JG's blog

No prizes for guessing what the papers are full of today.  The slow motion car crash that has been in the making for many, many months now has finally made impact - though not entirely in the manner predicted nor has the crashing car come to halt yet.  Yesterday the Home Improvement Packs (HIPs) fiasco finally came to a head.  The watered down, un-necessary, unwanted scheme that has been doomed to fail from the start has failed before they even started!  As reported yesterday, the scheme has been put back by two months until the start of August.  They have also been watered down even furthe

Blair Force One is ready for launch. In fact, both of them are. Our outgoing PM has finally sanctioned the purchase of over £100m worth of aircrafts so that his best buddy Gordon and the Queen don't have to mix with the hoi polloi when doing "business" all over the globe. So much for global warming (though it has long been Government policy to exclude aviation from the environment debate - another runway at Heathrow anyone?).

As the Blair era comes to and end, there is and has already been much reflection on the past 10 years. Reform was always at the top of the New Labour agenda way back when before 1997. It was greeted with cheers and provided hope to the masses. Unfortunately, the reality is where New Labour say reform read unwanted, poorly thought out, unneeded meddling.

The government's policy on reforming the housing market was thrown into disarray last night as the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, was forced into a last-minute retreat over the controversial introduction of home information packs. The packs, which were due to come into force next week to accompany every property sale, have been postponed until August 1 and at first will be introduced only for four-bedroom or larger houses - less than 20% of the market.

It is being reported on the BBC that the introduction of the Home Improvement Packs will be delayed. DCLG Secretary, Ruth Kelly, is expected to make an annoucement... more later...

UPDATE:  The introduction of HIPs has been put back 2 months and they will now be introduced on 1st August.

Metronet, the consortium who are currently cocking up the upgrade of much of the London Underground system, are looking to take £600m of public money to cover their over-running costs.  The extremely complicated PPP contract that was signed to last 30 years has so far cost Metronet £1.2bn in overspend.  Mayor Ken Livingston has always been a strong opponent of the deal and has publicly stated that they will not receive a penny if he has anything to do with it.  And good for him.  Balfour Beatty, Bombardier, Thames Water, EDF Energy and Atkins - you signed this contract and you probably thou

What exactly is the point in the tax credit system?  It seems to me just a way of confusing the tax system as much as possible so that people are so baffled they mess up their claims for what is rightfully, under the system, theirs.  The system is also so complex that it makes it much more viable to fraud and also costs an unnecessary amount of money to administrate.  There is little doubt that the scheme is haemorrhaging money due to fraud and admin - the Lib Dems claim that it has cost more than an incredible £9bn in its first three years - 50% more than previous estimates.  Revenue &

The department described by outgoing Secretary of State John Reid as "not fit for purpose" is paying out £3.6m in bonuses to its staff. The Home Office, which has recently been split up as it could not cope with the work load, feel one in five of its civil servants deserves a bonus of up to £15k. This despite scandals such as the release of 1000 foreign criminals who should have been deported. This is a massive 75% increase since 2002, begging the questions - have things really got better (75% better!) since 2002? What exactly are these people being rewarded for?

The government's tax credit scheme was branded "a shambles" yesterday after it was alleged that the cost of fraud and poor administration was likely to be more than £9bn in its first three years - 50% more than previous estimates.

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2085124,00.html

Government moves to liberalise the planning system, from domestic conservatories to nuclear power stations, were hailed by business leaders and excoriated by environmentalists last night.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/communities/story/0,,2085174,00.html

Twenty top civil servants in the Home Office have been given top of the range iPods to provide them with lessons in leadership. In a pilot scheme the department has spent almost £9,000 on the gadgets as part of a “constant” way of finding new means to give staff training. Home Office officials were last night bracing themselves for a barrage of criticism over the purchase which was described by one source as “a wacky idea”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1821555.ece

The first high profile casualty of the NHS online recruitment fiasco has hit.  The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, has resigned after he was accused of being too close to the Government on the issue.  Mr Johnson, speaking to the Guardian, said "I appear to have lost the confidence of my council largely over a letter ... expressing some support for the chief medical officer, who is being blamed for what has happened.