Liberal Conspiracy » Carrot and sticks: getting people back to work What worked well – giving unemployed people more support What didn’t work well – sanctions and market-based incentives

Filed under: Web links | Comments Off

1945, government debt, bond markets, sterling – and all that Ann Pettifor puts government debt in perspective on her Debtonation blog Let’s raise the minimum wage to £6 Brendan has a piece on our thoughts for the National Minimum Wage over at Comment Is Free. A rise would help a million Britons to escape from [...]

Filed under: Web links | Comments Off

While European leaders try today to agree how much the EU should pay to help developing nations fight global warming, we join 50 Department of Energy and Climate Change stakeholders for a One-Year Anniversary Discussion. It’s a year since DECC was set up. How’s my driving? so to speak. The focus today is The UK’s Low Carbon [...]

Filed under: Environment | Comments Off

The official Occupational Pensions Survey results are out today.  I’m sure great efforts have gone into making sure these are accurate, but they do not quite measure the right thing – or at least will be used as a measure of something they are not. Inevitably they will be used to fuel the attack on [...]

Filed under: Pensions | 1 Comment »

The Times Diary reports a new City fad: “An organisation is trying to organise “flash sushi” parties, at which you get to eat raw fish off naked women’s bodies. You pay your fee and only 24 hours beforehand do you learn where the party is taking place. This is the done thing among very rich [...]

Filed under: They Just Don't Get It | 1 Comment »

Anyone who watched the BBC’s engaging documentary about Warren Buffet on Monday night would have been struck by his refreshing views on tax.  Buffet has made himself into one of the very richest men in the world by ignoring Wall Street fads and hysteria.  Instead he has invested big and long in companies he understands with managers he [...]

Filed under: Earnings, Tax | 1 Comment »

Work does not guarantee a route out of poverty JRF study shows Professor Ian Cole, the project director, commented: "Having followed the lives of a range of people living in deprived neighbourhoods, it becomes clear that work at any price, is not necessarily a route out of poverty. Many people have to juggle low pay [...]

Filed under: Web links | Comments Off

Radical reforms to the tax system are needed to meet our climate change targets, shifting the tax burden from labour (income tax, NI) to carbon emissions, according to the Green Fiscal Commission. Launching the report, Commission chair Prof Paul Edkins called it a “tax shift, not a tax increase.” Welcome though these ideas are,  they involved [...]

Filed under: Energy, Environment, Tax | 1 Comment »

George Osborne has called for a cap on bonuses in retail banks of £2,000 with any balance paid in shares that have to be held for at least three years. The Evening Standard has a good round up of the reaction, which seems universally hostile.

Filed under: Economics, Financial crisis, Politics | 1 Comment »

What workers want from the Commonwealth Brendan Barber has a post up at The Commonwealth Conversation, highlighting what the TUC want to see from next month's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Bonuses under the cosh – so bosses take bigger salaries? And this is Management Today!

Filed under: Web links | Comments Off

From today 68,000 lone parents are losing their entitlement to Income Support (IS). Parents whose youngest child is aged 10 or 11 will be moved onto Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or ESA over the next few months. In 2010, the age limit will reduce down again so that by the end of the reforms, all parents [...]

Filed under: Welfare | 1 Comment »

We have now truly bid farewell to summertime. The clocks have changed, the nights are drawing in and the leaves are starting to fall. Wouldn’t it be great if we had another bank holiday today to cheer us all up? The TUC has joined together with the main voluntary organisations to call for a new [...]

Filed under: Employment law, Work-life balance, Working time | Comments Off