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Thanks Recession 2009

Protesters set for London march against spending cuts

A number of smaller anti-cuts demonstrations have taken place in the last few months

 

People from across the country are converging on London for a march in protest at the coalition government’s spending cuts.

The Trades Union Congress predicts more than 100,000 people will join the march, to be policed by 4,500 police.

The TUC said it was deploying more than 1,000 stewards to ensure the event remained “family friendly”.

Ministers say the cuts are necessary to fix the public finances and critics must come up with an alternative.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said those taking part in the March for the Alternative will include community groups, pensioners and public sector workers.

He said they were urging the government to spend more public money – not less – on projects to create jobs and boost the economy, and to crack down on tax evasion and avoidance in order to claw back more for the Treasury.

‘Mainstream voices’

The largest union involved, Unite, said so many of its members wanted to take part that it could not find enough coaches or trains to ferry them to London.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey claimed the response showed that the public anger against the spending cuts was now palpable.

Andrew Burgin, secretary for campaign group Coalition of Resistance, said he thought it would be a “massive demonstration”.

End Quote Met Police commander Bob Broadhurst

More than 600 coaches are due to take people to London on Saturday morning, with marchers planning to assemble from 1100 GMT on Victoria Embankment and Lower Thames Street.

They will then walk to Hyde Park for a rally from 1330 GMT where speakers will include Labour leader Ed Miliband.

He said on Friday that “the voices of the mainstream majority” would be making themselves heard.

“I think the government will be making a great mistake if they somehow dismiss all of the people on that march as troublemakers, or just ‘the same old people’. They are not,” he added.

Conservatives say Mr Miliband has no right to attend because Labour has not put forward a credible economic plan.

There are some concerns about disorder at the event, and a number of groups have been using the internet to call for the occupation of buildings in the West End.

Many of those taking part in Saturday’s march are expected to be students

The Metropolitan Police said it planned to station officers at certain sites thought likely be at risk, such as the Treasury and the entrance to Downing Street.

It has also written to businesses asking them to step up their security and to clear away any loose equipment such as ladders and dustbins that could be used as weapons.

But police preparations have been criticised by former Met assistant commissioner Andy Hayman.

Writing on the website of the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, he said there was “strong intelligence” that “extremist groups” were planning to cause trouble, and officers should be “more intrusive and active” to try to prevent it.

But the TUC hit back, insisting that months of planning and close co-operation with the police would ensure the march would be peaceful.

The TUC is urging people not to join feeder marches and to stagger their arrival and departure times.

Both the police and the TUC will be sending information and advice to protesters during the march via Twitter.

‘Kettling’ concerns

In a report published on Friday, Parliament’s Joint Human Rights Committee praised the Met and the TUC for their close liaison.

But it said it was concerned about the possible use of containment – or “kettling” – on peaceful demonstrators, and expressed surprise that neither the police nor the organisers had raised issues around the technique in their planning.

The Met will for the first time allow observers from human rights group Liberty into its control room for the event.

Met Police commander Bob Broadhurst said he hoped for a peaceful demonstration, but added: “We might end up in some form of containment. We would hope we can keep that for as few people as possible and for as little time as possible.”

Sourced from The BBC

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The emergency meeting of the British Medical Association (BMA) comes amid grassroots anger about the plans which could see increased competition.

BMA leader Dr Hamish Meldrum said doctors were worried about the “very dangerous” plans.

The Department of Health said it wanted to “work closely” with the union and was committed to the future of the NHS.

‘More pressure’

The union fears increased competition from the private sector could harm hospitals, perhaps even forcing some to close.

Dr Meldrum said he would prefer to see the NHS as the preferred provider instead of having a level playing field with the big health companies.

Ahead of the meeting, he told the BBC it was now time to be “ratcheting up” the concerns.

He said this had not been done before as the full details only recently emerged when the government published the Health Bill earlier this year.

Click to play

BMA leader, Dr Hamish Meldrum: NHS reform is ‘very dangerous’

“We want to put more pressure on the government to change what are flawed and very risky proposals for the NHS,” he said.

The meeting comes after Liberal Democrat delegates rejected the plans at the party’s spring conference last weekend.

Members voted not to support a “damaging and unjustified” shake-up, which will see GPs get control of much of the NHS budget along with the scrapping of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “We are absolutely committed to the future of the NHS.

