Cameron on the importance of "a warm and stable home" – when it suits him, of course

 a con, Coalition capitalism, Coalition cuts, David Cameron, False Economy, home truths, homelessness, unclassifiable  No Responses »
Feb 162012
 

Cameron on what makes the United Kingdom such a great deal:

“We are stronger together than we ever would be apart …” in what he describes as “… a warm and stable home.”

Tell that to False Economy, as of February 16th, 2012:

Housing cuts

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Yorkshire Housing Foundation

Charity. Stay Put equipment and adaptations, plus Home Improvement Agency service for older people.Local authority funding cut: …

Support Care Ltd

Charity. Funding for accommodation-based mental health service. Local authority funding cut: £20,013.1. Details: Received …

Stonham Housing Association

Charity. Provider of housing and support for vulnerable and socially excluded people. Local authority funding cut: £51,701. …

St Anne’s Shelter & Housing Action

Charity. Supporting people with learning disabilities, mental health problems, and people with drug or alcohol problems.Local …

South Yorkshire Housing Association

Charity. Manages more than 6,000 homes throughout the Sheffield City region, providing care and supported housing. Funded under …

Somali Mental Health Project

Charity. Funding for mental health floating support servivce. Local authority funding cut: £5,124.36. Details: Received …

Sheffield YWCA

Charity. Funding for accommodation based services for young people. Local authority funding cut: £25,862.72. Details: Received …

Salvation Army

Charity. Funding for accommodation-based homelessness service. Local authority funding cut: £42,450.58. Details: Received …

Roundabout

Charity. Provides shelter, support and life skills to Sheffield’s young homeless.Local authority funding cut: £111,602.92. …

Refugee Housing Association

Charity. Accommodation-based service for refugees. Local authority funding cut: £101,079.2. Details: Received a total of …

Pitsmoor Youth Housing Trust

Charity. Supported housing accommodation provider in Sheffield for homeless 16-21 year old single young people, including …

Phoenix House

Charity. Care home for people with alcohol and substance abuse problems. Local authority funding cut: £25,970.4. Details: …

Credit Union

Charity. Funding to provide loans to prevent homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £50,000. Details: Received £50,000 in …

Ben’s Centre

Charity. Provides a ‘damp’ day service to street drinkers. Local authority funding cut: £2,250. Details: Received £45,000 in …

Action Housing Association

Charity. Works to enable vulnerable people to establish a home and live responsibly in society. Funding cut affects …

Doorstep

Charity. Offers drop-in centre for young homeless people aged 16-25, information on benefits, education and training, finding …

Christian Action Resource Enterprise

Charity. Charity located in North East Lincolnshire dedicated to relieving poverty, hardship and distress to those sectors of …

Nacro

Charity. T4 Project – helps people who are engaged in treatment for either drug or alcohol use to access good supported …

Foundation Housing

Charity. Charity working with offenders, the homeless, women who are victims of domestic abuse and young people at risk.Local …

Equity Housing Group

Charity. Not-for-profit registered social landlord providing affordable homes for those in need of housing and those on low or …

Action Housing and Support

Charity. Works to enable vulnerable people to establish a home and live responsibly in society. Local authority funding cut: …

Stonham Housing Association

Charity. Funding for St George’s Resettlement. Local authority funding cut: £28,382. Details: Received a total of £464,551 in …

Coventry Cyrenians

Charity. Provides services to homeless, vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Coventry and Warwickshire to empower them to …

Beat the Cold

Charity. Aims to reduce the incidence of fuel poverty and cold-related illness. Informs, advises and makes referrals for …

Viridian Housing

Charity. Housing association providing social housing. Local authority funding cut: £91,952. Details: Received £91,952 in …

Sandwell Homes

Charity. Arms Length Management Organisation. Local authority funding cut: £700,000. Details: Received £1,357,700 in 2010/11; …

Sanctuary Housing

Charity. Local authority funding cut: £47,722. Details: Received £47,722 in 2010/11; cut by £23,861 in 2011/12, and by a …

Midland Heart

Charity. Housing and regeneration group. Local authority funding cut: £6,838. Details: Received £6,838 in 2010/11; cut by …

Jephson Housing

Charity. Housing association. Local authority funding cut: £60,210. Details: Received £60,210 in 2010/11; cut by £30,105 in …

Harborne

Charity. Local authority funding cut: £45,390. Details: Received £45,390 in 2010/11; cut by £22,695 in 2011/12, and by a …

Black Country Housing Group

Charity. Local authority funding cut: £113,292. Details: Received £113,292 in 2010/11; cut by £56,646 in 2011/12, and by a …

ASRA Housing

Charity. Housing, care and support provider.Local authority funding cut: £59,594. Details: Received £59,594 in 2010/11; cut …

Accord Housing

Charity. Housing association. Local authority funding cut: £4,512. Details: Received £4,512 in 2010/11; cut by £2,256 in …

SIFA Fireside

Charity. Affected funding for two services targeted at homeless people – health and wellbeing forum, and community catering …

Yarlington

Charity. Provides affordable homes for rent or shared ownership in south Somerset. Local authority funding cut: £99,636.49. …

Western Challenge Housing Association

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £42,205.02. Details: Received £42,205.02 in 2010/11; no …

Taunton Association for the Homeless

Charity. Specialises in the housing and support of vulnerable, single homeless people.Local authority funding cut: £75,700. …

Riverside Group

Charity. Registered providers of social housing nationwide, providing support to people of all ages and circumstances.Local …

NOVAS

Charity. Works with diverse communities, tackling the issues of homelessness, crime and community safety, and domestic …

Mendip YMCA

Charity. Offers schemes to help and assist young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Local authority funding …

