Lib Dems now breathing down Labour’s neck

Nick Clegg’s party is only one point behind, according to poll, and voters are not sure what David Cameron stands for

By Jane Merrick and Brian Brady

Labour is just one point ahead of the Liberal Democrats in what could turn into another difficult summer for Gordon Brown. The ComRes survey for The Independent on Sunday reveals Labour is on 23 per cent, up one from a month ago, but 15 points behind the Conservatives on 38 per cent.

Nick Clegg’s party has climbed four points in a month to 22 per cent, in a sign that the Lib Dems are benefiting most from the anti-politics mood created by the MPs’ expenses scandal. The poll is published amid fresh discontent about the Prime Minister’s leadership on the eve of the long summer recess and days before the Norwich North by-election, when Labour is expected to lose to the Conservatives.

James Purnell and John Hutton, who both resigned from the Cabinet last month, broke their silences this weekend to express dissatisfaction with the direction of the Labour Party.

Mr Purnell revealed he had been considering his position for six months before his shock resignation on the night of the local and European elections in June, while Mr Hutton warned that the Prime Minister was “heading for trouble” unless he changed his message on the economy and scaled back on public spending.

With just two days left of the parliamentary term, a flurry of white papers and policy announcements will be made this week as the Prime Minister tries to maintain momentum in his Government for the summer.

A report by the arch-Blairite Alan Milburn will this week condemn the Government, local councils and state schools for stamping on the career chances of children from poor families.

The former health secretary, commissioned by Mr Brown to review the help given to bright youngsters from deprived backgrounds, is expected to condemn careers advisers for routinely directing children towards vocational routes, and not universities. Mr Milburn will also suggest that £400m of funding specifically targeted at helping poorer children into university is not being used properly. The report amounts to a parting shot by Mr Milburn, who announced earlier this month that he will stand down as an MP at the next election. Last night Downing Street said the Prime Minister “welcomed this as a contribution to the debate about widening access”.

The ComRes poll shows David Cameron has still to open up the sort of leads enjoyed by Tony Blair in opposition in the 1990s. The Tories have not been consistently above the magic 40 per cent mark for weeks.

The latest survey shows voters increasingly “do not really know what David Cameron stands for”: 53 per cent agreed with this statement, an increase from 49 per cent a year ago, while 42 per cent disagreed.

Some 60 per cent disagreed that more British troops and resources should be devoted to Afghanistan, with just 34 per cent agreeing. A total of 64 per cent want all British forces to be withdrawn from the country “as quickly as possible”, with 33 per cent in disagreement

Mr Clegg went on to attack David Cameron as the “con-man of British politics”, accusing the Tory leader of saying anything to win the next general election.

 Think of a better picture?

Annette Brooke launches policy paper to protect children

Wed, 16 Sep 2009

The Liberal Democrats plan to make children safer

The Liberal Democrats Shadow Children’s Spokesperson has launched plans to make children safer and ease the burden on social workers across the UK.

The proposals, which will be debated at the party’s forthcoming Autumn Conference, include:

• Scrapping the children’s database (ContactPoint) and investing the savings into more administrative and technical support for social workers so they can spend more time on the front line
• Allowing social workers to complete secondments in other agencies and encouraging other child protection professionals to gain experience working with social workers
• Enforcing the publication of an anonymised version of Serious Case Reviews

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Children and Families Spokesperson, Annette Brooke said:

“Despite numerous reviews, reports and reforms it is clear that the child protection system is still not working properly. Some of our most vulnerable children are still being let down. 
 
“Co-operation between different professionals involved in protecting children can often be poor and many social workers are lacking the support they need. 
 
“Social workers should have the opportunity to complete secondments with other professionals working in child protection, such as the Police and schools.  This would ensure better communication and understanding between all child protection professionals.
 
“The Government is pinning a lot of hope on its massive children’s database, but this huge, intrusive project will not encourage professionals to talk to one another.  It should be scrapped, with the money saved used to give social workers extra support, allowing them to spend more time with families and less time completing paperwork

Well last week i was Part of the Tory Rump. and now i am a Nazi?

 Well what can i say, one blog accuses us of Rape, cutting off organs, supporting war and of being Nazi’s.

 I am Lost for words, and you wonder why i censor your comments, can i say something i am anti War, i served in the army as a Combat Driver attached to a Unit driving ambulances.And i am anti anything that vaguely resembles Nazism.So grow up and get a life.

36.000 hits thanks for looking in.

Thanks again for taking a look, want to ask a question go for it, Oh Adolf i thought you comment was very funny sorry i cant print it.

Keynesanism.

The General Theory was truly revolutionary. Controversial at the time, Keynes described the economic system as a whole in a way that clearly implied that governments could and should intervene to mitigate the consequences of low levels of economic activity, most especially unemployment. He showed that the price system could not necessarily be relied upon to achieve an equilibrium that made full use of the human resources available to an economy; aggregate demand reflected such things as uncertainty and shifting human expectations. Economic unpredictability and human responses to it were fundamental to an understanding of capitalist economies. Human behaviour, Keynes asserted, did not always accord with the market-clearing assumptions of classical or neo-classical economics. He also argued that a realistic model of the economy needed to take account of the ‘stickiness’ of prices in the labour market and fluctuating preferences for holding money. The notion of ‘liquidity preference’, and its importance in accounting for changes in effective demand, provided him with yet another way of taking issue with the assumptions that underpinned the work of his neo-classical opponents. Although many of his ideas have been greatly modified and absorbed into a modern neo-classical synthesis, Keynes was recognised as the creator of a new branch of economics: macroeconomics. His ideas – labelled ‘Keynesianism’ (q.v.) – came to underpin the post-war economic strategy of Western governments for three decades.

