Really? Are You Sure?

An investigation in January that led to the review blamed the attacks on “increased pressure on residents as a result of the recession and the financial situation many are in.”

The Barbican is one of the most exclusive estates in London!

Are we really suggesting that 'the recession' has driven owners of £1mil apartments into going off on one at the housing staff in the Barbican, like Carly and Wayne in the housing offices of Saint Duggan Terraces..?

The City of London owns and manages nearly 2,800 properties on 11 estates, two of which are in the Square Mile. The others are in seven boroughs including Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Lewisham and Lambeth.Nearly 1,900 properties are occupied by tenants and the rest by leaseholders and freeholders.

Ah! It's OK. Relax, everyone. It's merely a case that they get lumped in with the aforesaid Carly & Wayne...

A Lesson In Economic Reality

Willietta Dukes is going on strike. Why? Because she isn’t paid enough by Burger King, or so she thinks:

I make $7.85 at Burger King as a guest ambassador and team leader, where I train new employees on restaurant regulations and perform the manager's duties in their absence. Before Burger King, I worked at Church's for 12 years, starting at $6.30 and ending at just a little more than $8 an hour. I've never walked off a job before. I don't consider myself an activist, and I've never been involved with politics. I'm a mother with two sons, and like any mom knows, raising two teenage boys is tough. Raising them as a single mother, on less than $8 an hour, is nearly impossible, though.

Well, that's hardly surprising. There's a reason why 'single mother' isn't a career option anyone would recommend, except here, where the benefits can be better than working for a living...

Burger King says they can't pay employees like me higher wages because it would force them out of business. Yet last year it made $117m in profits and its CEO took home $6.47m. It would take me 634 years to earn that much.

So what? Burger King is a business, it exists to make money for its shareholders, not pay you a lavish salary for work which has little market value and can be done by anyone with a minimal skill set.

I've worked in fast-food for 15 years, and I can't even afford my own rent payments.

Worked in fast food for years. That's the epitome of her career. It makes you want to weep...

And, as Tim Worstall points out, the reason behind the cuts to your hours is most likely to avoid costs under ObamaCare. Who wants to bet Willietta voted for him?

As a guest ambassador, my job is to keep customers happy, greeting them at the door, checking in with them at their tables and picking up their trash. I'm good at what I do.

I’ve no doubt you are. And Burger King consider that $7.85 per hour is the worth of what you bring to their company.

Oh, Yes, That Arts Council Money Isn't Wasted, Oh, Dear Me, No...

John Wedgwood Clarke, described by eminent Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage as among the best modern bards, plans to visit a North Yorkshire County Council household waste recycling centre over the next year to observe what people throw away and ask them for their views on waste.

The project will conclude with a collection of 12 poems and creative writing sessions at local schools through a project based around the Seamer Carr depot in Scarborough and funded by an Arts Council award.

Nice 'work' if you can get it...

Dr Wedgwood Clarke, Leverhulme Poet in Residence at the University of Hull’s Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences, who has a Doctorate of Philosophy in modernist poetics from the University of York, said he had always been fascinated about what happened to people’s rubbish, which inspired him to begin a journey of poetic discovery with a difference.

Would be even more of 'a difference' if he'd funded it himself...

Coun Chris Metcalfe, the country’s council’s executive member for waste management, said: “This unique project will bring the message of the importance of reducing and recycling waste to a new audience in a very creative way.”

Don't you already have a council department doing that?

Recession And Local Councils: Helping, Or Hindering?

It’s a question that cropped up when I read three local news items.

First, it’s the business-unfriendly Colchester Council in the news yet again:

Business representatives are concerned at the growing number of empty shops in Colchester.

They called for help to stem the problem and accused the council of putting obstacles in the way of the town centre’s economic recovery.

Well, they do indeed have a reputation for doing just that.

Remember this story?

Keith Brown, regional organiser of Essex FSB, said: …“It’s definitely the recession causing the problem. But Colchester Council is not helping.

“It’s taking a very harsh line against things like companies giving out leaflets promoting their business or putting up signs saying where they are located, like the Cowdray Centre.

“We are trying to meet with the council and we have certainly made our views known. An empty shop in the High Street brings down the whole street and has a domino effect.”

And more to the point, an empty shop means a lack of business rates coming in, which means a lack of income for the council. You’d think a council employee would see that.