Magna West Somerset

Charity. Community-based housing association. Local authority funding cut: £43,136.84. Details: Received £328,120.38 in …

Flourish Homes

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £189,710.04. Details: Received £776,158.25 in 2010/11; cut …

Chapter 1

Charity. Specialises in providing accommodation and support for vulnerable people. Local authority funding cut: £13,531.03. …

Carr Gomm Society

Charity. Charity offering housing and support services to vulnerable people with a range of special needs. Local authority …

Bridgwater YMCA Foyer

Charity. Provides supported accomodation for 53 young people at three sites. Local authority funding cut: £50,252.96. Details: …

Barnabas Housing Association

Charity. Hostel for single homeless people. Local authority funding cut: £89,010.12. Details: Received £659,432.70 in …

Shelter

Charity. Specialist housing advice and information for anyone who is homeless or has a housing problem. Local authority funding …

Gloucester Nightstop

Charity. Arranges temporary and emergency accommodation for young homeless people in the homes of trained and vetted …

Shelter

Charity. Homelessness charity. Local authority funding cut: £1,652. Details: Received £6,608 in 2010/11; cut by £1,652 in …

St Petroc’s Society

Charity. Homelessness charity. Includes funding for the Breadline resettlement centre, used by the street homeless of Penzance, …

Coastline Housing

Charity. Funding for The New Connection, which provides crisis accommodation for the homeless in Cornwall.Local authority …

Churches Together in Penzance Area (CTIPA)

Charity. Funding for the Breakfast Project, which provides food for the homeless on weekday mornings.Local authority funding …

Guildford No 5

Charity. Provides direct access supported accommodation for single homeless people with support needs who may in addition have …

The You Trust

Charity. Provides care, housing and advice services for those faced with exclusion from their family or community.Local …

Salvation Army

Charity. Funding for Catherine Booth House, which provides accommodation and parenting support for families and expectant …

Emmaus Oxford

Charity. Emmaus tackles the problems of homelessness through a network of self-supporting Communities, where people are offered …

Community Soup Kitchen

Charity. Funding awarded to provide a community soup kitchen for homeless or socially excluded individuals. Local authority …

West Kent Housing

Charity. Housing association providing affordable homes and services. Local authority funding cut: £55,934.81. Details: …

Medway Cyrenians

Charity. Houses and supports vulnerable, single, homeless people aged 16 and over.Local authority funding cut: £17,979.98. …

Avante – Step Ahead (Crisis 10)

Charity. Crisis support for young homeless people. Local authority funding cut: £1,951. Details: Received £27,876 in 2010/11; …

Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust (AMAT)

Charity. Provides services and accommodation primarily for single homeless people aged 25 and over, both with and without …

Furniture Helpline

Charity. Provides low cost recycled furniture and electrical goods to people on low incomes. Local authority funding cut: …

Oxfordshire Rural Community Council

Charity. Rural housing enabler. Local authority funding cut: £11,500. Details: Received £11,500 in 2010/11; no funding in …

Hometree House Association

Charity. Funding for activities for the club.,Local authority funding cut: £400,. Details: Received £400 in 2010/11; no …

BYHP

Charity. Works with young people aged 16-25 who are homeless, inappropriately housed or at risk of becoming homeless in …

SHAP

Charity. Arrangement relating to homeless young people accommodation. Local authority funding cut: £19,000. Details: Received …

Turning Point

Charity. Provides services for people with complex needs, including those affected by drug and alcohol misuse, mental health …

Stepping Stone

Charity. Provider of housing, support and charitable services for people who are homeless or at risk of losing their home.Local …

St Vincent Housing

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £258,000. Details: Received £258,000 in 2010/11; no funding …

St Edmunds Charity

Charity. Supported accommodation facility for men and women whose lives have been impaired by alcohol misuse and who have an …

Shelter

Charity. Homelessness charity. Local authority funding cut: £858,861.13. Details: Received a total of £1,064,621.13 in …

Sanctuary Trust

Charity. Aims to provide programmes and services as an answer to homelessness and homeless related issues. Local authority …

Sanctuary Housing Trust

Charity. Housing association. Local authority funding cut: £3,705. Details: Received £3,705 in 2010/11; no funding in …

Salvation Army

Charity. Funding for strategic housing services. Local authority funding cut: £102,645. Details: Received £433,312 in …

Rochdale Petrus Community

Charity. Provides supported housing and related services to homeless people. Local authority funding cut: £139,791.64. …

People First

Charity. Housing association. Local authority funding cut: £21,256. Details: Received £185,000 in 2010/11; cut by £21,256 in …

Next Step

Charity. Affordable housing for special needs. Local authority funding cut: £7,213. Details: Received £76,000 in 2010/11; cut …

Newbarn Ltd

Charity. Offers communal support, advice and accommodation for fifteen people who have difficulty managing on their own and …

Making Space

Charity. Funding for strategic housing services. Local authority funding cut: £8,940. Details: Received a total of £150,887 …

Guinness NC

Charity. Social housing provider. Local authority funding cut: £93,000. Details: Received £93,000 in 2010/11; no funding in …

DePaul UK

Charity. Helps young people who are homeless, vulnerable and disadvantaged.Local authority funding cut: £36,426. Details: …

Contour Housing

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £161,000. Details: Received £161,000 in 2010/11; no funding …

Open Door Furniture Recycling

Charity. Community based furniture scheme. Local authority funding cut: £50,470. Details: Received £50,470 in 2010/11; no …

Riverside ECHG

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £26,674. Details: Received £186,784 in 2010/11; cut by …

Oldham Family Crisis Group / Threshold

Charity. Joint funding under Supporting People. Local authority funding cut: £324,001. Details: Received £1,546,621 in …

