I would really have liked to be positive about the CBI’s Budget Submission, given the gravity of the economic situation in which we find ourselves. Here we are, probably two months before a General Election, holding our collective breath and hoping the next growth figures will show the economy still recovering, rather than back in recession. It would have been great if we could agree on the major challenges facing us. Sadly, that is not to be.

The CBI’s prescription is wrong because its objectives are wrong. Running through its submission seems to be a belief that only the economy matters. The needs of society are not worth a mention. What’s more, the most important things about the economy are those that the markets think are important. Read more »

   Filed under: Economics, Financial crisis, Politics | No Comments »

I suppose the BBC thought it was being clever by offering up what it probably sees as limited sacrifices in an attempt to appease Rupert Murdoch and then giving the story as an exclusive to the Murdoch owned Times.

It hasn’t worked. The Times was contemptuous in its response calling the BBC “big, bloated and cunning”. Read more »

   Filed under: Media, Politics | No Comments »

There’s a lot of good stuff in the Guardian’s “Citizen Ethics” series, including an important article by Julian Glover (“Liberty is equality’s intractable opposite.”) The article is a good example of a certain strand of liberal criticism of the current government, and it’s worth going into why it’s wrong. Read more »

   Filed under: Equality, Politics | No Comments »

In the FT today, over 60 senior economists have written to demand that Alistair Darling and George Osborne refrain from making premature cuts to public spending. We agree with them that the deficit should be financed until the economy is more stable and that if spending cuts are made at this point, the UK could spiral into a disastrous ‘double-dip’ recession.

We’re backing a campaign, Don’t Risk the Recovery, along with 38 Degrees, the Fabian Society, Left Foot Forward and IPPR. You can help by taking action now at the 38 Degrees site. They have an urgent petition to Darling and Osborne,  asking them not to play short-term electoral politics and gamble the recovery we need so badly.

Please take a minute to sign the petition now, and tell your friends about it.

   Filed under: Politics, Public spending | No Comments »

The news this morning that the Conservatives have rejected Lord Adonis’ offer of an early look at the High Speed Rail White Paper should worry supporters of high speed rail. Read more »

   Filed under: Economics, Environment, Politics, Transport | 3 Comments »

MPs will be voting later today on whether there should be a referendum on changing our current first-past-the-post electoral system to one based on AV.

This is not an area where there is any TUC policy – other than the motion at our Congress last year calling for us to stimulate a debate. This we have tried to kick off by publishing the Touchstone extra on electoral reform.

But in this spirit, here are some thoughts on what AV might mean. Read more »

   Filed under: Electoral reform, Politics | 1 Comment »

Back when cuts mania was all the rage during the conference season of 2009, only the TUC, others on the left and serious commentators like Martin Wolf argued that cuts came with major economic consequences.  The TUC argued particularly strongly that to start measures to address the deficit when the economy was still fragile threatened a double dip recession.  These views were of course rejected by the small state right in the form of the Institute of Directors, the Taxpayers Alliance and the Conservative Party itself. Read more »

   Filed under: Politics, Public services, Public spending, Recession | 4 Comments »

The rather brilliant theorist of economic history, Carlota Perez, argues that after very large financial crashes, economies change their mode of operation.  Systems that have been run by and in the interests of financial speculation become far more focused on the ‘real economy’.  Profits and wealth are generated less by playing around with money and more by the search for productivity and innovation in other sectors. Read more »

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

The Tories’ latest campaign offering is rapidly turning into the most spoofed election poster since “Demon Eyes” Blair.  Rather predictably, this is my favourite.

   Filed under: Politics | 1 Comment »

The TUC are big supporters of the new pensions settlement due to start in 2012. Ten years ago TUC policy that employers should have to contribute to the pensions of their staff was seen as a way-out demand. Now it constitutes a cross-party consensus backed by employers, unions and much of the pensions industry, thanks to Lord Turners’ Pensions Commission and some smart campaigning by unions and the wider consumer movement.

It is right therefore to mark two more milestones on the road to the implementation of the reform package. Read more »

   Filed under: Employers, Pensions, Politics | 1 Comment »