Hell, anyone who’s ever played ‘Sim City’ knows it!

Iain Wicks, chairman of north-east Essex FSB, added: “It is important for the future of Colchester town centre that this move is reversed as quickly as possible and Essex FSB will be looking to work with Colchester Council and other partners to actively encourage more retailers to choose Colchester and open stores in the town.

“A key part of that offer to retailers is for Colchester Council to be seen as business friendly and supportive of retailers trying to attract new customers into their stores. Sadly that is not the current image that Colchester Council projects.”

Indeed. Of course, they don’t agree with that assessment.

Nick Barlow, councillor responsible for economic development, said: “I think we’re doing all we can to help businesses.”

You might think so, but if you aren’t, and if businesses are saying so, and if shops are closing and nothing is taking their place…

Meanwhile, in another Essex town:

A restaurant has been dealt a blow after councillors vetoed retrospective plans to use a shop next door as a bar and waiting area.

Oh, really?

The Estuary restaurant, in Leigh Broadway, has been using the adjoining linked premises as an area for its customers to wait for a table.

The business was threatened with enforcement action after Southend Council received a complaint in February last year that the wall had been taken down and the business had expanded.

Well, I’ve a tiny bit of sympathy with the council here – this sort of ‘encroachment by degree’ is precisely the sort of thing that we hate to see in disputes with travellers, after all.

On the other hand, since this is clearly a booming business that is bringing in revenue, wouldn’t a hefty fine be more sensible?

At a council development control committee, Jim Clinkscales (Lib Dem, Blenheim Park) disagreed with the proposals and said it would open the floodgates to other businesses facing enforcement action.

Ah, I see. Got to treat everyone equally, eh?

Does it not occur to you to fine them too?

John Lamb (Con, West Leigh) said he felt the permission should be granted and expressed concerns about the effect on business.

He added: “A lot of investment has gone into the establishment.

“I believe we should be encouraging some of these. We have to allow some to develop because we need this type of business in the 21st century.

“Let’s not refuse it and make it close down.”

I doubt it’ll close down. There’s no need to reach for the hyperbole…

Graham Longley (Lib Dem, Blenheim Park) supported Mr Lamb and said it was the wrong decision.

He added: “I think we have an unrealistic approach to this. It is perfect for where it is.

“I just think we are being draconian in not allowing this sort of activity to take place.

“It is essential in terms of cafe society and cafe culture. It improves the ambience in the area. If it was closed we would have an empty shop.

“It is a clean, well-run facility which should be available to everybody. I think it would be totally wrong to close it down.”

It seems to be catching…

However, the application was refused with members voting ten against and two for.

Bet I know who they were!

The owner is understandably miffed:

Mr Bailey said: “Leigh Town Council hasn’t got a problem with us, none of the public have a problem with us. Who is the council actually working for? ”

That’s a very good point, Mr Bailey. Whom indeed?

Also in Essex, this time at Canvey Island:

A laundry boss says he has been left high and dry after his plans to expand a business were knocked back by the council.

Simon Bannister, who runs Canvey Island Ironing and Laundry Services, wanted to expand his business by creating a new laundrette in an empty shop at 326 Long Road on the island.

He wanted to reopen an existing empty shop and they turned him down? Why?

His proposals were turned down by Castle Point Council’s planning department due to a lack of parking provision.

But if the lack of parking is an issue, what can be done with the empty shop?

Mr Bannister, who has owned the Charfleets Industrial Estate-based business for 18 months, said: “I’m completely gutted.

“I would have thought the council would be backing local businesses, given the country’s economic problems.

“Their general attitude is you’re just a little man and what we say goes.

“The business is going well, but I wanted a shop front so we could get more passing trade.

“I’ve wasted £2,000 on this application and got nowhere.”

And there’s another part of the problem – if it costs a business money to place an application which might get turned down on a whim, where’s the incentive?

Norman Smith, councillor for economic regeneration, said: “I can understand the officers’ concerns because that spot has been an accident blackspot and the pedestrian crossing has only recently been put in.

“I certainly don’t like to see an empty shop anywhere.

“Perhaps we could try to support him looking for a suitable shop elsewhere.”

Why would he want to go elsewhere when there’s an empty shop right there..?

And if lack of parking is an issue, what business are you EVER going to allow to open that shop? Will it stay empty forever?

These three seem to sum up the dilemma of just what 'civic good' local councils do.

