cuts
World finally wakes up to coalition’s assault on school sport
Fully one month after the scale of the government's cuts to school sport were unveiled, politicians, journalists and sports stars have at long last been stirred into fighting back, the realisation of the horror about to be unleashed finally dawning. As Left Foot Forward reported in October, the Department for Education is scrapping the £162 million PE and Sports Strategy - a strategy which has been proven to work, significantly raising participation in competitive sport.
Nearly 50,000 hits for Clegg-Osborne “liar liar” video
Nearly 50,000 people have viewed a music video against the coalition's cuts, which features a montage of Nick Clegg, George Osborne and David Cameron droning on about us "all being in this together", and even a star-turn from Mr Clegg's (alleged) political inspiration - Mrs Thatcher.
Age UK outline vision for the future of social care
Social care is currently in crisis due to lack of funding. The number of older people needing care is growing but rationing through eligibility criteria means fewer and fewer are qualifying for local authority support. There are few services aimed at preventing those with low-level care needs from reaching a crisis situation.
Balls: Big Society is surefire route to a weaker society
Shadow home secretary Ed Balls today attacked the David Cameron's "Big Society" policy agenda, labelling it a "big con" leading to public services being run by volunteers on the cheap and a significant deterioration in crime prevention.
Northern Ireland’s cuts double whammy
In further evidence that the coalition’s claims the NHS budget is ring fenced are questionable at best, Northern Ireland health minister, Michael McGimpsey, has warned that without protection for his department’s budget, the NHS across Northern Ireland faces the prospects of significant job losses.
Government plans to build more affordable housing risk falling short
Government projections show there will be more than 250,000 new households every year over the decade to 2020, the result of growth in the number of single person households, increasing life expectancy and net migration. Building 110,000 new homes in 2009 clearly falls far short of this.