FRC Trading

Charity. Social business distributing low cost furniture to low income households. Local authority funding cut: £25,375. …

First Choice Homes Oldham

Charity. Registered social landlord. Local authority funding cut: £143,115. Details: Received £971,138 in 2010/11; cut by …

DePaul UK

Charity. Funding for Oldham Reconnect, a mediation service for homeless young people and their families.Local authority funding …

Anchor Trust

Charity. Not-for-profit provider of housing and care for the over-55s. Local authority funding cut: £34,785. Details: Received …

Shelter

Charity. Homelessness charity that runs a housing helpline, has a network of housing aid centres, and works with local citizens …

Nightstop Teesside

Charity. Provides emergency temporary accommodation for homeless young people aged 16-25 in the homes of trained volunteer …

First Stop Darlington

Charity. Provides home and dry service for people in poor accommodation, plus information on securing housing.Local authority …

United Anglo Caribbean Society

Charity. Tackling homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £18,105.63. Details: Received £28,969 in 2010/11; cut by …

Threshold Centre Ltd

Charity. Tackling homelessness; and reduce youth homelessness through targeted prevention activities with at risk groups. Local …

Thames Reach

Charity. Day centre facilities for homeless ppl & ppl at risk of homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £62,500. Details: …

P3

Charity. Tackling homelessness; and reduce youth homelessness through targeted prevention activities with at risk groups. Local …

London Irish Women’s Centre

Charity. Tackling homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £38,366.72. Details: Received £61,386.75 in 2010/11; cut by …

Food For All

Charity. Day centre facilities for homeless ppl & ppl at risk of homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £17,128.75. …

Eaves Housing for Women

Charity. Increase access to services for women with no recourse to public funds to enable them to exit domestic violence or …

Central and Cecil incorporating Cara Housing Trust

Charity. Tackling homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £38,138.28. Details: Received £61,021.25 in 2010/11; cut by …

Cardboard Citizens

Charity. Reduce youth homelessness through targeted prevention activities with at risk groups. Local authority funding cut: …

Broadway Homelessness and Support

Charity. Day centre facilities for homeless ppl & ppl at risk of homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £41,316.88. …

Barnardo’s Families in Temporary Accommodation Project

Charity. Tackling homelessness. Local authority funding cut: £87,592.03. Details: Received £140,147.25 in 2010/11; cut by …

Trinity Homeless Projects

Charity. Provides nine staffed hostels and move-on accommodation in Hillingdon and promotes independent living for the homeless …

P3

Charity. Provides a range of support services for young people who are homeless and/or vulnerable. This is a holistic response …

ASRA Greater London Housing Association

Charity. Anand Day Centre. Local authority funding cut: £6,366.02. Details: Received £48,969.36 in 2010/11; cut by £6,366.02 …

Stevenage Haven

Charity. Stevenage Haven is an emergency homeless hostel that also provides day services and support to ex-residents and help …

Stevenage Furniture Recycling Scheme

Charity. Recycles used furniture donated by the community to those on low incomes. The withdrawn funding was to extend shop …

Nottinghamshire Housing Advice Service

Charity. Provides housing and housing debt related advice and advocacy services for the people of Nottinghamshire, in order to …

Newark Emmaus Trust

Charity. Housing, care and support for the young homeless.Local authority funding cut: £7,500. Details: Received £12,500 in …

Kirkby Trust

Charity. Provides educational, recreational and social activities for young people and their families and provides support and …

Hope for the Homeless

Charity. Homelessness charity in Worksop. Local authority funding cut: £6,000. Details: Received £32,000 in 2010/11; cut by …

Friary Drop-in

Charity. Local authority funding cut: £4,600. Details: Received £18,200 in 2010/11; cut by £4,600 in 2011/12.

Family First

Charity. Furniture service. Local authority funding cut: £19,870. Details: Received £19,870 in 2010/11; no funding in …

Cedar Housing Nottingham

Charity. Provides housing, education and support services for vulnerable people affected by homelessness.Local authority …

Broxtowe Youth Homelessness

Charity. Aims to prevent young people from becoming homeless and inform young people of their options and provide emergency …

Spencer Contact

Charity. Seeks to relieve poverty and hardship in and around Northampton by supplying free second-hand furniture. Local …

Sofawise

Charity. Recycles good quality furniture that is no longer needed and makes it available at an affordable cost to those in …

Phoenix Furniture Project

Charity. Collects and redistributes unwanted furniture and household goods in Kettering and the surrounding area. Local …

Northamptonshire YMCA

Charity. Funding for mentoring services under homelessness theme. Local authority funding cut: £15,200. Details: Received …

Northampton Hope Centre

Charity. Supports homeless and socially excluded people. Local authority funding cut: £3,000. Details: Received £3,000 in …

Daventry Contact

Charity. Furniture redistribution charity. Local authority funding cut: £8,976. Details: Received £8,976 in 2010/11; no …

Corby Furniture Turnaround

Charity. Collects donated furniture and passe it on to low income people who live in the local area. Local authority funding …

Accommodation Concern

Charity. Independent housing advice and homelessness organisation in the boroughs of Kettering and Corby. Local authority …

Leicester YMCA

Charity. Homeless drop in centre and education/skills project. Local authority funding cut: £25,950. Details: Received …

Centrepoint Outreach

Charity. Homelessness charity. Provides a drop in centre and rough sleeper facilities, redistributes furniture and household …

LAMP homeless charity

The Christian charity works with homeless 16-25 year olds by providing secure accommodation and individual ongoing support, as …

Foundation Housing

Charitable organisation, which had provided support and housing to vulnerable families, single and young people for 25 years.