"It's the end of the world as we know it..."

...and I feel fine:

A group of 16 artists will be evicted from a gallery in a shock move that will leave the borough without any council-run exhibition space.

Oh noes! How will Walthamstow cope..?

David Sullivan, a prize-winning painter and former student of the Royal College of Art, is a member of the CRSA and is angry at the council’s move...Mr Sullivan said the council has put artists “bottom of their list of priorities.”

OMG! The philistines!

Alke Schmidt shares a studio with fellow artist Zarah Hussain.

The 45-year-old, whose paintings depict political issues including climate change and the global recession, said: “This has come as a complete surprise...

Oh, stop, please! My sides...!

If We're Looking To Make Savings...

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said wearing a burkha was the religious equivalent of 'going round with a paper bag over your head'.

During a parliamentary debate last month he urged the House of Commons to 'seriously consider' banning the garment.

And that sparked a complaint. From whom?

From a quango, of course (which also manages the double whammy of being a fakecharity), as Al-Jahom points out:

Now it has emerged police received a complaint about the Kettering MP a few days after his comments from the Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council (NREC).

Officers rang Mr Hollobone to say a complaint had been made but the Crown Prosecution dropped the case a few days later as there were no grounds for prosecution.

Parliamentary privilege covers anything said in the Commons, so it's difficult to see why the police didn't simply tell the NREC that in the first place...

But if Ketting, Northants and Northampton borough councils are feeling the pinch in the recession, how about they stop funneling money to this organisation?

Ross and Mark have more. See how easily a fakecharity can be exposed for what it is?

To Infinity...And Beyond!

The UK will formally launch its new space agency on Tuesday.

We're upping our space spending? In a recession? That can't be right!

Well, turns out it isn't:

Britain currently puts about £270m a year into civil space endeavours, most of it via the UK's membership of the European Space Agency (Esa).

This is not expected to change dramatically with the creation of an executive agency, especially with the government committed to cutting the public deficit.

Which has, presumably, been working well. So, why the need to set up yet another civil service drain on the public purse?

The hope, however, is that the reorganisation will bring more coherence to space policy...

In the same way that the Department of Transport has brought more coherence to transport policy, and NICE has brought more coherence to...

Ah.

Oh, Exquisite Timing, Gordon!

Rowenna Davis, in her ‘CiF’ column, points out that the Tories are ahead with the female vote:

Gordon Brown has been criticised for not taking women seriously in the past, but a new poll suggests that he might want to pay them a bit more attention. A new gender gap appears to be splitting the electorate as women become increasingly convinced that the Tories will deliver better public services after 2010.

So what does Brown do?

This:

Brown will, for the first time, admit that the need to halve the deficit within four years cannot simply be achieved by higher growth, efficiencies and asset sales. He will say his aim in restraining spending is to protect the vulnerable, and seek to draw a distinction between Labour and the Conservatives over the timing and scale of the necessary spending constraints.
The speech's precise wording in referring to cuts was still being worked on last night.

In a sign of the strain on spending, Labour will not go ahead with a promised extension of maternity pay from nine months to a year due to the cost.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

He really is a stunning liability, isn’t he? No wonder Harman is sharpening her claws…

Al Jahom puts the boot in too.

Spoiling For A Fight…

Lord Mandelson will today face down union threats of strikes and rioting if there are public spending cuts.

In the most hawkish statement yet from a senior minister on the need for restraint he will say Gordon Brown has decided to stop 'throwing money' at state services.

That’s the problem with feeding the crocodile in the hopes it’ll eat you last – what happens when you run out of food?

This happens:

His intervention comes as union barons raised the spectre of 1980s-style riots if public spending is slashed.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said taking an axe to public services would spark a 'double quick, double dip' recession and push unemployment over four million.

Unemployment could hit 40 per cent in major cities in the North, triggering massive social unrest, he said.

Or, to put it another way, ‘Nice country you’ve got here. Shame if anything was to happen to it…’

He warned: 'Last time we suffered slash and burn economics we had riots in the streets here.

‘Here’ being Liverpool. Which rather begs the question, how did he know these riots were anything to do with economics?

I mean, we are talking about the UK here - a place where police have to baton charge drunken scum to prevent them trying to get into a burning nightclub. So, I'm not sure we'd notice, frankly...

But I digress. It seems no-one quite trusts the government any more. Odd, isn’t it?

