Economists criticise Government economic plans

The debate over how to bring economic recovery continues with a letter to the Sunday Telegraph signed by 16 leading economists with the following :

"SIR - Further to your interview with Alistair Darling (October 19), we would like to dissent from the attempt to use a public works programme to spend the country's way out of recession. It is misguided for the government to believe that it knows how much specific sectors of the economy need to shrink and which will shrink "too rapidly" in a recession. Thus the government cannot know how to use an expansion in expenditure that would not risk seriously misallocating resources.
Furthermore, public expenditure has already risen very rapidly in recent years, and a further large rise would take the role of the State in many parts of the economy to such a dominant position that it would stunt the private sector's recovery once recession is past.

Occasional economic slowdowns are natural and necessary features of a market economy. Insofar as they are to be managed at all, the best tool is monetary and not fiscal policy. It is inevitable that government expenditure and debt naturally rise in a recession but planned rises in government spending are misguided and discredited as a tool of economic management.

If it is believed that this recession has features that demand more active fiscal policy, which is highly disputable, taxes should be cut. This would allow the market to determine which parts of the economy shrink and which flourish to replace them."

The Chair of the Commons Finance Committee John McFall has argued for tax cuts saying "There is a need for a focused approach, to reduce the tax burden of the lowest paid working people. Now is the time for further reform of tax allowances to take millions of low-paid people out of income tax altogether, and benefit many millions more basic-rate taxpayers."

One of the main features of this downturn is that it has been caused by easy credit and loose spending by not only the people (easy credit kept the economy ticking over through consumer expenditure) but also by the Government when it spent so profligantly. We all had a hand in this and the Government must not try to spend its way out of this.

TDC China Gateway vote

The always excellent ThanetOnline has a breakdown of which way the Thanet District Councillors voted on the recent decision to grant planning consent for the China Gateway development. If you dont know which Councillors are yours, check here.

Ministers abandon 42 days after Lords humiliation

As reported yesterday the Government were under tremendous pressure about what to do with the Counter Terrorism Bill if it were as expected defeated by the House of Lords. We got our answer after the Lords voted with a massive 191 vote majority against the Counter Terrorism Bill last night with a raft of prominent Labour Lords revolting against the party line.

Jacqui Smith made a statement to the Commons soon after the vote saying that the 42 day proposal will be removed from the Bill and will be set aside in a separate Bill to be introduced "should the worst happen". This brings back memories of the Patriot Act in the US, where no one read the Bill when it went through Congress but shoved it through at a time of national emergency because the political imperative forced them to do so. Parliamentarians must be wary of this tactic and the Government should just bury it and move on avoiding this underhand manner of enacting bad legislation which wouldnt pass otherwise.

In other Lords news, the Immigration (Discharged Gurkhas) Bill [HL] received its Third Reading and will now move to the Commons for discussion. The Bill is a very simple one, the amendment of the current Immigration rules to allow former Gurkhas indefinite leave to enter and remain in the UK whenever they were discharged. I hope our local MPs will support the Bill in its passage through the Commons.

Counter-Terrorism Bill Lords vote today

Today is big for Brown for reasons other than the bailout of the banks. The Counter-Terrorism Bill comes before the Lords and is expected to be rejected heavily. That will lead to the process restarting with the Commons and Lords voting a second time. Should the Lords refuse a second time, Brown could invoke the Parliament Act to force the Bill onto the statute books. The BBC has reported that is unlikely and if Brown had any sense he would abandon the Bill if today it falls. He wont get it through without the Parliament Act as thats been used too many times by Labour.

Unemployment

Yesterday in the Commons, Roger Gale spoke about unemployment and other associated problems in Thanet such as looked after children. He spoke out against the proposed closure of the Whitstable JobCentre as it will put extra pressure upon the Herne Bay branch and attacked the legislation surrounding empty property rates, an issue highlighted in the past by Laura Sandys:

"As the Minister knows, Thanet has suffered historically from the highest levels of unemployment and social deprivation in the south-east—among the highest levels in the country. The reasons are not hard to find. Thanet has suffered from an enormous amount of immigration. During the 1980s, the immigration came from around the United Kingdom in what was known as the “dole on sea” syndrome: the unemployed came to the seaside to live on the dole in hotels and guest houses, and Thanet took more than its fair share. That contributed to its unemployed base."

"Thanet has also been the dumping ground for cared-for children from London boroughs and, shamefully, from some of the home counties as well. Those young people have grown up. Very many of them have been damaged and found it extremely hard to find employment of any kind, so we are used to unemployment in Thanet."