Summergrove

Summergrove is a housing project for families affected by substance misuse + often domestic violence. It is a safe haven for …

Summergrove housing project

Summergrove is a housing project for families recovering from substance misuse and often domestic violence. It is a safe haven …

Amber Valley pest control charges

Amber Valley Borough Council is introducing fees for some types of household pest control, and increasing existing fees for …

Social policy research

Since the coalition came to power no new research contracts have been awarded nationally in all areas of social policy, putting …

Community Support Service

The cuts in funding to the Community Support Service following the removal of its ringfencing to its budget has led to cuts …

Bromley subsidised pest control

Bromley Council has voted to axe subsidised pest control for residents on income benefit as part of its 2011-13 cuts package.

Bromley sheltered housing

Bromley Council plans to cut funding for sheltered housing, saving £500k in 2011/12 and £800k in 2012/13 from its £1.15m …

Bromley Supporting People funding

Bromley Council has voted to cut its reduce commissioning of Supporting People services, saving £300k in 2011/12 and £600k in …

Bromley private sector renewals grant

Bromley Council is cutting £350k from its private sector renewals grant, which will impact on the assistance available to help …

Trafford’s Housing for Vulnerable People

Trafford’s budget for housing for vulnerable people has been cut by £450,000 in its February 2011 Budget.

Blackburn Council Services (many!)

Mobile library service to be cut and library opening hours reduced. Arts and cultural events / provisions to be cut include …

Manchester neglected buildings

Manchester City Council plans to save £12k in 2011/12 by reducing work on neglected buildings, and £13k through reducing its …

Manchester supported housing

Manchester City Council plans to axe 340 supported housing units, which provide homes for the city’s most needy people. The …

Manchester Advice

Manchester City Council plans to shut its Manchester Advice service, which provides free and confidential advice and …

Asylum Seekers Unit (Your Homes Newcastle)

The Home Office has decided not to award Your Homes Newcastle’s Asylum Seekers Unit (ASU) an extension on their contract …

Refugee Council

The Refugee Council, which provides essential and in some cases life-saving support to asylum seekers, refugees and their …

Bristol housing support

Bristol City Council is planning to reduce its Tenant Support Service budget by 20 percent in 2011/12, meaning that either …

Bristol pest control

Bristol City Council is proposing a number of reductions in its pest control service as part of its 2011/12 budget: * the …

Supporting People

Proposals to slash £1.1m from the cost of supporting elderly, sick and frail residents have been drawn up

Dorset property repair and maintenance

Dorset County Council’s property management division supports the delivery of the council’s capital programme, manages and …

Dorset County Council planning services

Dorset County Council is proposing the following cuts to its planning service in 2011/12: • ending staff support to tourism …

Framework homelessness charity

Framework, Nottinghamshire’s leading homelessness charity, is warning that the level of budget cuts proposed by …

Salford City Council staff

Salford City Council is set to shed hundreds of jobs under plans to save £39m over three years. Town hall bosses say they …

Southwark Council staff

Southwark Council has threatened that it may need to make 1000 employees redundant over the next 3 years in order to save …

Planning Aid England

The government has decided to terminate funding for Planning Aid England when its current contract ends in March 2011. The …

Camden Council district housing offices

Camden Council is planning to close its five district housing offices, as well as merging telephone and face to face contact …

Camden housing repairs

Camden Council is planning to cut the housing repairs it carries out through a number of measures: a) Ceasing to carry out …

Camden tenant and leaseholder service charges

Camden Council is planning to increase tenant and leaseholder service charges in order to raise an extra £1.55m a year by …

Shelter Cymru in Wrexham

Wrexham Council has voted to withdraw funding of £44,000 to Shelter Cymru, the charity serving homeless people.  The authority …

Peterborough urgent housing repair work

Peterborough City Council is planning to cut funding for urgent repair work on private housing by around 40 percent. The …

Huntingdonshire housing

Huntingdonshire District Council is axeing its annual £500k budget for social housing grants, and is also cutting funding for …

Rough sleeping and homelessness prevention advisors

The government decided to axe its rough sleeping and homelessness prevention advisors in July 2010. The eight advisors helped …

From Red Ed to Ready Eddy?

 Clifford Singer, Ed Miliband, False Economy, on a high, Peter Oborne  No Responses »
Sep 302011
 

I posted yesterday on the subject of drawing lessons from new art when trying to get a handle on potentially radical politics.  I rather spectacularly titled the piece “‘Psycho’ and Ed Miliband” – which may have put some people off it; precisely the very people, maybe, I wanted to read it.  Nevertheless, it’s been the most read post on this site over the past few days, so I must have touched on some kind of nerve.

Meanwhile, Peter Oborne is at it again – with this article from the Telegraph last night:

The obsessive concentration on matters of overwhelming triviality has obscured the central point: that Miliband made an intellectually ambitious and admirable contribution to public debate. He sought to reshape the terms of political argument and so redefine the territory on which the general election will ultimately be fought. He has even made a tentative step towards tearing up the rules that have defined British economics for the past generation with his cautious critique of capitalism as it has been carried on here for the past 30 years.

And I am so glad that Oborne is both perspicacious and generous enough to see through the habits of a political reporter’s lifetime.  As I just remarked on Facebook:

I was nonplussed by Ed M’s speech at first – then thought it more a potential conversation than a declamation; and found it easier to be charitable and positive to it as a result. It’s sometimes a good sign when you can’t quite capture what someone is trying to say – more often than not it’s because they don’t have much to offer; but, occasionally, as I think in this case, because what they offer is really rather new. As I said in one of my posts this week – Miliband really does deserve more time.

