Most people remember where they were on 9/11. Epoch-changing events have that effect, especially when they are so spectacular and obviously far-reaching in their ramifications. But not all epoch-changing events are spectacular, and they don’t always advertise themselves so obviously.
With that in mind, remember where you were today. The 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review may become a date historians return to.
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What’s the difference between 35 and 33? The 33 didn’t dig their own hole.
Now let’s see what we’ve been able to cobble together from a completely random late night internet search about the hypocrisy levels of the 35 business people who signed the letter calling for swift, savage cuts:
I was outraged when I heard that there was a chance tuition fees would be raised and I still fail to see a way in which this would benefit anyone other than the wealthy. But neither can I put my full weight behind a blanket criticism of all the recommendations set out in the Browne report.
There are elements of the Browne report which, if applied, would mean a more progressive system of university funding.
Ken Livingstone has raised a minor storm by seemingly endorsing the independent candidate in the local Mayoral elections in Tower Hamlets (East London). The Labour candidate did not get his endorsement (video below), which has led to some demanding Labour expel Ken.
People will be spitting blood: not just local Labour MP Rushanara Ali but also Ed Miliband because it presents a potential headache.
Trade unions are repeatedly castigated as vested interests. By contrast, the agenda of the wealth creators is routinely presented as ideologically neutral.
OK, these guys dodge a bit tax here and there, and get to run a yacht or three. But what’s good for business is good for Britain.
Much of the tuition fees debate has centred around the effect of the proposals on the ‘squeezed’ middle classes (at least it is when we Lib Dems are not all shouting ‘liar liar pants on fire’ at the leadership).
But we seem to be forgetting that various other groups will be penalised by the proposals as they stand – most obviously women.
George Osborne will finally be announcing details of the Coalition’s plans to drastically cut public spending this week, in what the news has interestingly (and correctly) labelled “the largest reduction to public expenditure to public spending since the ‘Geddes Axe’”.
Even Krishan Guru-Murthy at Channel 4 calls them, “the biggest cuts since the twenties”.
So let’s shed some light on that period of British economic history and see the consequences of those cuts.
In Germany, Angela Merkel has stated that multiculturalism has “failed, utterly failed”. That the idea of people from different backgrounds living happily side by side does not work.
As a religious and cultural atheist that grew up in a Muslim family I admit to being somewhat torn.
Tory Minister for Work and Pensions Ian Duncan Smith announced his plans for a Universal Credit “which will restore fairness and simplicity to a complex, outdated and wildly expensive benefits system.”
As a recipient of disability benefits I am in full agreement with him – the system I went through was unfair and prevented you from going back to work
The Mayor’s latest draft of his Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy was published last Friday without so much as a whisper in the press.
This worthy wishlist sets out how London could cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2025, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process. But there are snags..
It turns out Ed Miliband did recruit Alan Johnson as shadow Chancellor to sell his own vision of how the deficit should be dealt with.
The plans, revealed in the Observer today, show that Labour will be closer to Ed Balls’ plans than that by Alistair Darling. In fact they go even further.