The strategy change came as a new poll found that more voters trust the Tories rather than Labour to make cuts without damaging frontline services.

I’ve yet to be convinced myself, because I doubt either plan to target the huge, unsustainable, peripheral ‘services’ that have sprung up in every corner on central and local government.

And it seems Labour are targeting the people who don’t vote for them, in the hopes of attracting more of the people they have paid to remain on their couches watching ‘Trisha’ to actually turn up at the polls:

Aides close to Mr Darling suggested that middle class benefits could be the first to feel the axe. They said universal benefits such as winter fuel payments, child benefit and free TV licences for the over 80s - available to everyone regardless of income - were payments that could be made means-tested.

Now, if you are going to means-test these, then you will need people to do it. Civil servants.

Which either means you are going to recruit more – thus adding to the already unsustainable public sector pension debt – or redeploy those you already have.
I bet the plans aren’t to redeploy any of the ones currently performing ‘make work’ diversity and eco-based jobs. It’ll be in other areas. Areas that do valuable jobs.

So these plans to cut what must surely be miniscule amounts in comparison will actually end up increasing the size of the public sector or annoy even more voters and their relatives.

Are they trying to run a ‘scorched earth’ game? I’m beginning to wonder…

Age Un-Concern

It seems another fakecharity is pleading poverty in the recession, and looking for a (further) government handout to keep going:

More than 60 furious elderly residents have signed a petition protesting against the planned closure of their activity centre.

Members of Active Age, at Park Centre, in Rectory Road, Dagenham say they are angry and distraught, to hear their club, run by Age Concern Barking and Dagenham, may shut for good in three months.

And theirs isn’t the only one:

Last week the POST wrote about Age Concern's proposal to end the Active Age service, which is run at seven separate centres across the borough and offers a host of activities, including bowling, dancing and outings.

The charity say they have been hit by the credit crunch and can no longer afford to cover the rent and staff costs, especially, they say, as the council have decreased their subsidies.

Hmmm, nothing to do with the fact that concentrating on the lucrative ‘frail and elderly’ targets instead nets them even more money from the government?

And if costs are such an issue, how come their staffing levels (looking just at Barking and Dagenham) are on the increase despite the decrease in centres?

The furious Park Centre members, who sent their petition to the POST, say many elderly people will lose a vital life line if their club shut.

Doris Thornton, 73, said: "It's ever such a happy club and a great place to meet friends and have a laugh. If you are feeling down or lonely, which many elderly people do, it is the perfect place to go as you always feel better afterwards."

But you see, Mrs Thornton, you aren’t worth the money to Age Concern to be kept healthy and active – you are worth far more to them in government targets, and hence subsidies, if you are frail or depressed.

So, when Age Concern roll out another of their high profile campaigns, think of the people they are cutting off here, and don’t reach for your wallet.

Members of all the clubs have been told they would need to raise £8000 for each centre, and increase the weekly membership fees.

Many now hope the council, who funded the entire service until 2002, will step in to help.

And this seems likely:

Councillor Herbert Collins, Executive Member for Adult Services and Public Health, said: "This came as a real surprise as we have always enjoyed an effective working relationship with Age Concern. A number of residents have told us that they would like to keep this service going and we are now urgently looking at ways in which that can be done.

"In these tough times, it is important that the council and its partners tackle issues of this nature together and that there is a joined up approach.

Sadly, with the government planning to hive off more and more of its services to unaccountable and unelected charities, this is going to happen more and more often…

Competing Lobbies

Old people hit hardest by recession, claims Age Concern and Help the Aged:

A survey of more than 100 human resource managers found that one in seven employers operating mandatory retirement age policies plan to make more use of them as a result of the economic downturn.

Whoa, hold your horses, say The Prince's Trust, it's young people who will be most affected:

The study by the Trust and Cass Business School, warns young people in deprived areas will be affected as job losses increase and local youth services become vulnerable to cuts.

There's curently no middle aged people's lobby or charity (or even fakecharity), so we won't be hearing from them, at least...

New Labour’s House Of Cards Collapses

Interesting article in ‘The Times’ on the efforts to combat the BNP in Barnsley (also mentioned by ‘Ranting Stan’ in his post here) and in particular, about the reasons for the swing to the party:

...Labour was struggling to counter the BNP’s advance well before the recession struck.