Whilst earlier in the week, without being too convinced about what I said, I suggested Miliband might be attempting to establish a conversational politics to replace the outdated model of declamatory, top-down, pyramidal oratory:

Inevitably, the commentators – anchored in their traditional landscape of pyramidal politics – will interpret Miliband’s speech today as weak; not a fail perhaps – but definitely not a win. I’m not so sure, though. As you might have guessed already from this post, I don’t think his intention was to give a speech at all. After the recent riots, he spoke of the need for a “national conversation”. I think the register he chose for today’s event was precisely in line with that need for conversation.

He was conversing with us out here – not speechifying the people at Conference.

And so an Internet generation communicated to its own – not a declamation at all but, rather, a threaded dialogue of the many.

Now on to a second piece which has just come my way – this time by Clifford Singer writing over at openDemocracy.net on how the left needs to change its register and “frame”.  In particular, this bit chimes most strongly with my own experiences and reactions over the past five years or so:

Westen is a psychologist and neuroscientist who takes his cue from philosopher David Hume’s 18th century observation that “reason is the slave to emotion, not the other way round”. In his 2007 publication, The Political Brain, he argues that the left’s tendency to depend on fact-laden appeals and shopping lists of policies is doomed to fail:
“If you think about voters as calculating machines who add up the utility of your positions on ‘the issues’, you will invariably find yourself scouring the polls for your principles. And as soon as voters perceive you as turning to opinion polls instead of your internal polls – your emotions, and particularly your moral emotions – they will see you as weak, waffling, pandering, and unprincipled. And they will be right.”

Between Oborne and Singer, then, we have a good set of explanations around what Ed Miliband might be/is/really ought to be trying to do.  If, as I claimed the other day, he is doing so both intelligently and intentionally, then this is a route and leader most definitely worth pursuing. 

If, on the other hand, he is actually flailing about in a no-man’s-land of old-fashioned political endeavour (only with a new lick of paint), he will almost certainly need eventually to be ditched.

It really, now, is up to him then.

From Red Ed to Ready Eddy?  The next few months will demonstrate if he knows what he’s best doing.  But there’s sufficient evidence already to the fore to suggest that he might just yet manage to pull off that sea change we all need to see – whatever our party inclinations and wherever our most deep-seated loyalties lie.

As big business gets a hotline to ministers, the revolving doors become virtual old boys’ networks

 a con, big business, big government, David Cameron, False Economy, hotline to ministers, oligarchy, shareholders  No Responses »
Sep 232011
 

It was bad enough in New Labour times.  Something I picked up via False Economy in August (background here) made that pretty patent and clear enough for all of us to see.  Amongst the many unhappy truths, conflicted interests and abuses of power in such times, this one is perhaps one of the most vigorously anti-democratic:

“The number of former ministers ‘revolving out’ raised particular concern in Parliament and the press in 2008, when the list for the previous two years revealed that no fewer than 28 former ministers had taken jobs in the private sector. Of these, thirteen were still MPs. Paul Flynn, a member of the Commons Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), commented that ‘he could not remember ministers hopping into the private sector like this……It is a way of buying access.’ This number of 28 compares with a total of 31 in the list published in March 2011, which covered the previous twelve months. A smooth transition to the private sector could now be said to be the normal expectation for a government minister.”

Now – it would appear, however – that as in everything in this world, Cameron & Co are looking to outdo even more of the less salubrious “achievements” of our previous governors.  As the Telegraph reports today:

The bosses of some of the biggest companies in Britain, including BP, Shell and Jaguar Land Rover, are to be given hotlines to ministers to boost the economy.

To be honest, here I’d be inclined to want to argue the toss – and make one very small but important amendment to that sentence:

The bosses of some of the biggest companies in Britain, including BP, Shell and Jaguar Land Rover, are to be given hotlines to ministers to boost their economy.

And so the pyramid attempts to reassert itself over the heads of the people.  That very stratum of society which has failed us so miserably over the past three years takes it upon itself, in that beer-and-sandwiches way so criticised of previous Labour governments and trades unions, to have cosy chats behind closed doors about how to best maximise the profits of large companies – companies, that is to say, which already fire people in times of economic crisis, even as they continue to make massive amounts of money for their shareholders.

For it’s not essentially the big men (and occasionally women) at the top I begrudge this exclusive access but, rather, far more importantly, the fact that the representations they make are always going to be primarily on behalf of the economies of their shareholders.

Don’t you see that this is so?

Don’t you see that this is wrong?

Benefit corporations or corporations on benefit? (II)

 a con, benefit corporations, benefits crackdown, corporate Communism, corporations, False Economy, in a hole  No Responses »
Aug 152011
 

Yesterday, I wrote about the potential upsides as well as the proven downsides of American-style corporate bodies.  Today, I see some further evidence (this from False Economy today, and worth a read in full) which demonstrates that most corporations are on benefit – and should, therefore, at least by people such as IDS, be firmly told where to get off the gravy train:

This summer we have witnessed a series of public crises following one another in quick succession: the News International scandal, the European sovereign debt crisis and now the widespread looting in England’s major cities. They all bear witness, albeit in very different ways, to the long-standing dominance of corporate and financial interests over politicians and public policy, and to the insertion of their doctrines of market supremacy and private gain into all areas of the public sphere and social consciousness alike.

The article goes on to summarise with great brevity that:

Simply put, the cost of the financial crisis has been successfully transferred onto taxpayers, and public anger displaced from the bankers onto the governments which have slavishly followed their favoured prescriptions for addressing the public deficit.

As the piece unhappily concludes:

This implantation of the corporate sector at the very heart of government, to which potential countervailing powers of the trade unions, political parties, civil society associations and public media have at best provided only a limited check and exposure, seriously compromises the democratic process, and skews policy in favour of the already wealthy and powerful.

