Labour says the Conservatives are 'completely wrong' to claim some pensioners could lose up to £3,400 a year from the government's plan unveiled in the Queen's speech The Conservatives were today accused of "scaremongering" after claiming that more than 2 million old people could lose out under the government's plan to offer free social care at home to needy pensioners. Labour claimed...
Conservatives say Andy Burnham has indicated that two benefits claimed by over-65s could contribute to funding of new care package More than 2 million old people could lose out under the government's plans to offer free social care at home to needy pensioners, the Conservatives claimed today. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, launched a strong attack on the measure – identified by...
Theresa May and George Osborne appear to contradict each other on the Tory's tax credit policy but there's a £350 million blackhole in the their calculations. On the Today programme this morning, Theresa May denied that a Conservative government would cut tax credits: "They keep making these false claims about what we ...
David Cameron has long accused Labour, and what he describes as "big government", of failing the poor. Today he will set out his party's policies to combat poverty and reform the welfare system. Mr Cameron will say the government is guilty of a moral failure, creating a welfare system that tells young girls having children before finding work and a loving relationship means a home and cash....
GRADE: B- By Theresa Rebeck. Directed by Scott Ellis. At The Laura Pels Theater through January 3rd You might have heard that Julie White is in this play. If you haven't reading any one of these reviews will remind you or that in big starry Technicolor: JULIE WHITE IS IN THIS SHOW! might as well be the blurb on the poster. The now-beloved comedic actress, who won a Tony for playing a high powered agent...
Here we go again….. Theresa May is ‘truly shocked’…. Shocked at what? Benefit underpayment or maybe tax theft..? No, benefit fraud. The DWP have released the figures regarding Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: April 2008 to March 2009 . And the ‘£3bn lost’ is making Tories like May froth at the mouth. No suprise there…. But let’s [...]
Windsor is at the heart of one of the boroughs seen as a test bed for Cameron's Conservatism What they said about Windsor ". . . think elegant swans, the Queen's residence and a top international school." First Great Western. "[The royal borough of] Windsor and Maidenhead have published every item of spending of £500 or more online. This will lead to lots of tough questions ....
Yesterday's Evening Standard accompanied this article with an inset headed "Revealed: Losers under new 60-minute travel rule" . I can't find the inset online, so I've scanned it in for you below. It continues: Under new rules, MPs living within an hour's commute by train from London will be barred from having a second home... there are likely to be just 12 MPs affected. The Standard has estimated...
The peculiar virtue of New Orleans, like St. Theresa, may be that of the Little Way, a talent for everyday life rather than the heroic deed.” – Walker Percy This quote from a 1968 Harper’s Magazine article by noted local author Walker Perc7y is one that New Orleans writers keep coming back to. I last saw it [...]
Changing organisational culture is uphill work. David Cameron is right to warn local parties that although things are much better than they were, they are still nowhere near good enough, and the appalled reaction to his proposal last week for all-women shortlists (AWS) suggests how far Tory culture still has to go to understand how discrimination works. Just look at the numbers. First, the past: if...
An article in the FT made a promising start: An incoming Conservative government "will not sign" contracts for the second wave of Labour's flagship programme to provide the unemployed with a modernised welfare-to-work service, says the shadow work and pensions secretary... But Theresa May said yesterday that an incoming Tory administration would want to replace the flexible new deal with...
I agreed with much of what David Cameron had to say about attracting a more diverse range of Conservative candidates. Much progress has been made in this direction, not just over the last three years, but over the last ten. The selection methods which were instituted under Iain Duncan Smith (while David Davis and Theresa May chaired the party) were crucial precursors to what has happened following...
This week's resolution - to blog more, rather than to put everything out on Twitter. So, I'm on train to London, ready for another week in Parliament and hoping it's better than last week. Tomorrow we have the Second Reading of the Constitutional Reform Bill (I could try to list what's in it here, but I shall be lazy and perhaps post the Hansard account later on). Today it's Conservative Opposition...
Daniel Finkelstein has an interesting analysis of possibly the most interesting line from this year's party conference season, the moment David Cameron got his representatives to their feet to applaud poverty reduction. He analyses it as a piece of rhetoric: “Excuse me? Who made the poorest poorer? Who left youth unemployment higher? Who made inequality greater? [There you go, a list, the applause...
Retirement pots could be raided under scheme to encourage savings culture Flexible pensions allowing Britons to raid retirement pots in times of financial need could be introduced under Tory plans to boost saving for old age. The idea follows David Cameron's pledge in his party conference speech last week that thrift should be "rewarded". It reflects concerns that many people are not building...
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