This is a former coalmining community where 15,000 men were employed in 16 pits as recently as the 1980s, and whose economy and raison d’être collapsed when the last of those pits was closed in the early 1990s.

Those mines have now vanished beneath shopping centres, industrial estates or country parks, and the handsome stone building that houses Mr Scargill’s once-mighty National Union of Mineworkers is occupied by little besides ghosts.

Thankfully, this article is refreshingly free of the ‘this is all the fault of Thatcher!’ subtext that you might expect from that description.

But many of Barnsley’s 220,000 inhabitants remain wedded to “old Labour”, and feel betrayed by a “new Labour” Government that has — they believe — forgotten its working-class roots and ceased fighting for the underdog as its members milk the public purse.

The problem is deeper than that – they haven’t ‘ceased fighting for the underdog’ at all. They’ve simply chosen new underdogs to fight for – minorities of every other race and creed and gender and sexuality.

This isn’t a picture of Labour as depressed husband sinking into despair and refusing to communicate with the wife or do its share of the washing up – this is a picture of Labour as philandering cad ditching the faithful wife for a spending spree with a succession of newer, younger, more exotic mistresses:

The town’s deprivation is obvious in the downmarket shops — though it does have a wonderful market — and ubiquitous groups of unemployed youths loitering on street corners. There is little industry left. The council and hospital are the biggest employers. Outside the public sector, employment is mostly in minimum-wage retail or service jobs. A quarter of the workforce is economically inactive and on some form of benefits, and the town has one of the highest rates of obesity — 10 per cent — in England.

And I’d venture to suggest that Barnsley isn’t unique in the North, or even in the UK as a whole.

This is a snapshot of a lot of large urban conurbations, and is going to get more and more familiar around the country as the recession takes hold. It’s the sign of an society feeding on itself – what ‘work’ there is comes increasingly from the State in all its many guises, and as the pool of productive industry from the private sector shrinks, it becomes increasingly unsustainable.

There are signs that the tipping point has already been reached in Barnsley:

The council’s £300 million plan to demolish and rebuild a quarter of the town centre, part of its ambitious regeneration programme, has been put on hold. A small mountain of rubble in the town centre marks the spot where Barnsley College was recently demolished, but the Learning and Skills Council — a government agency — can no longer afford the £42 million it promised for a new campus.

As the famous quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin (though disputed) goes “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

Indeed it will, but it can only work as long as there is money to be had from the productive sector; in a recession, it can’t work for long.

Barnsley’s Labour-run council has made strenuous efforts to revive the town’s fortunes in recent years. It has built a new £22 million transport hub and a digital centre for start-up businesses, converted the old Civic Hall into an arts centre, persuaded the University of Huddersfield to open a satellite campus in the town and will soon start rebuilding all its 14 secondary schools in the biggest programme of its kind in Britain.

It is offering under-18s free transport and free swimming, and has frozen the council tax for the elderly. “It’s a way of saying we’ve not forgotten you, no matter what the BNP says,” Steve Houghton, the council leader, tells The Times. But such measures seem to count for little when set against the savagery of the slump and the Government’s bungling.

Notice what gets built under the title of ‘regeneration’ – none of it is productive, wealth-creation industry – it is all (with the possible exception of the ‘transport hub’ unless that is heavily subsidised) public sector or diversion schemes for the unemployed.

And when the money runs out, well, what then?

Robert Cockroft, editor of the Barnsley Chronicle, believes mainstream politicians must start engaging, not ostracising, the BNP. “We get letters from Labour councillors calling them names, but these days that’s not sufficient. They have to engage in the arguments,” he says.

They can’t, Mr Cockcroft.

Because they know what the answers are, and they can’t bring themselves to offer them, because they will then invalidate almost all of their previous positions and upset their favoured pets, who will respond by withdrawing their votes. . .

I Didn’t Much Care For The Seventies The First Time Around...

A series of inflation-busting pay rises for millions of public sector workers was given the green light yesterday – at a time when private firms are freezing wages and cutting jobs.

How can this be?

Well, it’s quite simple. The unions have scented the fear from Brown over the forthcoming election:

In a sign that Labour is unwilling to take on the unions, the Government has agreed to honour increases of more than 2 per cent a year until 2011.

So it’s up to others to do what should be done by the government and holler from the rooftops at the unfairness of this:

But in a clear sign of rising anger, British Chambers of Commerce chief David Frost said: ‘Across the country I am hearing of more and more businesses left with no choice but to freeze and cut wages.

