By Peter Gambrill We know now that the US debt deal has cleared its final hurdle by passing the Senate and being signed into law. The deal wrangled over by Republicans and Democrats left the world’s largest economy on the brink of financial suicide. Although the alarmist predictions of immediate market freefall and default were… [Read More]
At first glance, Spain’s decision to restrict the access of Romanians to the Spanish labour market is a double blow to EU standards. Not only does it appear to be anti-immigration, and thus symbolic of the shift to the right evident in so many member states, but, by specifically targeting those from one of the… [Read More]
In this case, much of the problem lies in the over-complexity of the funding formula.
The precise change causing the fuss is a reduction in the “Health Inequalities Weight” from 15% to 10%. Labour North online have made a full table available, although I couldn’t find Tower Hamlets in it when I looked this morning. It shows 11 PCTs, all in the North of England, due to receive a smaller allocation than if the weight used by the last Labour government were continued. The remaining PCTs in the table receive an increase. This reduction in weight to two-thirds of its previous value means that however much areas decry the reduction in the reallocation, twice as much is still being taken from the “wealthier” areas to fund the “poorer”. The reports are only talking about one aspect of the overall funding. By reducing the health inequalities share from 15% to 10%, the share devoted to everything else rises from 85% to 90%. By concentrating on a single aspect, some PCTs can be persuaded that their overall allocations have been cut when they are in fact rising. Most overall changes are considerably smaller than any change to a single aspect, since “pace of change policy” is designed to keep any overall change within constraints.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr show the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander described those who call for the abolition of the additional income tax as living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’. Yet funnily enough those who inhabit cloud cuckoo land, while perhaps insane in Alexander’s opinion, could draw on academic support for their position… [Read More]
Today the ONS released the latest quarterly GDP figures, indicating that the British economy had grown by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2011. The ONS estimated that growth could have been approximately 0.5 per cent higher if it wasn’t for the ‘special events’ of the royal wedding, Japanese earthquake, Olympic ticket sales… [Read More]
Government lacks a convincing strategy Today’s anaemic 0.2 per cent second-quarter GDP figure is not just the result of the international financial crisis. It is also the result of the Coalition’s failure to play its part in promoting economic growth. A new report from independent think tank Civitas argues that the Government should demonstrate its… [Read More]
The two aspirations of increasing classical courses and modernising assessment methods may seem incompatible at first sight. On closer examination, however, they may not only work in harmony but actually foster positive outcomes, writes Therese Wallin.
In the aftermath of the phone hacking scandal, some commentators, including Neil Kinnock, have suggested that now is the time for regulation of the press on a par with TV broadcasters. Besides the dangerous implications for free speech such proposals have, they are fighting what is already the last battle. The mainstream press is at… [Read More]
Businesses throughout Europe could see the EU seize control of their recruitment policy and transform the composition of their boards, under new plans to promote gender equality. Whilst the underlying aim is undoubtedly laudable, the plans will inevitably prove controversial at state level, and risk skewing recruitment away from merit-based selection.
One of the more interesting changes resulting from the financial crash and ensuing recession could be the way in which financiers seek to analyse future market movements: it could be a case of out with the economists and in with the politicians.