New bus services to the new Media City development in Salford will now not proceed, as a result of Government funding cuts. As a result of cuts to the Kickstart programme, £382,000 for a bus service from the MediaCityUK complex to Salford Shopping City and Salford Crescent train station will now...

Welfare to work blogs are starting to report that ‘most’ of the 16,000 temporary  Jobcentre Plus staff, who were recruited to deal with increased demand for services at the start of the recession, will now not have their contracts renewed. Should this be true, it would be extremely...

Those of us who question the scale and depth of the cuts are now being called deficit deniers. Of course we are not. We simply want to get it in proportion, and think through how urgent a problem it is and the best way of dealing with it and other economic issues such as high [...]

International backing grows for ‘Robin Hood tax’ on banks Larry Elliott reports in the Observer on a draft IMF paper which is much more positive about financial transactions taxes (FTTs), ahead of a meeting of European Union finance ministers which will consider an EU FTT. by...

Video – Pelosi: Transaction Tax Has “Great Deal Of Merit” Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, indicates support for a financial transactions tax. by ToUChstoneblog on 04/09/2010

Concern is growing over Mark Thompson’s visit to Number 10 to discuss the BBC’s coverage of government cuts on Thursday. The BBC’s Director General was pictured in Downing Street with a memo from Helen Boaden, his Head of News, detailing what would be covered in a forthcoming series on the cuts,...

Ed Balls made a speech to Bloomberg last week, and Martin Wolf commended his argument in the Financial Times today. Both are worth reading in full, but for the time-challenged, here’s a summary. Government policy rests on four pillars: Labour is to blame for the UK’s economic problems;...

So, how much debt is too much? More than the government admits | Comment is Free Paul Segal has a great post on Comment is Free that demolishes the arguments that we cannot afford to run deficit. by ToUChstoneblog on 03/09/2010

The Government’s review of workplace pension reforms is now on its final stretch, and is due to deliver its final report towards the end of the month. I have no insight into what they are likely to say, although there is clearly heavy lobbying from the pensions industry to rip the settlement...

 The TUC was among the “coalition” of 22 green groups, green manufacturers and countryside bodies warning Chris Huhne against cutting subsidies for green electricity and heating as part of the government’s spending review. Their letter said a new air of uncertainty over government support,...

Connexions Services in Windsor and Maidenhead, Brighton and Hove and Birmingham are at risk of outright closure, whilst those in Northamptonshire, Sutton, Cheshire and Warrington, and Wigan face cuts of 40 per cent or more. These cuts and more are detailed in a database produced by A Thousand Cuts...

In less than three weeks, the UN will hold a review summit on the Millennium Development Goals (set in 2000, they are due to be achieved in 2015 so we ought to be two thirds of the way there – and we aren’t). Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and International Development Secretary of...

Women and cuts – new report by Ken Livingstone Women in London will face a disproportionate share of public spending cuts, according to a new report, published today by Ken Livingston. The cuts in benefits and tax credits for families and children, the assault on Housing Benefit and the...

The Royal Statistical Society has written to the UK Statistics Authority to call for a comprehensive review of inflation measures. The letter, from RSS President David Hand to Sir Michael Scholar (the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority) expresses concern about the way in which the Office for...

Hague says human rights are key to our foreign policy – Telegraph Bouncing back from recent leaks suggesting that William Hague was downgrading human rights work at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, this article stresses his commitment to human rights, and affirms that issues will be...

In June, £49.9 million was cut from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, an area based grant paid to local authorities by the Department for Communities (CLG). The funding is intended to support attempts to tackle concentrations of worklessness in deprived areas.  The cut was accompanied by a removal...

Free fruit for children in Glasgow’s primary schools is reportedly at risk of being cut. The cut would apparently save the council £1.2 million annually – a small part of the £115 million that Glasgow reportedly needs to cut over the next two years. Breakfast clubs, fitness initiatives...

This weekend more stories have emerged about cuts in defence spending, featuring elements of the armed forces that are well-known to the public. Yesterday there were reports that the Ghurkha regiment is to be scrapped, today the newspapers featured reports that the Special Air Service is being...

Last night’s rumours that NHS Direct is to be abolished have been confirmed by the government. The service is to be replaced within 3 years by a national phone service (using the non emergency 1-1-1 number) based on the pilot project in the North East. Two-fifths of NHS Direct staff are trained...

‘Science cracks code to feed world’, says the headline on page three of The Times today. Now I know the first rule of journalism is that the headline should grab the reader’s attention, but even so, this is a bold claim. Nevertheless, this article reports that a team of British...