‘It is unacceptable that the public sector should not share any of this pain. There is already an apartheid between public and private sectors on pensions. We cannot have apartheid on pay too.’

Indeed we can’t. The public sector monstrosity is unsustainable.

John Cridland of the CBI said: ‘The growing gap between public and private sector pay increases must be addressed, particularly as government debt skyrockets and the recession deepens.’

But the unions aren’t about to loose their grip on the hapless Gordon’s throat, no matter how much the private sector shouts and waves burning torches:

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber issued a warning to ministers not to renege on their promises.

Heh….

How long before the rubbish piles up in the streets and the dead go unburied yet again? So do all Labour governments perish….

Ranting Stan hopes for the revolution. I don’t see Call Me Dave as Che Guevara, though.

Signs The Apocalypse May Be Almost Upon Us, Part II….

A council is actually considering lowering parking costs in order to encourage trade and support local businesses!

No, I didn’t believe it either:

Basildon Council has recommended a major review of parking costs across the district to support shoppers and businesses through the recession.

Suggestions include cutting as much as 20 per cent off season ticket prices at council car parks for the district’s residents and reducing charges for business parking permits by a third, from £150 to £100.

Well, well, well…..

Basildon Council leader Malcolm Buckley said town centres would die without strong businesses and it was important to keep a constant watch on the prices. He added: “We do keep all the charges under review and we are concerned to make sure businesses are supported as best we can.

“If you don’t have businesses that thrive, you have town centres that die.”

It seems that at last some sound business sense is beginning to filter down to town halls.

This recession is really biting hard, isn’t it?

Signs The Apocalypse May Be Almost Upon Us….

Four Horsemen roaming the streets. Cats & dogs living together. The grievance-mongers getting slapped down as a result of the recession…

The body responsible for safeguarding equality in the UK will tell the government today that the economic climate is too fragile to impose equal pay reviews on business.

Sorry, ‘sisters’, but needs must when the Devil drives, and there are some things we can no longer afford.

And chief among those things is the notion that there is ‘unequal pay’ in the UK when what there really is, as Tim Worstall points out, is a disparity in how these figures are compiled.

But they haven’t quite given up on the idea, merely trimming their sails to meet the unfavourable winds:

Summarising the strategy, the chief executive of the EHRC, Nicola Brewer, said an entirely new equal pay act was needed, and called for "radical reform in the future." This would be a long-term exercise, requiring several years of work. More immediately, the commission's approach is based on "encouraging" companies to improve their record voluntarily.

‘Several years of work’ = ‘several years of continued employment for Nicola Brewster’, that is….

Even this doesn’t please the sistren though, as you might have expected:

The focus on what is realistic in the light of the recession dismayed campaigners for women's rights. "We must not get caught in this trap of saying in difficult times we will trade in women's rights," said Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society.

Sarah Veale, head of the equality department at the TUC, said pay audits were "a crucial part" of eliminating the pay gap. "Until companies are forced to shine a light on where the anomalies are, you can't address the problem," she said.

Bronwyn McKenna, a director of Unison, said she was "very sceptical about any measure that doesn't actually compel any employers to do an audit". "The voluntary approach simply hasn't worked," she said.

Ladies, ladies! There’s a new mood in the country. Can’t you sense it?

We are having to cut out luxuries. Make too much noise, and someone might start to wonder if, given Tim’s observations, we really need, and can justify, your positions.

Max Hastings Gets It...

Max Hastings is spot on in the ‘Mail’:

Public sector salaries and perks have soared. Almost three-quarters of a million employees have been added to the State's payroll. All manner of new and mostly ridiculous jobs have been invented. Fresh rights have been conferred on some deserving people and many undeserving ones.

Tink he’s talking about the ‘Guardian’s’ jobs page? Yup, me too...….

Now, however, the party is finished. In a bewildering world, the only certainty is that we are going to be worse off. For the next two or three years, many - myself included - accept that there is an irresistible case for high public spending to keep the economy moving, as consumer expenditure falls.

But this must be directed exclusively towards infrastructure projects that will make Britain stronger and more competitive when it recovers from recession.

And not ‘Diversity Outreach Communications Co-ordinator’ roles for newly graduated social studies students…

Henceforward, we need real investment, which means things we can still see when the dust clears.