Corporations on benefit or what?  Now don’t tell me it’s not true …
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Further reading: the report the False Economy article refers to, “Unelected Oligarchy: Corporate and Financial Dominance in Britain’s Democracy”, has its own introduction here and its own .pdf file here.  It comes highly recommended by a brace of honourable souls, so here I am now reading it.

I must be mad – I’m supposed to be on holiday …

Is David Cameron, Radicaliser Extraordinaire, the very best thing to happen to society in years?

 38 Degrees, a con, Big Society, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, False Economy, in a hole, Labour, latterday capitalism, on a high, pyramid politics  No Responses »
Jun 142011
 

Sometimes, quite despite our efforts to the contrary, things turn out very much for the better.  This is the email I received today from that excellent organisation 38 Degrees:

“I’ve seen the difference the work of 38 Degrees members has made to the debate on NHS changes. Today’s announcements seem like significant progress, but there are still big causes for concern and we all need to look carefully at the details as they emerge. Celebrate the success so far, 38 Degrees, but don’t stop speaking up for the future of our NHS!”
Dr Clare Gerada, Chair, Royal College of GPs

Dear Miljenko,

Today, Nick Clegg and David Cameron admitted that the original NHS plans were wrong, and accepted the need for changes. We’ve not won yet – but we definitely have made progress. According to Andrew Lansley’s original timetable, the NHS changes would be law by now. We’ve helped stop that happen.

Clegg and Cameron’s speeches included some steps in the right direction. But we can’t afford to drop our guard. For a start, these are just speeches – we haven’t seen the full text of the proposed laws. We will need to scrutinise the plans line by line as they pass through parliament.

We have got this far by working together. 38 Degrees members voted to start the campaign because we know just how important the NHS is – we can’t trust it’s future to politicians.

If we keep working together, we can keep the pressure on. But what should be our priorities? How can we push David Cameron to keep the promises he has made this week? How can push our MPs to vote down bits of the plans that still look dangerous? What could we do to challenge cuts to services we rely on?

Help decide what we do next together by completing this two minute poll:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-shall-we-do-next

Back in April, thousands of us took part in a vote to decide together which parts of the NHS plans we were most worried about.

Today, hundreds of 38 Degrees members have been discussing the announcements and the media coverage on the 38 Degrees website and Facebook page. Here’s an attempt at a summary of what we decided to prioritise and where we seem to have got to:
What we decided together to focus on What David Cameron’s new proposals might mean
Don’t force the NHS to promote competition between private health companies: rule out price competition and promote co-operation and quality of care instead Some Progress. It sounds like the role of the NHS regulator, “Monitor”, will now have an overall focus on promoting the interests of patients not price competition as originally proposed.  The devil will be in the detail of how this works, and there is probably still more talk of competition than lots of us would like. Lib Dem MP Andrew George has warned “Monitor” could act as a “trojan horse” allowing more of the original plans to be slipped “through the back door”.
Don’t allow private companies to ”cherry pick” healthcare contracts in a way which could undermine local hospitals: put NHS services and hospitals first Progress. There will be “new safeguards” to stop private companies taking over the job of commissioning health services where hard-pressed GPs are unwilling. But the government wants to keep the policy of “Any Willing Provider” being allowed to run NHS services, including private companies.  Many experts say this policy means that in practice it will be extremely difficult to prevent “cherry-picking”. We will definitely need to look hard at this area of the legislation when it is published.
Don’t take big decisions about health spending without experts and patients being involved as well as GPs A lot of progress. It sounds like patients, nurses, and hospital doctors will now be involved in taking decisions as well as GPs. Mental Health Charity Rethink is describing the revised plans as “a real step forward for patient power”.
Don’t allow big decisions about health spending be taken behind closed doors and without democratic scrutiny Some Progress. It seems that local “health and well-being boards”, which include elected local people, will have a beefed up role in scrutinising what GP commissioning boards are up to.
Don’t force any big changes without testing them properly first – trial any changes in one area for several years first, then give parliament a fresh vote A little bit of progress. The timetable for imposing the changes has definitely been slowed down, with many of the original deadlines dropped or softened. But the government still isn’t proposing a local trial, or a fresh vote once we’ve seen how all of the new systems work.
Don’t remove the government’s “duty” to provide a comprehensive health service: keep that duty in law Success? It’s being reported that the Bill will be rewritten to reinstate this comprehensive duty. That would be a massive success – but we need to see it happen in practice before we can relax!

What areas of David Cameron’s new plan are you most concerned about? What should 38 Degrees members do together next to stand up for the future of our health service?

Have your say here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-shall-we-do-next

We won’t know exactly what the government is planning until they release detailed legislation. But we do know that some hardliners are angry that Andrew Lansley’s original plans have been changed and will be campaigning to revive them. If we keep working together, we can make sure that doesn’t happen.

Two weeks ago, before this flurry of announcements, thousands of 38 Degrees members voted to decide what we should do next. So much has changed since then, but here are some of the most popular ideas we came up with:

  • Aim to deliver copies of the Save our NHS petition to every single member of the cabinet in the next month
  • Send lots of letters to local papers to make sure they hear how many people are worried about the NHS plans
  • Hold birthday parties in July to celebrate the NHS’s 63rd birthday

Do you think theses are still the best ideas? Should we do something else? Please take 2 minutes to help decide:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-shall-we-do-next

Thanks for getting involved:

David, Marie, Johnny, Hannah, Becky, Cian and the 38 Degrees team

PS: if you completed the poll last week, then thank you, but please do this one too – so much has changed in the past two weeks! http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-shall-we-do-next

Notes:

Here are a couple of summaries of the changes to NHS plans:
Department of Health official response: http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/government-response-to-nhs-future-forum/
The BBC: Step-by-step guide to NHS changes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13749880

It’s clear that both this organisation and initiatives such as False Economy, as well as a plethora of other evidence-based social media movements, are taking their toll on this government.