“We hope to continue to work closely with the BMA and all other health professionals to cut bureaucracy and give doctors the power and freedom to make the service more responsive to patient needs.”

Sourced from The BBC

David Cameron speaks on welfare reform at Toynbee Hall in east London Photograph: Lewis Whyld/AP

The proposals came in the government’s welfare bill published on Thursday and were hailed by David Cameron as “tough, radical … but fair”.

Read full BBC article

Middle East Pages

You all know about shopping around for the best gas and electricity deals, and you know you should keep an eye on your savings rates to make sure you are not being take advantage of by your bank or building society. So we have delved a bit deeper to find you some new ways to protect and improve your finances in the new year.

■ Go on a VAT-free diet. Most food is free from VAT, but you do pay on some common groceries including most confectionery, drink and snack items which will all be hit when the rate goes up from 17.5% to 20% on 4 January. So what purchases to avoid on the supermarket run? Weird discrepancies in which foods do, and don’t, qualify for VAT mean you’ll be better off buying, for example, chocolate chip cookies or bourbons instead of chocolate-coated biscuits; unshelled salted nuts instead of shelled salted nuts; cakes, Jaffa Cakes and toffee apples instead of sweets, cereal bars and sweetened popcorn; tortilla or corn chips instead of potato crisps; and baked Alaska, mousse and cream gateaux instead of Arctic Roll, ice cream or ice lollies. Or you could just go on a proper diet and not eat any of this junk.

■ If you are buying a mobile phone for your children for Christmas make sure it’s one that warns you if the user is about to exceed the inclusive minutes, download amounts and texts.

Countless readers with teenage children have contacted The Observer about their mobile-happy offspring running up huge bills that the parents are obliged to pay. Ernest Doku, communications expert at uSwitch.com, recommends mobile contracts from Tesco, which flashes up a warning message every time you text or call when the contracted usage is about to be exceeded, and then cuts of the service once the agreed usage is reached.

Alternatively, he says pay-as-you-go deals are getting more competitive with special add-ons and offers: the Orange Monkey tariff, for example, provides 25 free texts and free music if you top up by £5, and 300 free texts and free music service if you top up by £10.

■ Raise some cash by selling the Christmas presents you really don’t want. Classified sales website Gumtree says 600 gifts had been listed on the site by 28 December last year, including iPods, Nintendo DSs, perfume and hair straighteners. It’s a bit cold to be doing car boot sales, but you could try shifting unwanted gifts on eBay or Gumtree (try Freecycle if you really want rid and no one will pay decent money for the item).

■ Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to lose their jobs this year. The government has already cut the help available to homeowners in these circumstances, so make sure you can still pay your mortgage by taking out payment protection insurance. It is notorious for not paying out, so make sure you get a decent policy by consulting a qualified broker (you can find one on the BIBA website), and if the cost is ferociously high, remember you can cancel once the economic uncertainty has passed.

■ If this is the year you decide to ditch your car and join a car club watch out for the standard excesses on the insurance they sell, and the level of cover you if you buy their excess cover. The standard excess for CityCar and Zipcar is £500, while Streetcar has set the level at a swingeing £750. You can buy from the car clubs, but you either get hammered on the cost, or the cover: Streetcar charges £179 and covers the entire excess; CityCar charges £60 and covers £400 of the excess; while Zipcar charges £40 and covers just £250 of the excess. You can get excess cover for less – iCarhireinsurance.com charges £39.99 and covers the entire excess.

■ 2010 was a horrible year for travellers. Airline and airport strikes, erupting volcanos, and sharks made life miserable for millions, but most of all for those with no, or low-cost, travel insurance.

As in most things, you get what you pay for in travel insurance. In 2011 make sure your policy includes cover for delays, air space closure and missed connections. Check it covers specific activities that you are intending to do on holiday – some even cover the cost of pre-booked activities, which might have helped would-be divers in Sharm el-Sheik. If you suffer a “pre-existing” medical condition that would normally lead to a travel insurer declining you cover, try specialist insurers such as P J Hayman, or its insurance partner Age UK.

■ Review your gym membership. Most gyms charge £40 plus and, in central London, you can expect to pay around £70 a month. But there are better deals to be had: recent start-up The Gym Group, for example, charges just £15.99 a month, or £16.99 if you want access to all its 10 branches (with four more opening in the spring), with no contract to tie you in.

