This is symptomatic of the current spin coming from our government.

The first line of the statement gives a big hint as to what we’re dealing with: “With the unprecedented levels of debt facing the country…”

This statement is simply not true.

But it is the justification for all that the government intends to do.

If we’re lucky it will just result in the decimation of vital public services. If we’re unlucky we’ll face a double-dip recession with the very real risk of a depression.

As Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner said, writing in the Independent; “A debt-to-GDP ratio of under 75 per cent, which is where it will peak, is manageable. In that context, the case for more cuts is weak. Appeasing the markets is like trying to reason with a crazy man; after Spain announced its cutbacks, the ratings agencies downgraded its debt because of lower growth prospects as a result of those cuts! You can’t win with markets. Better to follow the right policy: supporting growth through higher spending on public investment and infrastructure, which will help the economy grow faster in the long term.”

AFZ

For an alternative perspective, try this assessment in Saturday’s The Economist:

“on forecasts by the IMF in May, getting the public finances back on track is the toughest assignment facing any G20 country”
http://www.economist.com/node/16377180

“FROM the outset Britain’s new coalition government has said that its main task is to tackle the yawning fiscal deficit, which hit a peacetime record of 11.1% of GDP in 2009-10. It will set out its plans in an ‘emergency’ budget to be presented on June 22nd.”
http://www.economist.com/node/16377345

Why subsidise swimmers? Why are there arbitrary age limits that restrict access to the programme? If swimming is so healthy, why not encourage fatty forty and fifty year olds into the pool?

I accept that community health means that everyone needs opportunities to exercise. And this programme was ostensibly not particularly expensive — the quoted costs are central government money, I presume, and local authorities payed a further subsidy. We need to look at it as a whole, which the report does not provide.

The report defies usage of the English language; a table is headed “Estimated elements of additionality associated with the Free Swimming Programme”. Please tell me what that means.

But the root of this is that people who want to swim should be able to buy a reasonably priced season ticket. Without a special subsidy determined by age. Ideally without subsidy at all.

This is much the same as we saw when Boris became Mayor. He cut lots of social programmes to help the homeless on the grounds of “value for money” and actually completely ignore value for money issues while doing so. Several were very succesful and saving the public a fortune, but he cut them anyway.

It helps to build the impression of responsible tough decision making. And it works because the public don’t really care about those sorts of things and so don’t ever find out that it is costing them money.

The Treasury’s public sector finances databank published on 27 May clearly shows the main measures of public finance as percentage of GDP were for most of this decade not much different than the 1990s, in fact in some cases better. The Major government had a public sector borrowing requirement of more than 7 per cent, and he didn’t have to bail out the banking system.

The increase is on all measures from 2008-9, ie the onset of global recession. The ONS counts the bail outs of Northern Rock, HBOS, Lloyds as part of the debt as the government has controlling share. The UK level of debt is less than all the other G8 countries except Russia. see here for graphic http://www.visualeconomics.com/gdp-vs-national-debt-by-country/

It is an excuse for an assault on public services and shifting more of the burden of payment onto the mass of people to free up wealth for the CIty.

“It is an excuse for an assault on public services and shifting more of the burden of payment onto the mass of people to free up wealth for the CIty.”

Sadly, it’s more a chance to cut away some of the truly massive waste and inefficiencies in public spending as shown in the thread below here: Why raising taxes is the only progressive way to tackle the deficit.

The main trouble with the New Labour government is not that it was too “right-wing” or too “left-wing” but that it was much too incompetent. The fact is that good intentions in government are nowhere nearly enough. Ted Honderich was right about Blair:

“Honderich is also a consequentialist, which partly explains his hatred towards Tony Blair. ‘He is always asking to be judged by the morality of his intentions,’ he spits. ‘He doesn’t understand that no one cares about his fucking morality. We judge him by the consequences of his actions. In any case, his morality is so muddy and ill-considered, I’m increasingly coming to the opinion that Blair’s main problem is that he’s not very bright.’”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/mar/22/academicexperts.highereducationprofile

Before he retired, Ted Honderich was Grote Professor of Mind and Logic at UCL.

