Community Development must be at the forefront of services

Over the past decade or so, if you have been following the blogs and publications of what we might charitably call the ‘taxpayers perspective’, you will have come across the notion that town halls up and down the country have been squandering bucketloads of money on so called ‘non-jobs’….

Public transport will drive growth, not roads.

Apparently the war on the motorist is over. After months of behind the scenes negotiations conducted by the Norwegians in secret, the warring factions have announced a ceasefire and the basis of a full settlement that will be negotiated in final status talks in Washington. One of the Clintons…

Don’t blame the X factor.

Children, it’s claimed, no longer want to be nurses, police officers or teachers, they want to be famous and earn millions, irrespective of whether they have any talent. The explanation for this change? The X Factor.

Personally I can’t stand the programme, but I don’t think it’s responsible for a generation of kids…

The effects of cuts on people with disabilities.

RNIB Cymru aims for the lives of the 115,000 people with sight problems in Wales to keep improving. But we must work together in helping the people with power to make the right decisions. This is much harder in what has been described as a “cold climate”. And it…

The Two Narratives

This week, life got a lot worse – or a bit worse, and necessarily so – depending on who you choose to believe. Because you can’t believe both sides, and there are certainly two opposing sides when it comes to interpreting the events of Wednesday 20th October.

On the one…

The bus to work isn’t an option

Iain Duncan Smith says on BBC’s Newsnight tonight, quoting Sky TV’s ‘Town Like Merthyr‘ programme, that the unemployed in Merthyr Tydfil ‘didn’t know that if they got on a bus  - an hour’s journey – they’d be in Cardiff and they could look for a job there‘.  However,…

Tough Times Ahead

The emphasis on fairness as a principle underpinning yesterday’s spending review is very welcome.  However, fairness needs to be delivered as well as asserted, and so far the evidence suggests Wales’s poorest people and places will be hit hard by the Chancellor’s announcement.

 The combination of cuts in public services,…

Time limits on ESA and what they mean in practice

Sometimes the devil is in the detail.

One of the initial reactions to yesterday’s comprehensive spending review concerned the change to make employment and support allowance (ESA) time limited for one year. Tom Clark in the guardian explained the implications of this;

“Singles will be able to fall back on…

My Public Sector Day

In the run up to the Comprehensive Spending Review to be announced at lunchtime, here’s my day yesterday – I am not making it up – which shows just how deeply embedded the public sector is into all aspects of our lives.   

Got up at an unearthly hour – breakfasts…

Let’s Talk about Cuts

The only way Wales can weather the storm of public spending cuts is by a ‘radical transformation’ of public services in Wales.  Simply doing more of the same for less will not be enough, neither will salami-slicing a neat 20 or 30 per cent off each department’s budget. The…