Owen Tudor
The usually rational Howard Davies suggests in today’s FT that EU Commissioners should be chosen the same way major businesses choose their leaders. So, that means no women, an emphasis on management guff rather than results, and ever increasing salaries in the hope that mutual back scratching will result in the winners rewarding the people who picked them. When will the corporate world realise that it’s not much of a role model?
Adam Lent
In a Parliamentary debate today George Osborne was pretty clear on the Tory plans for the deficit. He would make a “really significant reduction” in the deficit in the life of one parliament even if that meant causing “pain”. He also rejected the idea of cutting taxes in order to encourage growth when pressed on this issue by another MP. What is strange is that this does not seem entirely in line with the speech Cameron gave on the deficit earlier this week.
Nicola Smith
Today we publish our 13th recession report, which considers the latest ONS labour market release. There is definitely some good news, with the overall figures showing either a pause in recent employment falls or the possible start of a recovery in employment levels.
However, there are several factors which show just how fragile the labour market still is. In particular, between the June – August and July – September quarters there was an increase of 34,000 in employment for those over-25, but a fall of 42,000 for young people aged 16-24. Young people’s employment levels are showing no evidence of improvement. In addition, although unemployment of less than six months stopped rising in the Spring, long-term unemployment is still increasing and the increase does not yet show any signs of easing off.
Helen Maunga
Three years ago, my daughter Aleena wrote this poem:
Where will I go, the sea is rising
Where will the animals go, the sea is rising
Where is the beach, the sea is everywhere
Where is the playground, beneath the water
What will I do
What can you do
What can be done
Stop burning rubbish
Stop using plastic bags
Stop greenhouse gases
Recycle, reuse, rethink, relocate, rubbish
It didn’t win any prizes but it touched my family’s inner soul. I am not an expert on climate change. I am a victim of climate change. I live on a small island in the Southern part of the Pacific Ocean called the Cook Islands. It is a country merely 3 metres above sea level and experiencing the impact of climate change every second of the day through the drastic changing climate patterns that have brought the havoc of tsunamis, cyclones and rising sea levels.
Brendan Barber
David Walker’s review of Corporate Governance in the UK Banking Industry is published today. While some of its proposals are an advance, the review comes across as the financial establishment putting forward the minimum proposals they think will head off root and branch reform so they can get back to business as usual. The City will be sighing with relief and uncorking the vintage champagne today.
This puts the challenge back on to policy makers. This is not the radical road map needed to reform finance. It will not deal with the bonus culture and the risk taking that threatens to destabilise the wider economy. Nor does it make finance serve the interests of a better balanced economy. With further revelations only this week about just how close we came to melt-down in the banking system last year, we are still waiting for the regulatory, tax and governance programme that can really tackle financial excess.
Owen Tudor
Stop giggling at the back! It’s true. In yet another moment of revelation, the World Bank has realised that school meals are vital to ending world hunger – especially for children of course. A new report issued together with the World Food Programme says that delivering food aid through schools is vital. And, of course, the only way you can get school meals to the poorest children is through free primary school education and free school meals – all of which requires state-run education systems. Former arch neo-liberal Robert Zoellick must have choked as he co-wrote the foreword which says:
“What is clear from this report is that we are beyond the debate about whether school feeding makes sense as a way to reach the most vulnerable. In the face of global crises, we must now focus on how school feeding programs can be designed and implemented in a cost-effective and sustainable way to benefit and protect those most in need of help today and in the future.”
Of course, unions in Britain have been banging on about the vital role played by school dinner services for decades. But it’s good to see their value being recognised worldwide, and by such an unlikely organisation.
Alice Hood
Just days after the East Coast rail service passed back into public hands, the Government has published plans for re-privatising the route, with the process getting underway next year. More worrying still, the announcement suggests that c2c, one of the other routes operated by National Express, will be allowed to run its course and then re-let according to the existing timetable. As I wrote recently, unions have been campaigning for the operator to be stripped of that franchise too after they handed back the keys on the East Coast.
Kate Green
Britain is the sixth richest country in the world yet around 30% of our children (over 4 million) live in poverty; in a report released by UNICEF in 2007 Britain came 21st out of 21 of the world’s richest countries in terms of child wellbeing. If we are to take seriously the issues of child poverty and child wellbeing then we need to tackle the high levels of inequality in this country.
In a recent blog post for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kristian Niemietz was critical of Child Poverty Action Group for an article in the Autumn 2008 edition of our membership journal “Poverty”. In it, Polly Toynbee argued that we should tax those who earn over £100,000 fifty pence on every pound they earn over that amount, to pay for improving services and reducing inequality.
