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Friday, 31 July, 2009 
Some of you may have heard mention of the Canadian example to cutting public spending. In summary Canada had a large structural budget deficit in the mid 1990s and debt levels of about 100% of GDP. There had been many attempts over the years to reduce this by: across the board cuts, spending freezes/caps and attempts at improving efficiency/productivity, but all these had done was slow the growth of the public sector for a period rather than reduce it in size. A new Government came to power in the 1990s with a radical approach which was essentially a programme review. Every item of public spending was subject to a review, to see whether it should be done, and if it should be, then could it be done more efficiently. Recently, one of those involved, Jocelyne Bourgon, former Clerk of the Privy Council of Canada, explained how they did it to a to a seminar at the Institute of Government.
In essence her advice is:
The Canadian experience was that the budget was returned to balance within 3-4 years although some mistakes were made, for example, she says they cut defence too much and is now having to rectify this. In addition due to the federal nature of Canadian Government many of the cuts applied centrally were to regional Government, so the real cuts had to be borne by the regional Government.
Her final point is that they did it, it can be done, and that they expect to have to do it again at some point in the future. She also says that the methodology used then may be different form this, which was appropriate at that this time.
Does the debt crisis we now face, and the fact that public sector spending growth was unsustainable before the recession kicked in, mean that now we have a the opportunity for a Canadian style review?
I will blog further on this in the future.
You can watch a video of Jocelyne Bourgon at: http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/webcasts/jocelynebourgon/JocelyneBourgon.html
Thursday, 30 July, 2009
The Daily Mail has a story today about a lady called Laura Ripley who says she can’t afford to eat healthily due to her benefits being cut. According to the Mail:
‘A 25-year-old unemployed woman who was given an £8,000 operation to help her lose 16 stone is complaining because, as well as her weight loss, her benefits have been reduced. Laura Ripley, who has never worked, was given the operation on the NHS to help her slim down from 38 to 22 stone.
But the 25-year-old, who receives £600 a month in benefits, is unhappy because as a result of losing weight she can no longer claim disability allowance amounting to an extra £340 a month. This, she says, means she cannot afford to eat healthily - causing her to pile the weight back on.’
Well, were do you start?
My advice to this lady is simple: take responsibility for your own life, stop blaming everyone else, show a little humility and gratitude to others and you could try and get a job also.
You can read the full articule at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1202767/I-afford-live-healthily-says-600-month-benefits-woman-lost-weight-free-gastric-band-surgery.html
Monday, 20 July, 2009
I was three days short of my second birthday when man landed on the moon, so despite being assured by my Mum that I did see it in TV, I can’t remember it. Being a child in the 1970’s we were surrounded by space stories: from ‘Thunderbirds’ to ‘Space 1999’, from ‘Star Wars’ to the re-launch of ‘Dan Dare’ in the comic 2000AD, all of which was set against a backdrop of the subsequent moon landings, the Skylab and Apollo/Soyuz mission and then the anticipated arrival of the Space Shuttle. Space travel was going to be accessible, affordable and open to all….well I’m still waiting. But then the budget cuts came, the arguments that Governments couldn’t afford to do space flight when there were so many more pressing problems, the lack of political will once the race to the moon had been achieved, the fact that in many cases robots were cheaper and better than humans.
But, don’t worry perhaps my childhood dreams are still alive.
A few years ago Virgin teamed up (at the last minute) with a team in the US to fly the first private sub-orbital space flight and claim the ‘X’ Prize. From this Virgin Galactic was borne and the company is currently building a fleet of sub orbital planes to fly tourist trips to the edge of space. Longer term there will be orbital flights and some even talk of space hotels.
Could it be that space flight is opened up not by science and big Government programmes but by commercial operators providing a service that people actually want and at a price they can afford?
Wednesday, 15 July, 2009
Now it’s the starter motor and a turbo hose…. Maybe life was easier with horses?
Thursday, 09 July, 2009
Liam Fox has re-affirmed the Conservative commitment to a submarine-based system to replace Trident. This is good news for Barrow and the country as a whole. You can read the full article at:
You can read my press release on the defence Review in the news section.
Also, readers of this site will know I support the Future Carrier programme so I was pleased to see this on the MOD website about the first steel being cut for the Carriers.
You can read about it here: http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/ConstructionOfRoyalNavysNewCarriersBegins.htm
Tuesday, 07 July, 2009
Am I the only one who simultaneously likes cars and hates them at the same time? I like them because of the freedom they give us and I think cars will go down as one of the greatest inventions of all time. Up until the 1950-60s travel for normal people was restricted to public transport. You could only go where the service went, at certain times and usually with loads of other people. Cars changed that and allowed people to travel when they wanted, alone or with others and take a route they chose. It is a freedom, undreamt of by earlier generations and it is affordable and open to all. I know cars have their bad side, pollution and congestion but these can be managed allowing people to keep enjoying the freedom that cars can bring. But the reason I hate cars is not because of the downsides of them…it’s because they go wrong, and when they do they invariably cause you a huge amount of hassle re-organising your life and they sometimes cost you a small fortune to repair. Maybe I am just smarting from a broken radiator on one of our cars, and now the clutch has gone on the other. Oh well, nothing else mechanical can break…..
Friday, 03 July, 2009
On Tuesday I joined fellow candidates at a reception hosted by Conservative Home. According to a survey carried out by Conservative Home, the next intake of Conservative MPs, assuming we get elected, are pro-nuclear power, euro sceptic, relaxed about gay relationships and plan to continue to use the NHS as they do in present. All in all, a fairly normal bunch of people and I would say largely representative of the country as a whole. I would also add, we like to have a drink and enjoy ourselves and we try to see the bright side of life.
You can find out more on Conservative Home
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