It is clear as day that we are in recession, with retail and manufacturing already proven to be shrinking. The credit crunch isnt finished at all despite the package announced yesterday and there is a lot more pain to come. The Government must take a wider view rather than concentrating solely on the banking crisis, which while important in itself, is not the only problem. Unemployment will inevitably increase and the Government must recognise that more must be done to lessen the pain of that. The point about children in care is a pertinent one as these are people who require state support as a pre-requisite rather than it being a voluntary option they take up.

Libertarianism

David Cameron made a significant speech the other day at the Conservative Conference where he spoke for over an hour on a range of subjects. It was well delivered but one point really grates. He commented on political philosophies and in particular libertarianism saying "But freedom can too easily turn into the idea that we all have the right to do whatever we want, regardless of the effect on others. That is libertarian, not Conservative - and it is certainly not me".

Libertarianism is not that. While there are a number of forms of libertarianism around, as there are with say socialism or liberalism, the one he was rejecting is right wing libertarianism where people should be free to live their lives as they wish, so long as they do not interfere with the ability of anyone else to be free. Libertarianism exists on the point of voluntary choices and that coercion, whether individual or state backed, is wholly contrary to this belief. Being a libertarian doesnt mean that I do whatever I want and to hell with you lot. Thats anarchism. David Cameron is being wholly disingenuous about this and while its understandable why he does this, he really does need to engage brain before speaking like he did. The public may not care too much, but to the core Tory vote it will matter as its a matter of belief. This is even worse since he derides libertarianism even though he said a while back that he was an "instinctive libertarian" and at Conference preached so much libertarian thought about government getting off peoples backs and allowing the people to be free.

Libertarianism isnt a free for all. It is based upon individual responsibility and real financial prudence. Cameron's efforts to triangulate himself between the hardcore socialists and the extreme anarchists to appear moderate is a bad strategy and misrepresents those he rejects of his own party.

Gateway Grumble

Why is it that when you need a member of staff to help with a computer problem upstairs at the Thanet Gateway/Margate Library, theres never one around? This has been a problem for a while now. It doesnt affect me usually since Im a dab hand with computers, but for others who are using the Gateway for looking for a job or a course on the internet they need help sometimes.

Could the Council please consider employing another member of staff for the upstairs to help specifically with IT? I know theres a member of staff sometimes, but once on a Thursday really isnt enough.

Wheelie bins coming to Cliftonville West

A bunch of leaflets from the Council came through my letterbox in the past few days, including one about wheelie bins. It seems that Cliftonville West's turn has come for them and they shall be arriving in September/October with the new service to start in November.

Cliftonville West is a difficult case with regards to this since a lot of the properties are terraced. I understand that Eastcliff has similar problems as Ward Cllr David Green has commented in the past. I was quite happy with the blue recycling bags and black normal waste system that we have at the moment and dont really see the point in changing now.

Dane Park

An awful lot has changed at Dane Park with a new playground, a hard court and some work currently being done to the Cecil Square end of the park to open up the view. The fountain has become a giant flowerpot (above) and has recently been given a makeover.

What do you think about the look of Dane Park now? Do you have any suggestions for further improvements?

MIchael Gove and lads mags

A little moan to start the week is about the Shadow Cabinet Minister for Children, Schools and Families, Michael Gove who is to do a speech about lads mags and the "hedonism" connected with it.

"I believe we need to ask tough questions about the instant-hit hedonism celebrated by the modern men's magazines targeted at younger males. Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available. We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing."

While I see what he says, it would be nice for him to at least once in this Parliament to speak out on the issue of children in care, an issue he would have direct responsibility for were the Conservatives to win the next election. It annoys me greatly that an issue of such importance does not get any airing in public.

Victoria Traffic Lights Part II

Now that Kent Highways have removed their equipment, local residents are left with the finished Victoria Traffic Lights. The works were designed to improve traffic flows and make it easier for pedestrians to get around the junction without risking safety. Has that been acheived?

Well, yes and no. For sure adjusting the traffic light system to create a three step traffic flow system has sped up the traffic flows and there seem to be less tailbacks generally, with one exception where traffic builds up going from Westwood Cross though nobody expected that tailback to be solved.

However, cars are still perfectly able to turn right off (upper) College Road onto Ramsgate Road, something which has caused an awful lot of trouble for pedestrians and led to a raft of near misses. Only by sheer luck has worse been avoided. Where the traffic flows have been adjusted at Beatrice Road, there are now effectively two differently moving lanes to be crossed in one go. It means that traffic turning left and going straight ahead goes first then immediately after they stop, the cars turning right from the same road go. This can catch pedestrians off balance and caught me out yesterday. Ive already heard complaints about this.