Labour-controlled Wigan MBC for example, already provided free swimming before a government grant was made available

The Labour-controlled parliament for example, already wasted billions on an illegal war in Iraq. So you can flush your “the coalition are eeeeevil for cutting some old people’s shit” down the toilet, along with your membership card.

This was the news reported in March 2010:

“[Brown] said the Iraq war had cost Britain £8bn and the total cost to the UK of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had been £18bn, on top of what he repeatedly stressed was an increasing defence budget.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8552593.stm

““[Brown] said the Iraq war had cost Britain £8bn and the total cost to the UK of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had been £18bn”

Why do you think Blair is getting all these millions for making shit speeches to corporate America?

They want to thank him for all that corporate welfare.

@9: “Why do you think Blair is getting all these millions for making shit speeches to corporate America?”

Try this:

“New testimony from former Halliburton workers and congressional auditors released in Washington, D.C., this week has revealed millions of dollars worth of wasteful practices, major over billing and virtually no oversight of the company’s work to support the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003.”
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11373

“In late May, Time Magazine obtained Pentagon emails which said Vice President Dick Cheney’s office coordinated the awarding of an Iraq contract to Halliburton, despite Cheney’s insistence that he had no influence whatsoever over contract decisions regarding Halliburton. In June, Rep. Henry Waxman’s office obtained even more documentation of the White House’s involvement in awarding lucrative Iraq contracts to Halliburton. To summarize, Cheney, the former Halliburton CEO, pushed for the Iraq war in his capacity as vice president, and then helped his former employer get some $9 billion in contracts to ‘reconstruct’ the country that had been destroyed in the war. Meanwhile, Cheney continues to be paid more than $150,000 annually by Halliburton.”
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/mideast/iraq/halliburton.html

“WASHINGTON, Sep 28, 2007 (IPS) – A U.S.-based private security firm received a contract worth up to 92 million dollars from the Department of Defence amid hard questions about its involvement in two separate violent incidents in Iraq.

“‘Blackwater has been a contractor in the past with the department and could certainly be in the future,’ said the U.S.’s top-ranking military officer, General Peter Pace, at an afternoon press conference here.”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39458

“KABUL, Afghanistan — Part of the company once known as Blackwater Worldwide has been awarded a more than $120 million contract to protect new U.S. consulates in the Afghan cities of Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday. The United States Training Center, a business unit of the former Blackwater, now called Xe Services, was awarded the contract Friday, embassy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2z6nc2-9vBlAbogU84n-zDdeyugD9GEFTVO0

Yes, but we can’t have welfare for poor people no sir.

See their lazy, and it encourages bad behaviour, Oh wait…………..

Here are more reasons for appreciation:

“WASHINGTON – At least $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds that was given to Iraqi ministries by the former U.S.-led authority there cannot be accounted for, according to a draft U.S. audit set for release soon.

“The audit by the Coalition Provisional Authority’s own inspector general blasts the CPA for “not providing adequate stewardship” of at least $8.8 billion from the Development Fund for Iraq that was given to Iraqi ministries.

“The audit was first reported on a Web site earlier this month by David Hackworth, a journalist and retired colonel. A U.S. official confirmed that the contents of the leaked audit cited by Hackworth were accurate. . .

“One of the main benefactors of the Iraq funds was the Texas-based firm Halliburton, which was paid more than $1 billion out of those funds to bring in fuel for Iraqi civilians.

“The monitoring board said despite repeated requests it had not been given access to U.S. audits of contracts held by Halliburton, which was once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, and other firms that used the development funds.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5763483/

“WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has lost track of 30% of the weapons transferred to Iraq from the United States, according to a government report newly published in the country.

“The Washington Post reported Monday morning that about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi forces in 2004 and 2005 were not accounted for, according to the report released by the Government Accountability Office.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3434115,00.html

Why stop at swimming? I don’t need street lights.

Can you swim in bullshit ?

@14

We seem to be.

By the way, I don’t use the M1 either. Why should I pay for it?