Monthly Archives: July 2013

Media reactions to the OBR’s Fiscal Sustainability Report were ‘gibberish’ says Ben Chu. Yes, he says, we would need spending cuts or tax rises of £19bn after 2018 to get the public debt down to 40 percent of GDP in … Continue reading →

Britain’s ageing population made the headlines earlier this week when the Office for Budget Responsibility published its Fiscal Sustainability Report. The combined effects of increased healthcare needs, pension provision and fewer young taxpayers will, said the OBR, bring about an … Continue reading →

Britain needs more babies, said Charles Moore, after reading Stephen D. King’s When The Money Runs Out. By failing to reproduce themselves in adequate numbers, the baby boomers have laid enormous burdens on those few children whom they have produced. … Continue reading →

Here’s an interesting table I came across the other day while I was looking for something else. Buried in the IMF’s recent report Fiscal Adjustment in an Uncertain World is a comparison of the size and impact of bank bailouts in … Continue reading →

This time last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that the NHS would need an extra £20bn a year by 2020. A year later and NHS England is warning that the service will need an extra £30bn a year … Continue reading →

After I posted my ditty last week (composed while on the cross-trainer thingy in the gym), Stephen Tovey pointed out that zero hours contracts can work well for both employer and employee. He’s right, of course. I’ll let you into … Continue reading →

When I was a lad, back in the last century, I once found myself at a party where hardly anyone turned up. I don’t know if it was because the bloke who organised it had over-estimated his charismatic attraction or … Continue reading →

Return Your Contract Got a letter one morning, ‘This job’s for you’. The HR man called me, ‘Here’s what you do’. He told me just to: Return your contract, Hours unknown. We’ve got your number, Wait by the phone. No-one’s … Continue reading →

It’s clear now that the government will come nowhere near to meeting the fiscal targets it set three years ago. The projections have fallen short on every front. GDP is 5.2% less than the OBR forecast in 2010, the hoped-for … Continue reading →

Anyone who has worked in Comp & Ben must surely have some sympathy with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. You know how these things go. You are given your brief, you define and agree your criteria, you go off and do … Continue reading →