While a proper pedestrian crossing has been made at the Victoria Pub-Victoria Parade crossing, there is not one for those going from the pub to Andrew and Jills. This is a key crossing for school pupils and has been a dangerous crossing for many years, especially since the Victoria Pub sits on a blind corner.

I and many local residents were under the impression that islands were to be placed on the two main crossing points across Ramsgate Road in order to make it easier for pedestrians to cross it safely. These have not appeared and I wonder why such an impression was put around if they werent to appear. In my honest opinion I do not believe that local concerns have been dealt with properly and that however easy it might be for traffic flows, safety for pedestrians must be put in balance and that has not happened with these works. I believe more work will need to be conducted to make this junction safer.

SNP in shock win in Glasgow East

In another by-election loss, this time in formerly safe as houses Glasgow East, Labour was beaten by 365 votes by the SNP last night in a healthy 42% turnout. The by-election was called by the resignation (officially on health grounds but there are questions over his expenses) of David Marshall. The swing was a stonking 22.54%. The Conservatives came third with the Lib Dems trailing in fourth.

Labour desperately needed to win this by-election just to hold steady so this is a serious blow. The result seems to be more a case of the SNP being liked rather than Labour being hated. Next for Gordon Brown is a chat with the Unions who will want promises in exchange for financial support. Labour is mired in debt and a General Election campaign simply cant be financed right now. He needs the Unions and yet he cant give them everything as itll be another blow to his authority after a raft of u-turns and changed decisions over taxation and public finances.

And with a long summer recess, the talking backstage will only grow...

Purnell the Policy Pincher

The Government has been leaking over the past weekend its new welfare policy and has finally released them which aim to ensure that those claiming benefits are actually those who need them. With so many claiming benefits for disability without being disabled, and with large numbers just too bone idle to get a job, there is plenty of people to target. The policy sounds pretty good and theres one reason why it does. Because the Conservatives announced the very same policy back in January. The entire policy is lifted almost verbatim from the Conservative policy document "Work for Welfare". Its strange that the Government announces such policies because when the Conservatives published the policy, Labour attacked it as uncosted and unworkable...

James Purnell, Secretary for Work and Pensions, is lauded by some analysts to be a potential Prime Minister, though seeing how quickly David Miliband's light was snuffed out when he started making moves, Purnell may not have long to promote himself. The problem is that Labour has a history of stealing Tory policies, then screwing up the implementation.

If all Labour can do is steal Tory policies, then is might as well go and call the next election now. This Labour Government is finished.

Nash Road, Margate

The above is the Coffin Corner end of Nash Road, which appears to have a serious problem with the school run traffic and with some parking overnight on it. Local residents have brought the issue up with me recently saying how terrible it looks compared to the rest of the road. Lister Road had a similar problem with hospital users and with a small fence put up stopped it. Perhaps that could be used again?

On another local issue, is Manyweather looking to apply again for planning consent to build on the disused railway? I understand consent was refused in October last year and the time before that it was resoundedly thrown out despite support from former Cllr Charlie Young but I spotted a Manyweather van on site last week, so perhaps they are going yet again. Interesting to see the site has been cleared up a bit.

The Passing of Prudence

According to the press and confirmed by the Treasury, talks are underway to reform the fundamental fiscal rules to allow more government borrowing. At the moment public finances are stretched an awful lot and are in serious risk of breaking the rules altogether (it can be argued that these rules have already been broken, and I would agree, but strictly speaking they havent).

The Government seems to ignore the fact that it is simply spending too much money. Its spending binge in the last handful of years has been paid for by the surplus of years before that and then by borrowing even though the clouds were coming in. Allowing itself another line of credit is going to lead to a further weakening of public finances because at some point, that borrowing will have to be paid for and itll have to come out of future tax receipts for example. The coming Pre Budget report is going to be even more important now. The Government must realise that borrowing so much money to fund such profligance is irresponsible and tighten its own belts before asking for more.

Right to Know

As part of the Conservative response to the expenses mess, David Cameron ordered all Conservative MPs to declare their spending. These declarations were made public this week. Roger Gale's expenses declaration can be found here (page 13).

Stephen Ladyman has declared his expenses on his website here.

Victoria Traffic Lights

Following Tony Flaig's comments on Kent Highways I think now is the time to have a good old moan about the traffic lights round where I work, namely the Victoria Road Traffic Lights and the work Kent Highways has been doing.

The Victoria Traffic Lights have had some serious problems with pedestrian safety and confusion over traffic flows being the key. Traffic regularly ignored the signs saying that you cant turn right when coming down College Road onto Ramsgate Road, meaning that cars turn right while pedestrians are crossing, leading to a number of near misses and only through sheer luck has there not been any run downs.