Alongside this, there must be a purge, cull, massacre of all the crazy public spending, non-jobs and social projects which have become a dead-weight on Britain. If once we could afford a 'street football co-ordinator' in Moray, Scotland, at a cost of £19,887 a year, we can do so no longer. If ever it seemed acceptable for Lambeth to seek an 'enviro-crime enforcement officer' at up to £30,774, it is not now.

The North-West Development Agency spent £90,000 on representation at last year's political party conferences.

Braintree Council has advertised for a 'climate change manager' at £38,556 a year. Hertfordshire County Council has sought a 'head of participation and inclusiveness' at up to £42,197.

Preach it, Max!

Now the gravy train is heading towards the buffers, we just can’t afford to soak up ‘jobs’ like these anymore. And yet the pepers are still full of them, and where jobs are being cut in the public sector, they are front line, useful jobs. Not back-room box tickers and form fillers.

Today, much of the nation's anger is focused upon bankers, whose doings make the Great Train Robbery look like an honest day's work. But soon, very soon, the scandal of public sector pay and perks, along with reckless spending projects, will provoke even greater passion.

Most public sector workers are hardworking people fulfilling vital roles in society - nurses, teachers, policemen and so on. But they themselves can hardly relish the spectacle of scarce national resources being squandered on others, State-employed drones performing non-jobs.

Indeed, it’s often a factor of blogs such as ’Inspector Gadget’ and to a lesser extent, ’The Magistrate’s Blog’.

State employees once enjoyed more security than private sector workers, while receiving less money. Under Labour, this has changed.
The Pensions Policy Institute reports that while average private sector pay stands at £25,300, average public sector pay has risen to £25,600, with far more generous pension terms. Only at the top of the tree are private sector rewards much larger.

But at the top of the public sector tree, rewards are almost comparable. Certainly, I don’t see anyone calling for the pension to be stripped from any of the top mandarins the way they do for Sir Fred…

Gordon Brown's most pernicious legacy as Chancellor is that he has burdened the shrinking profit-making part of the economy with an unsustainable commitment to the privileges of State employees, whom he recruited in industrial quantities.

Given the dominance of State employment in Labour's Celtic dependencies, the English face having to work overtime to support an army of Scottish, Welsh and, above all, Northern Irish public servants.

Which is unsustainable.

We must repeat the mantra again and again to our rulers: it is over, over, over.

As a society, we can no longer afford State employees, starting with ministers, who write cheques on the nation without thought for the simple truth that we are broke.

So, Max, who do I vote for to end this? And please, don’t tell me ‘Cameron’s the man!’.

Because he isn’t. Is he?

Hiding The Evidence...

England's High Streets are in danger of becoming "ghost towns" unless action is taken to fill empty shops hit by the recession, council leaders have warned.

Looks like the LGA isn't swallowing Gordon's optimistic spin on the economy...

And how do they plan to fix it? By stealing property:

The Local Government Association (LGA) says four out of five councils have reported an increase in empty premises.

It is calling for new powers to allow town halls to temporarily use shops as sites for community projects.

Such as?

The LGA wants to make it easier and cheaper to use the premises for libraries, youth clubs, training centres and bring-and-buy sales.

It is asking for new powers to allow councils to take over shops once they have been vacant for three months.

But if we are heading into recession and everyone is tightening their belts and making job cuts, where will councils find the staff to run th...

Oh. Right.

The town of Dursley in Gloucestershire is trying out the idea, with a parade of closed-down shops transformed into an gallery where artists can display their work.

Because in the teeth of a deepening recession, everyone will be buying artwork. Really...?

Not Waving But Drowning…

More signs of the writing on the wall – the way the deepening recession is affecting the earning classes:

In the current climate of fear and uncertainty, it’s little wonder that hopes are on hold and dreams deferred; planning ahead is a luxury few can afford when simply making it through to the next salary slip is as much as many people can manage.

Unlike the recessions of the early Eighties – when manufacturing and manual workers took a hammering – and the Nineties – when the white-collar sector was affected – top earners are among those being worst hit in the current downturn.

And as they are the ones bankrolling the rest of the country, god help us….

According to an analysis by the Office for National Statistics, architects, lawyers, tax advisers and commercial pilots are among the fastest-growing sectors for claims of jobseekers’ allowance. It’s a crushing comedown for those who have worked hard to establish high-flying careers and take pride in their self-sufficiency.

