Friday, October 22, 2010

When Fairness sticks in your throat (Jonathon Porritt)

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When Fairness sticks in your throat (Jonathon Porritt)

...So how does Nick Clegg deal with this? Predictably, he sets out to shoot the messenger, attacking the Institute of Fiscal Studies for getting it all wrong with their “distorted” methodology. “Complete nonsense”, he claims. All very embarrassing when you think that the IFS was one of the Lib Dems’ favourite independent think-tanks before power corrupted their judgement...

£1 billion...er...'stealthy' nuclear submarine...

1 comment:
Apparently we are in the process of building two more of these
'£1 billion',
'stealthy'
nuclear submarines - but with three of them running around [or should that be running aground] instead of one are we three times as likely to experience just how stealthy they really are? Just how justified is our high defence spending?

BBC News - Grounded nuclear sub dragged free

A nuclear-powered submarine which ran aground in shallow waters off the Isle of Skye has been towed free, the Royal Navy has said.
A tug had been carefully pushing along one side of HMS Astute, which got into difficulty a few miles from the Skye road bridge.
Described as the stealthiest ever built in the UK, the £1bn boat was out on sea trials and was not armed....

Poor suffer most from spending review cuts

2 comments:
Deputy PM Nick Clegg is very unwise and unmeasured indeed to launch such an outspoken attack on the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - using words like 'frightening people' and 'airbrushing' - because it is very widely respected for its expertise, independence and authority. This is not good leadership and in fact both Nick Clegg and Chancellor George Osbourne praised the IFS highly during the summer general election! Take a look at why the IFS regard the spending review as on the whole affecting poorer people more than richer people here. For me it makes very good sense to conclude that the poor will suffer most because they are the ones most reliant on the public services and benefits that have been savagely cut - and even the government's own figures (see image), calculated in their own way, show that the bottom 10% are hit hard. Government attempts at making the cuts 'fair' are far too small.