Or are they?

Whilst recent polls suggest that few people want to get involved in David Cameron’s Big Society in its most formal and prescriptive manifestations, it’s absolutely the case that through both online and related offline initiatives the voting public is beginning to radicalise itself in a way that, for example, the Labour movement’s leaders in other very different times would have found difficult to even imagine.  David Cameron as the Radicaliser Extraordinaire then?  The very best thing to happen to society in years perhaps?

Maybe so.  Maybe, indeed, this is the case.  Even despite himself.  Not quite the Big Society he was looking to engender – but a Big Society of sorts he may yet be able to take advantage of.

And whilst the Labour Party in crisis shows us the real weaknesses of pyramid politics as it begins to frustrate some of those who might in other circumstances have truly placed their confidence in it, the real force for change and for a dynamically continuous improvement in our economy, state and relationships – even where this is effected in a reactive and contradictory sense; that is to say, in opposition to our desires – is precisely constituted in those individuals who Carl, in the first story I linked to at the top of today’s post, slates thus:

Sir/Madame, look at these two. Clegg and Cameron. Are you surprised? Do you wince? Do you think their compassion consists in wanting to share, nay impose, the worst of the lifestyle of the ruling class upon us grounded, not landed, folk?

Sir/Madame, are these conservative men ripping down our institutions from inside? Did they not realise we must desist from change if its success rests upon luck?

Sir/Madame, did they not realise that it was private interest and interference that slowed down and frustrated the national health service during the terms of the last cabinet. Are they aware this service, free at the point of entry, is an inscription of welfare as a right of citizenry, there to stop anyone from falling through the net, commissioned only through donations of that grandest of traditions the state?

Sir/Madame, look at this one. Duncan-Smith. Does he not acknowledge welfare as a right of citizenry?

Sir/Madame, I am under little doubt these thugs understand nothing of what they are doing. But quite why we should tolerate them while they do it is beyond me. Are we yet fit for revolt?

Cameron & Co are so good for society because suddenly, after years of having it all handed out to us on a plate, we are having to define and fight for everything we believe in.  We are having to rediscover and assert what really matters to us.  We are becoming welfare guerrillas battling for the safety and security of our friends and families.  This has, all of a sudden, become a war not to the death – but, rather, on behalf of everyone’s lives.

Cameron & Co are destroying society as we know it – and, in so doing, are forcing us to recover the past: that is to say, the very society they aim to bury.  Therein lies the political tautology: they would see themselves as radicals but their impact on us will lead to an overall and net societal conservatism.  And even as we see ourselves essentially as radicals, we struggle to conserve the results of our ancient battles.

So does no one know how – or care any longer – to have a truly radical impact on our world these days?

Is the system we live under so absolutely pervading and powerful that there is nothing we can now do to disentangle us from its control?

Is it capitalism, then, which has led us all down the road of absolute conservatism?

I do, actually, wonder if this is the case.

Don’t you?

Over and over again, we’re asking "Why, why, why …"

 a con, Big Society, Coalition, Coalition capitalism, Coalition cuts, disabled, eugenics, False Economy, ghettos, Nazi slogans, political DNA, why  No Responses »
May 302011
 

Sound at all familiar, historically speaking?  So could we argue that this Coalition government very nearly borders on behaving like eugenicists par excellence of the 21st century?

Yet another article which essentially asks “why” all over again.  And it’s a good and substantive article:

Emergency Life Support skills are a set of actions that save lives, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and dealing with choking and bleeding. There’s a school in Bolton West called Smithills School, who already teach their pupils these skills through the British Heart Foundation Heartstart course, and their teacher Adrian Hamilton told Julie about the benefits that the course has given to their pupils: empowering them with the confidence to administer life-saving techniques, and reinforcing a message of citizenship. Mr. Hamilton told Julie that he thought ELS skills should be an expected part of what happens in schools.

The Tory-led Coalition government’s response was as follows:

The clause got rejected; and Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools, retorted:

“I take issue with the hon. Lady when she says that this is more important than learning about the six wives of Henry VIII. If Anne Boleyn had known more about Henry VIII, it might have saved her life.”

Grace concludes her article by saying:

Having been defeated at the committee stage, Julie is continuing the campaign by working with the schools in her constituency. If you agree that Emergency Life Support skills are worth teaching, why not join the campaign by writing to your own MP and encouraging them to do the same?

In the face of such sterile point-scoring from the government – which, in any case, and however you see it, deliberately obfuscates the nub of the issue – it’s hardly surprising people ask why these things should be happening.

It’s my firm belief that the explanation is actually very simple: the Tories are looking to re-engineer long-held British tenets of societal behaviour – fair play, community support, charitable action and so forth – so that there will come a day when we no longer look out for anyone except ourselves as individuals – and possibly close family.  They’re not looking to achieve the broadest possible improvement in a wider civilisation but, rather (quite the opposite), allow the strongest to rise unchallenged – and, indeed, unchallengeable – to the top.

And thus we’re asking the question “Why, why, why …”, as, for example, the disabled are demonised (more here) – and the message couldn’t then be clearer: the weak are a drain on society for which the strong have no responsibility to support.

This is apparently the true meaning of the Big Society: a society made to measure for those with illusions of – and the means to – grandeurs of a most excluding kind.

