, Force says crime cost table is without basis
Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, Counting the cost of crime in county
South Wales Echo, Cairns: I’m claiming £12,500 to rent flat in the Bay
Brighton Argus, MPs defend pay rise vote
TopNews (India), Crime costs UK 15 billion pounds a year
Aberdeen Press & Journal, MPs throw out expenses reforms
Northampton Chronicle, Crimes cost us all £276.33 each per year
Coventry Evening Telegraph, The cost of tackling crime
Nottingham Evening Post, Notts police admit error in cost of crime study
Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Revealed: The true cost of crime to the city
Economic Times (India), Report reveals that crime costs UK 15 billion pounds a year
Evening Gazette,