Skip to main content

Expenses - another week, another disaster for Labour

As another week draws to a close, it would seem that the Labour Government struggles from disaster to disaster after another day of sleaze and ill-informed policy development.

First of all, we have the spectacle of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet playing the expenses system for their own benefit, with Gordon Brown yesterday being forced to pay back a plumbing bill he had claimed for twice as well as paying his brother more than £6000 when they 'shared' a cleaner.

Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary - even claimed a new boiler because the water in his flat was 'too hot'.

As if this wasn't bad enough, this was followed by five Gurkhas being banned from the UK despite the agreement by the PM earlier this week to allow them to settle here.

Harriet Harman, in her own inimitable style, has also "provoked further outrage by accusing opponents of the Government's DNA database policy of putting themselves against justice".

Finally, as if that wasn't enough, the Guardian notes that "Britain under Gordon Brown is a more unequal country than at any time since modern records began in the early 1960s, after the incomes of the poor fell and those of the rich rose in the three years after the 2005 general election".

The whole edifice is crumbling and I am now even more convinced than I was at the beginning of the week that we need a new Government now.

How on earth can we deal with the state of the economy when no-one believes or has any confidence in the Prime Minister or his Cabinet?

Time to call an election.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Expenses - I guess the noses in the trough will be all party hues, but don't these people decry benefit fraud - stones and glasshouses comes to mind
It is no surprise that Cameron has kept schtum on this...

Dylan, has it occurred to you that the telegraph are doing the tories tomorrow?

The claims are terrible, but i would imagine that there will be some pretty juicy ones from the tories too.

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

Change your business through change

All business organisations, especially entrepreneurial small firms, must cope with an ever changing business environment. However, small firms have a very limited ability in being able to control and relate to changes in the environment, although this can depend on the context of change. For example, if a major customer changes increases its order, the entrepreneur should be able to predict events and actions with regard to the timing and consequences of such a change and forecast any changes in the required resources and cashflow. Given this, the entrepreneur can undertake rational short-interval planning activity in order to underpin organisational control. However, much of the change facing business today is largely unpredictable in terms of its timing and its consequences. In other words, such change is open-ended, with it often being unclear what is changing or why it is changing. For example, the effect of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre was largely unexpected and its

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They also make their mon