Those departmental cuts in full
Those departmental cuts in full
Spending Review: George Osborne’s pensions conundrum
The government – correction, any future government – is facing an increasing conundrum over what to do about pensions. Despite the hoo ha over today’s Spending Review, the announcements the chancellor will make today will only apply to a small proportion of total spending.
It’s not that the cuts aren’t deep enough already, it’s that the economy has barely grown
The chancellor will announce £11.5 billion pounds worth of cuts today because the UK economic recovery is the slowest for 100 years.
Daily Mail columnist says Rihanna’s fashion sense ‘invites rape’
We’ve already written about the Daily Mail once today. But woe betide me for not expecting to find two items to pull them up on in a single day.
This time it’s a tad more serious, however. In a spiteful article about Rihanna, Mail columnist Liz Jones writes that the pop star is a “toxic role model” for young fans because she glories in “drugs, guns and sleaze”.
Rather than only publishing the names of benefit claimants, how about full blown Swedish-style tax transparency?
Why should transparency only apply to welfare claimants when even those who rely on a private income have relied upon the state in some way to support them at some point in their lives?
The Daily Mail makes money from graphic video…after boasting that it forced Google to remove graphic videos
Do readers of a national newspaper really need to see a video of a women being killed by a shopping trolley? Sure, report the story if you must, but accompanying the piece with an enticing call to “scroll down for the video”?
Internet freedom on Edward Snowden’s flight path
Regardless of what you think of Edward Snowden’s actions (fairly honourable, in my view), the attempt to hide out in countries with some fairly questionable records on media freedom is raising eyebrows.
Don’t turn Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer into free speech martyrs
The anti-fascist campaign group Hope Not Hate (HNH) has started a petition to prevent two American bloggers from being given permission to enter the UK.
This week’s most read: Dan Hodges, sexist advertising and QE
The most read articles on Left Foot Forward this week.
Public sector borrowing higher this year than last
The latest public sector finances data, released today by the Office for National Statistics, show that public sector borrowing in 2012/13 was £118.8 billion when you exclude Quantitative Easing and Royal Mail pensions. Higher than in 2011/12, when it was £118.5 billion.