Keynes was also the author of proposals for the bancor, an international reserve currency, together with an international clearing union to manage it. His proposals were designed to facilitate international trade by entrenching a system of stable exchange rates and balanced trade. His attempts at Bretton Woods, in 1944, to persuade his American counterparts of the need for such a system met with only partial success; a fervent internationalist, he had to settle for what he regarded as very much second best. Nevertheless, he helped lay the foundations for the international economic system that made it possible to consolidate the peace and build post-war prosperity through rapid growth in international trade.

Economist.which way do we go.?

Adam Smith (1723-1790): Also known as the ‘father of modern economics,’ Adam Smith was the pioneer of political economy. His ‘Wealth of Nations’ is considered the first modern work of economics. In this piece, he explained the benefits of a free market economy where self interest would result in the betterment of the economy as a whole. He argued that if an individual pursued his own interests to maximize his revenues, he would be contributing more to the total proceeds of the society. Smith was against the formation of monopolies.

• John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946): His ‘General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’ made him the most notable economist of the twentieth century. Keynes fiercely advocated interventionist government policies. According to him, these would help in lessening the ill effects resulting from depressions and recessions. Though the Keynesian theories were attacked in the 1970s (especially by Milton Friedman), they regained importance after the 2008 global downturn. US President Barack Obama is using the Keynesian principles to revive the American economy.
• Milton Friedman (1912 -2006): An advocate of free market, Friedman challenged the Keynesian policies which, according to him, were responsible for causing worldwide inflation. He argued against government intervention in a market economy. He also revived the ‘Quantity Theory of Money.’ Referring to the Great Depression, he said that it was caused by an ordinary financial shock. However, the effects were intensified by the imprudent policies of the Federal Reserve.
• Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (1943-): This American economist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001. He is most famous for ‘Screening,’ a technique in which an economic agent strives to pull sensitive information from another agent. He criticized free-market economists and international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank.
• Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1992): An Austrian economist, he belonged to the classical liberal school and advocated free-market capitalism. His ‘Road to Serfdom’ is an inspiration for all those who uphold political freedom.

  These economists not only studied the market dynamics on micro and macro levels, but also contributed in devising broader philosophical theories for a more balanced world.

Any one in the Swinton South Area feel like joining us for some campaining?

OCT– Any one free we are looking at putting out a big campaign, cant promise anything but sore feet.

Ofsted’s music report hits the wrong note

 Source Salford Online.

If the government wishes to improve music teaching in Britain, it must first redress the balance between culture and sport, argues parliamentary researcher Adam Gillett.

This week, Ofsted launched its new report into music teaching in primary and secondary schools.

Ostensibly a handy guide for teachers, its more critical aim is startlingly off target.

The faults in music teaching are promptly blamed on “a lack of emphasis on increasing the quality and depth of students’ musical responses”.

In other words, children aren’t learning about music.

I am really amazed by this article purely on the grounds this cannot be happening in Salford.
My rational for this statement  is how many schools across England have a £2 million pound per year orchestra going in.Or is someone telling me porkies.

 

 

They seem to be entirely incompatible with the policy critique you have set out for yourself on this blog . You’ve been railing against “cuts” only to find that your own Party has pulled the rug from underneath you.

I . I suggest firstly you will see on the liberal website it is not policy, these are ideas being suggested.

But lets look closely at some of the points-

A radical review of public sector pensions with the view to moving to higher employee contributions and later retirement ages. There is currently a £28bn subsidy to unfunded schemes

Scrapping several major IT systems including the ID card scheme (£5bn over 10 years), Contactpoint (£200m over five years), the NHS IT scheme (£250m over the next five years) and the proposed ‘super database’ (£6bn)

Curbing ‘industrial policy’, including scrapping Regional Development Agencies (£2.3bn annually) and ECGD subsidies (£100m annually) and reducing (by at least half) the Train to Gain and Skills Councils budgets (£990m together a year)

Reforming the National Health Service, by reducing the centralisation and over-administration – starting by scrapping Strategic Health Authorities (£200m a year) – by strengthening commissioning and with ‘supply side reform’ – in particular tariff reform could save around £2bn a year

Curbing the centralisation in education, by cutting national strategies and scrapping quangos – saving around £600m a year

Reducing the amount of waste in the defence procurement process, including scrapping the Eurofighter and Tranche 3 (£5bn over 6 years), the A400M (total cost £22bn), Nimrod MRA4, the Defence Training Review contract (£13bn over 25 years) and the Trident submarine successor (£70bn over 25 years)

Examining possible future public sector asset sales, including some aspects of the Highways Agency (land value of £80bn) and intangibles such as spectrum, landing rights and emissions tradingl look closely-

When i look at cuts my concern is front line services, but when i see bloated systems, ID Cards. The Hospital Data base. Trident replacement,quangos,then there is room to slice very carefully without effected the masses who can ill afford the ravages which i feel you party will all most certainly bring in..