It’s amazing how tightly knit into our wider beliefs political DNA can sometimes be.  Eugenics has a long and dishonourable history.  Its instincts, impulses and tawdry prejudices may, over the ages, manifest themselves in many different ways.  Right now, in Coalition Britain, as a massive project of social engineering is underway, the flippancy of government point-scoring simply underlines the gross unacceptability of its promoters – and leads me to believe that where economies can be shaped to most negatively impact on the already poor, the two-tier standards of 20th century eugenics cannot be very far behind.

But we must also accept our share of the blame.  We also chose to re-engineer a nation – our slogan “New Labour, New Britain” acted as a defining frame for everything that came after – and, whilst we did so, and sometimes with the agreement of a wider voting public, there were many unhappy measures which the powers of representative government allowed us to impose on rather than work through alongside with the people.  In this sense, Cameron and his supporters are a mirror image of New Labour.  Where New Labour aimed to reduce relative poverty, and so create a society of opportunity and aspiration for the vast majority out of stealthy and supportive socialism, so the Coalition government are looking to disentangle the people from the state and create a society of opportunity and aspiration for the few.  Top-down grassroots politics on the one hand (and therein our finally unavoidable contradictions) versus top-down elitist politics on the other.

And meanwhile, from the archives of the Washington Post, I wonder if this is the society which awaits us.
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Further reading: you can find detail on the motion which sparked today’s post off here.  Meanwhile, two articles on people-centred economics which have just come my way can be found here and here.  Well worth your time.

Evidence-based political blogging versus the rest

 Andrew Regan, blogging, evidence-based blogging, False Economy, Left Foot Forward, left-wing blogging, Next Left, on a high, Poblish, www.poblish.org  No Responses »
Jan 292011
 

There’s been a considerable rise in the popularity and acceptance of “evidence-based political blogging” – perhaps its most recent and best exponent being Left Foot Forward.  But the trends existed before they were thus conceptualised.  Next Left is another example of a blog which sources quite carefully its opinions – and uses the discursive structures of “compare and contrast” to provide a considered and fairly objective overview of the political landscape and its issues.  Whilst Chris’s Stumbling and Mumbling is a marvellous example of how to make surveys, reports, studies, data and economic philosophy in general the kind of fascinating reading which everyone can enjoy and learn most productively from. 

But there are other things on the virtual landscape which support – and possibly encourage – the move away from the rhetorical blogging we grew up with.  Projects such as Andrew Regan’s Poblish.org – and the multitude of tools it potentially offers up for us (more here, from yours truly) – help cement the idea that the virtuous side of political blogging is to be found in the hard stuff of statistics and testable data.

Yet, I wonder if this is altogether fair, useful or – indeed – wise.  The other day I suggested:

At this point, I am reminded that statistics and evidence-based blogging are excellent measures when one wishes to rebut the arguments of the liars in government.  But, as I mentioned recently on these pages, these two tools do not fully encompass the workings of economies and their corresponding peoples.  They do not encompass the visceral side of life.  They do not communicate the emotional undertows.

So I ask the question again to underline: what’ll happen to our society when the poor begin to feel they are getting poorer?  That is the thought I have awoken to this morning.  That is what I have realised will almost certainly be my near future.  That is what I now fear for the future of my offspring.  That is what will damage and destroy the initiative and forward-looking hopes of a generation, if we are not very careful – or, alternatively, if we are not very clever.

These emotions, these perceptions, are just as important as the macro-economic stuff.  Yet who is out there to define, determine and delineate this?

And I went on to conclude as follows:

We need another website, I think.  A tactile website of emotions, where people can use a virtual community to express how they feel about this incompetent bundle of millionaire politicians – who  really have no appreciation of what feeling poor can do to one.

What you might term, in fact, a virtual  “Play for Today” for today.  Only instead of professional writers serving to filter the pain, this time we could aim to crowdsource –  through social media aficionados (more background  here to one potential approach) – the job of telling and sharing the hard and bitter truths.

So what is my challenge to the clever IT-oriented bods out there who have the skills I do not possess and could make this idea come true?  Well.  I’ve sent emails to three of them to date, but only one has replied – and with an understandable lack of comprehension.  Understandable, because the idea is still tremendously nascent and without useful form.

Where, then, do I want to go with this concept?  Firstly, I’d like to affirm what I’m not proposing.  No.  I’m not proposing a return to the rhetorical flourishes of a previous age.  The time when the Iain Dales of this world could generate those splendidly massive page impressions via clever turns of phrase and the debating strategies of stratified university societies and clubs is surely something we should not wish to re-engineer and recover.

What I am suggesting we do here is learn from the recent success of the evidence-based blogging I describe in this post and apply it to both the tracking of emotional undertow and its bespoke generation.  If we could create a community which not only used the tools Andrew Regan and others have been developing to follow existing content but also allowed and promoted the invention and distribution of new and headline-hitting Web 2.0 experience, perhaps we could recover some of the virtues of rhetorical blogging without committing the crime of returning us to the dark ages of sterile and pointless online debating chambers.

In fact, I do wonder if this community isn’t already beginning to exist.  Let’s try False Economy for starters.  A growing dataset of damning figures and statistics, videos which tell human stories, articles from the clever and good – all we need is to properly conceptualise that “Play for Today” which I mentioned the other day and the site would be about as complete as any site could ever be. 

The full gamut of human experience, that is.

From stats and reports through to videos and creative texts – content which serves to remind us all of the humanity behind the numbers.

That should be our challenge.

So that is my challenge to the IT wizards out there.

Never forget that behind the tales the clever websites tell, there are human beings who need a channel for their voices – and more now than ever before. 

Run with the trend towards evidence-based blogging, by all means – but never underestimate the importance of, also, evidencing our emotions.