The plans indicated that there would be a number of improvements installed such as more islands to allow safe crossing and a MOVA traffic light system that would be able to adjust its traffic settings as it learns the traffic flows. All laudible for sure. Unfortunately it seems that problems have been found during the works and delays have appeared. So serious have the problems been that a dozen Highways workers descended on the junction on Sunday morning last week to get the work moving again. Rumours are that someone gave a metaphorical boot up the backside of some workers.

Poor laying on the pavement has meant that there could well be some complaints in the future by one business which appears to have had part of its forecourt tarmaced over and drains seem to have had the same treatment. More recently a pedestrian island has appeared between the already existing island outside the former Victoria Dry Cleaners and the non-shop corner. This seems to be a mistake on first glances because I dont recall there ever being any particular safety issues with those crossings, save those that the pedestrians made for themselves by risking an early crossing. It seems to me that maybe Highways has made a terrible mistake and put a crossing where its not needed. I understand that islands were to be placed between the non shop corner and the Victoria Parade and between the Victoria Pub and the former Golden Carp Fish Bar. They were the crossings that were required most but have not yet appeared. The temporary traffic lights have also been poorly placed leading to safety issues at key crossing points for pedestrians.

Local residents have been very patient indeed waiting for these works and hope that this will come out. But Kent Highways really needs to consider its scheduling of works so that the work gets done efficiently and properly. I know its not easy for those carrying out the works and I sympathise with them, but it needs doing and it needs doing properly.

Jacqui Smith U-turn over knife crime

Looks like an attempt to grab the public mood over knife crime has gone belly up. Jacqui Smith had been trailing through the past weekend sending those caught with knives to A and E units to see stab victims to show them what they have done. It was made pretty clear this was an idea that was strongly considered and not just blue skies thinking. In fact she was on Sky News confirming that was her view. Yet yesterday in Parliament she denied she ever proposed such an idea. Its bad enough that she along with her Ministerial colleagues frequently leak policy to the press before they come to Parliament, despite Gordon Brown having claimed a year ago that this would not happen under his Premiership, but to leak it and confirm on TV then to deny in Parliament ever doing it is misleading Parliament.

This is an example of soundboarding which Labour does a lot, where it leaks to the press and if the media generally go along with it, it goes in the policy document. If its panned, its out and theyve lost little public face. In this case, it was panned. She had two chances to restate her point and she flat out agreed with the media both times over the policy. To blame it for reporting something she later confirms catagorically seems rather silly. Its another U-turn that turned into a triple somersault and landing on the roof for Brown's Government.

Bribing electorates...

A White Paper (pdf) from the Department for Communities has a bunch of ideas cobbled together to "pass power into the hands of local communities. We want to generate vibrant local democracy in every part of the country, and to give real control over local decisions and services to a wider pool of active citizens.". A couple of thoughts.

1. "We will introduce a right of appeal where a community’s proposal for a local council is denied by the local authority." So senior Councils have no proper right to refuse. The Government clearly wants as many Councils as far down as possible with the idea being that itll give more representation and better governance. What itll actually lead to is a bureaucratic spaghetti bolognese leading to confusion and waste of public resources. In local government, less is more.

2. "We will give councils the power to provide modest incentives for voting – perhaps an entry into a prize draw – as a way of engaging people.". If people dont want to vote, then they dont want to vote. The idea that there should be a prize draw for those who choose to exercise the right to vote is disgusting. Its a low level bribe.

3. The Widdicombe rules should remain and local Labour should come out and say that they disagree with Hazel Blears. Council officers should never be councillors. THey must remain distinct roles.

A lot of the plans here will require more public spending, unless this is another example of the Government ordering Councils to do more with less... Public spending must be severely restrained in this difficult economic climate and the idea that we should spend money on incentives to encourage the public to vote or to have more advisors is not the right way to use such scarce resources.

Cocaine

In the press last week and the local news last night it was reported the marketing of a Red Bull type drink called Cocaine, which is 3 and a half times stronger than Red Bull and will appear on the market soon.

I feel awkward about the sale of Red Bull to young people so this Cocaine really worries me. If Red Bull can affect a person like me, than its going to affect small children even more. I strongly believe its a dangerous thing to sell such drinks to young children and that traders in Thanet need to consider the safety of those who are buying the products. While there is no law banning or restricting the sale of Red Bull for example, a voluntary restriction to over 16s would ensure that the very young do not get hold of it and potentially risk their health. It has been banned abroad because of such health dangers.

Shops may prefer not to follow my advice and thats their choice, but should something bad happen soon after the kids drink that stuff, then they can expect to be held accountable for it. Traders must be wary of the goods they sell.