Monthly Archives: July 2009

Many of the early reports on the Walker Review suggested that banks were to be forced to publish the pay details of their top earners. In fact the review simply recommends that total remuneration of those paid over the executive board median … Continue reading →

Jon Ingham is a man for whom I have a lot of respect and his blog is one of my regular reads. This comment on the Walker Review is complete bollocks though: [F]inancial services HR departments are partly if not largely to … Continue reading →

Charlie McMenamin says that no-one should be allowed to pontificate about public spending cuts until they have read this article by former Revolutionary Communist Party organiser James Heartfield. Given that I intend to continue banging on about the public sector and the need for … Continue reading →

When the government published its Operational Efficiency Programme report the day before the budget, I expressed some doubt about the £9 billion a year savings it identified. It’s not that the opportunities to reduce costs are not there but that public sector organisations have, so far, shown little willingness … Continue reading →

Steve Bundred’s call for public sector pay freeze has provoked howls of outrage from public sector unions. Perhaps more serious, though, is the charge that such a measure would be  counterproductive. Will Hutton argues that the government needs to wait until the … Continue reading →

David Cameron has rejected Audit Commission boss Steve Bundred’s suggestion that a public sector pay freeze would go some way towards making badly needed public spending cuts. Instead he’s proposing to save money by cutting back on quangos. The Tories have been attacking Labour … Continue reading →

The Mirror’s Jason Beattie has been having some off-the-record conversations with civil servants. His piece in the Local Government Chronicle describes how Whitehall is preparing for a Tory victory next year. Despite the talk of public spending cuts, the general … Continue reading →

An honest debate about public spending came a step closer yesterday when Gordon Brown sort of admitted that he might have to make some cuts. He’s still saying that front-line services won’t be affected, though, which is almost certainly rubbish. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are … Continue reading →