Just under a year ago, this newspaper highlighted how the middle-class, middle-income backbone of Britain was buckling beneath the burden of punitive taxation, high utility bills and council tax rises. With typical stoicism, professionals were quietly labouring away, paying the mortgage, putting teenagers through university and looking after elderly parents.

But stoicism only gets you so far.

We identified them as the Coping Class, and urged the Government to pay heed to their plight. Instead, the squeeze continued, and now, with the economy in freefall, the value of savings plunging with every interest-rate cut, and unemployment set to reach two million any day, and three million by next year, the Coping Class is no longer coping.

And that bodes ill for the three big parties at the polling booth.

This is the kind of situation where a ‘protest vote’ comes into play. We may have already seen that happen in Swanley last week…

“Everyone is suffering, but this is a particularly tough time for the middle class,” says Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

“They’ve been taxed to the hilt, are weighed down by high mortgages, and although there’s been a reduction in food prices since last year, they’re still historically high.

“The coping classes are anxious about losing their jobs, and those that are in work are facing difficulties because employers may not be able to give them a pay rise this year. When they read about banks handing out bonuses and MPs claiming exorbitant expenses they’re quite rightly furious about the double standards at play.”

Will there be ‘poll tax’ type marches and riots? I can’t envision that, somehow, but then, I can’t see how the situation can remain so obviously broken without some kind of action.

Let’s wait and see…

”Hot town, summer in the city…”*

Police are bracing themselves for a 'summer of rage' against the economic crisis, a senior officer warned today.

Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan Police's public order branch, said he feared there could be 'mass protest' at rising unemployment, failing financial institutions and the downturn in the economy.

The officer told The Guardian that 'known activists' were planning returns to the streets, and intelligence revealed that they may be able to call on more protesters than normal due to the unprecedented conditions.

The ‘known activists’ (the likes of the SWP and others) are going to be pushing on an open door if things continue as they are, or - as seems likely - get worse…

He said: 'Those people would be good at motivating people, but they haven't had the "footsoldiers" to actually carry out (protests).

'Obviously the downturn in the economy, unemployment, repossessions, changes that. Suddenly there is the opportunity for people to mass protest.'

Mr Hartshorn, who is regularly briefed on potential causes of civil unrest, singled out April's G20 summit of the leading developed nations in London as one of the events that could kick start a series of protests.

'We've got G20 coming and I think that is being advertised on some of the sites as the highlight of what they see as a "summer of rage",' he said.

Yeah, but I can’t see the average ‘man on the street’ getting out the Molotovs for what is a dry, pointless summit of wining, dining politicians. Only the usual rent-a-mob will be out for this – there will be trouble, no doubt, but it’ll not be any worse than the last time.

What’s more likely is protest over rising prices, or fuel shortages, especially if we get a heatwave:

Other parts of Europe have already seen large-scale protests against the handling of the economy.

Up to 120,000 people marched through Dublin on Saturday in an emotional and angry national demonstration over the Irish Government's handling of the economic crisis.

My memory’s failing me, but wasn’t it a particularly hot summer when the Poll Tax riots were in full flow?

* I guess I have different musical tastes to ’Ranting Stan’… ;)

The Cracks Are Showing….

NuLab sleaze merchant ‘Lord’ Mandelsnake got on his high horse yesterday when an American businessman committed a cardinal sin – telling the truth:

Mr Schultz, chief executive of troubled coffee store giant Starbucks, had earlier told television business network CNBC, that "the concern for us is Western Europe and specifically the UK. The UK is in a spiral".

It certainly is. But to the well-paid liars in the government, such dissent from the official outlook cannot be brooked:

Asked later about the comments, a clearly furious Lord Mandelson responded to the Telegraph: "Why should I have that guy running down the country? Who the ---- is he?"

He’s the CEO of a major multinational company, Mandelsnake. He should be asking who the ---- you are….

In fact, we should all be asking that. As well as ‘Who the hell put you there, and why…?’

In his address to the CFR, he insisted that governments must keep their nerve in the face of public pressure for quick solutions to the economic crisis, But the Telegraph has learned that a priority for the visit by one of Labour's most combative political operators was to battle what British officials believe are overly negative perceptions of the UK economy in the US media.

And obviously, the way to do that is by getting in a public hissy fit about hearing the truth.

He’s losing it, isn’t he…?