■ Employees who have to switch jobs several times during their careers can easily lose track of their various pensions, particularly if they have moved home or a former employer closes down or merges with another company.

The Pension Tracing Service helps individuals find occupational and personal pensions through a database containing details of more than 200,000 pension schemes. Find out if the service can help you by visiting www.direct.gov.uk/pensions or calling 0845 600 2537 (textphone 0845 300 0169).

■ Help your elderly relatives or neighbours check whether they might be entitled to pension credit. As many as 1.6 million who would qualify are not claiming the benefit, according to the Department of Work and Pensions. Check out the options and entitlement on the Directgov website. The average weekly award is £57 – it could make a big difference.

■ Spread your Christmas shopping over several months, if not the whole year, rather than leaving all your shopping until the last few days. Not only will it help you budget better, if you take more time over the process you stand a fighting chance of choosing gifts that your nearest and dearest actually want.

Research by Western Union indicates that 36m unwanted presents will be given this Christmas because 10.9 million people will end up panic buying at the last minute. Western Union, surprise, surprise, suggests that cash makes the most practical gift.

Sourced from the Guardian Newspaper.

Make sure you visit back soon.

The latest news on Council Cuts

1. Learn to cook your own food: Now I know this may sound daunting, and I know everyone things cooking takes hours. Simple look in a cook book or even better on the internet and cook nice simple food. Pasta (buy dried or fresh) is always a good starting point. Preparing food in larger quantities saves money in the long run. You’ll have to spend a day or two cooking for the month, but you’ll save both money and time over the course of the month by having all your meal prepared and frozen.

2. Write a shopping list: Monthly food shopping forms a significant part of the a house holds outgoing. Write a shopping list prior to shopping – also very importantly NEVER shop when you are hungry. Always plan your weekly meals and most importantly look at what you are buying, don’t think that the 2 for 1 is cheaper, the individual KG or 100g prices could be significantly more.

3. Use a market: Not only can you buy much healthier food, but it is also much cheaper. The cost of most fruit and veg in the supermarket starts from £1.50 but at your local market get a whole bowl of fruit or veg for only £1. Also don’t forget you are also supporting a smaller local company.

4. Consider own  bran products: If you don’t have access to a market, buy supermarket own brand food. Tin tomatoes cost 33p across all supermarkets.

5. Set up a direct debit : Set up direct debts for all your bills and other out goings to avoid charges.

6. Use Skype or other internet service: The best choice for long distance calls with family and friends. The quality is amazing, it’s like they’re in the next room. Also with Skype  you can text each other instantly over the net.

7. Don’t play the lottery:  Your chance of winning is extremely small. Save that money.

8. Never impulse buy: If you see something you like – wait a couple of weeks, if your want it or even remember it then maybe reconsider buying it.

9. Cut down your drinking: A few beers after work a few nights a week is a financially debilitating state of affairs. Set limits and stick to them or buy a beer making kit and make it at home.

10. Wear more layers: In cool or cold seasons keep thermostat 68 or lower and wear more layers in the house to save on heating bills.

LONDON (Reuters) – The nation’s middle classes are not prepared for a wave of planned public spending cuts and this will cause political difficulties for the ruling coalition, a senior government minister said on Saturday.

The alliance of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats wants to shrink state spending by more than 80 billion pounds over four years to tackle a record budget deficit.

Financial markets are on watch for pressures that could weaken the 8-month-old coalition and put the deficit reduction plan in jeopardy.

“One reason we’re going to get some political difficulty is that (while) the public knows we’ve got to do something about it, I don’t think Middle England has quite taken on board the scale of the problem,” justice minister Ken Clarke told the Daily Telegraph.

“That will emerge as the cuts start coming home this year. We’ve got to get on with it (but) it’s going to be very difficult. If someone says it’s not as bad as all that, I say (they) just don’t realise the calamitous position we’re in.”

Clarke, a plain-speaking Conservative party veteran, served as finance minister in the mid-1990s.

Earlier this week Liberal Democrat leaders of 17 local councils and scores of councillors said the speed and scale of Britain’s spending cuts risked damaging the economy and public services.

Data showing the economy shrank at the end of last year has put the coalition’s deficit reduction strategy under close scrutiny.

Labour party says the government should change its cuts plan and instead boost growth and jobs.

Sourced from Reuters

In David Cameron we have a leader whose job is to quietly legitimise a semi-criminal, money-laundering economy