Looking back on the Great Train Wreck of 2013, some say it was ironic that a government that was formed to tackle a public finance crisis of one sort should have managed to create a quite different one of it’s own making. But of course it wasn’t just a public financial crisis, as public services plunged into chaos. Continue reading “The Great Train Wreck of Twenty-Thirteen”
Author: Prof. Colin R Talbot
Professor of Government (Emeritus), University of Manchester
Visiting Fellow, University of Cambridge Judge Business School
Double Dipping Pickles
One interesting little wrinkle in the “we are only cutting ‘spending power’ of local government by an average 4.4%”. Eric Pickles and the Coalition can only claim this because the local government ‘spending power’ figures appear to include £1bn of NHS money transferred to local government for social care. Continue reading “Double Dipping Pickles”
Localisation of the Bill
Today we have seen clearly what “localism” means for the Coalition government: localising the bill for the financial and economic crisis caused not by government – central or local – but by the banks. Continue reading “Localisation of the Bill”
Comment on PESA
The nice people at HM Treasury who produce the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses annual publication have asked for some feedback. They will have access to this site, so if you have any comments, questions or suggestions about PESA simply leave them here and they’ll be checking to see what you have said. Thanks in anticipation…
The policy is more about Universities than Students
The focus of debate around the proposed changes to universities funding and student fees has been much more on the latter than the former. But in reality the Coalition’s policies are much more focussed on universities and the student finance issues is more of a means to and end – the effective privatisation of universities and forcing financially-based competition between them. Continue reading “The policy is more about Universities than Students”
Report on Spending Review
The Treasury Select Committee has published its report on the Spending Review 2010. Please note especially the section on the SR process, which is highly relevant to the Assignment for BMAN 30171
What would it cost? (a retrospective graduate tax)
I have been asked what a retrospective tax would cost. Here’s my very guestimated answer. Continue reading “What would it cost? (a retrospective graduate tax)”
Time for a Retrospective Graduate Tax?
The escalating movement against cuts in higher education teaching funding, linked to potentially huge hikes in teaching fees to £9,000 a year, has taken most commentators by surprise. The scale of the protests, so quickly after policy was announced, is unusual and suggests a deep reaction is underway. Continue reading “Time for a Retrospective Graduate Tax?”
Welfare Reform: it’s the implementation, stupid
It has entered popular mythology that in the 1992 US Presidential election Bill Clinton’s adviser James Carville hung a notice over Clinton’s desk that said “it’s the economy, stupid”. (It didn’t quite happen like that, but it’s close enough.) Continue reading “Welfare Reform: it’s the implementation, stupid”
Coalition systems that replace PSAs etc.
The systems that the Coalition government is putting in place to replace the implementation-side of the Spending Reviews as they existed under New Labour are becoming clearer. Continue reading “Coalition systems that replace PSAs etc.”
Colin Talbot - my blog 