Richard Exell

A major new survey shows that the recession has increased the demand for charities’ services at the same time as the cuts and the increase in VAT will make it harder for charities to provide those services. The survey found that

not only will the sector be hit by departmental spending cuts, but also by decreases in other sources of income.  This is largely due to market forces and decreases in the general public’s disposable income.

We expect that the cuts, particularly those to welfare, will increase demand for services, causing further pressure for charities to meet beneficiaries’ needs.

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Brendan Barber

UK Uncut protesters are right to be angry at the scale of tax avoidance in the UK. The TUC has long been campaigning to expose the amount of tax that is dodged by big companies and the super-rich.

There is a whole industry of socially-useless advisers who come up with new perfectly legal ways of avoiding the tax that Parliament intended wealthy people and organisations to pay.

As the cuts bite, it is getting ever more clear that we are not all in this together and those who did least to cause the crash are suffering the most.

What UK Uncut are doing is not the way that unions traditionally make their voice heard, but I am sure that they will remember that the workers in the shops they target are just as much victims of cuts and unfair tax policies as anyone else.

As the TUC recognised in the statement we adopted at our Congress last September the campaign against the cuts will take many forms. A tiny minority will go in for ones that are counter-productive, but the rest are going to add up to a real movement for change. We have no pretensions that all of it can be brought together in a single organisation or run in a top-down way.

Our March for the Alternative will be one focus – scrupulously organised and highly disciplined to ensure that it can be both safe and huge – but there’s also room and a need for spontaneity and action at the grassroots.

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Darinka Aleksic

The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that the human rights of a woman from Ireland had been violated when she was forced to travel to the UK to obtain an abortion in its long awaited decision in the ‘ABC’ case. This is a legally binding judgement and the Irish government will now be obliged to review and amend its abortion legislation.

So, a victory for Irish women, the pro-choice movement and for common sense, then?  Well, to a certain extent it is. The case has put Ireland’s outdated abortion laws under the international media spotlight; it has provided legal redress, and €15,000 compensation, to the woman involved, ‘C’, who became pregnant while suffering from a rare form of cancer and who feared for her own and her child’s life if she continued with the pregnancy; and it will force the Irish government at the very least to clarify the circumstances in which abortion can be carried out legally in the Republic of Ireland.

But the case also demonstrates just how far Ireland has to go before it fully recognises the injustice and hardship caused by its draconian abortion laws, which are among the most restrictive in Europe.

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Richard Exell

Two new indicators of how people feel about 2011 have been published. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Employee Attitudes to Pay survey shows that just 58 per cent expect a pay rise next year, down from 67 per cent last year. The number expecting a freeze rose from 25 per cent to 33 per cent. Public sector employees are the most pessimistic – 49 per cent expect a freeze.  

Most people think the outlook’s just as bad when it comes to spending it.

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Richard Exell

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency today published proposals for a drastic reduction in the number of Coastguard stations and staff, that would save £20 million over the next four years compared with the cost of upgrading the stations. Currently there are 18 Coastguard stations, under the plans there would be three open 24-hours (Aberdeen, Southampton/Portsmouth and Dover) and five sub-centres open during the day. This is a genuine ‘Big Society’ initiative – there will be a reduction from 596 to 370 in the number of regular Coastguard officers, who will “focus on leading and supporting” the volunteers of the Coastguard Rescue Service, who will do more of the front-line rescue work.

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• Forensic Science Service losses of the government’s own making
  PCS points out that the problems at the Forensic Science Service that have been used to justify its closure all stem from the attempt to create a fornesic science market.
• New Left Project | Ha-Joon Chang | Becoming Economic Citizens
  Fascinating interview with an important economic voice part 1

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Richard Exell

Camden Council faces a budget shortfall that could reach the almost unimaginable sum of £100 million over the next 3 years. The government has told local authorities to “do more with less”, but Camden has already planned all the efficiency savings they can come up with. These include merging services with next door authorities, extra charges for some services and reducing the frequency of others. But this only saves £30 million.

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Nigel Stanley

Here’s a fab new video in which Professor Mark Blyth demolishes the “the national budget is just like a household’s” argument.

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Rob Holdsworth

With Christmas just around the corner there is always a few events you can guarantee – bright lights, desperate shoppers and festive top tens.

Touchstone Blog is getting in on the act with the launch of CUTS Factor, which we’ll be running between now and Christmas. But this is a top ten list with a twist – rather than picking your favourite cut, we’re asking you to pick your worst from a shortlist of ten. Think X Factor with ten Wagners.

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What do you think has been the worst from a very bad bunch of public spending cuts? We’re running this poll to see what the nation thinks – add your 2pworth and forward it on to your friends! We’ll be unveiling the most hated cut here on the blog.

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