The changed face of Britain.

Government is about the effective management of a Nation to survive change while setting standards that promote opportunity, wealth and healthy prosperity in the face of challenges to its existence. Stability on the other hand is about maintaining a level of control over ones survival in the same way that identity matters since the alternative is to follow paths set by others whom then set the standards. Government is also about defense, that of protecting both the people of the Nation and their associated assets, acquired through toil, intellect and their hard labour while Public Services represent meeting common needs such as transportation to get to work, medical care to remedy illness and Gov interface Offices to assist the needs of all in remedying situations. Economics is about producing (manufacturing) to which people welfare is an important factor too regarding unity as to Social activities/entertainment etc.

 

How well does the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Britain of today compare with yesterday?.

 

Through the opening-up of Trading markets via London and the deployment of digital cable into Stock Markets the race was on to privatise British Assets translating them into investment commodities as accountants took the seats of Industrialists. In chasing more profits industry moved abroad while shadows of them eventually closed behind on British soil. A benefit was that the Gov could now not be held to account by Unions over failure, workers low wages and unrest while becoming more and more dependant upon Tax from imported goods to fund new home projects. Failure after failure, indecision after indecision meant that much of what else failed too while methods to generate more revenue became important. The same meat clever began dissecting Public Services into fully or partial privatised zones installing regulators to distance the Gov from its responsibility ( ie: Railways etc). Such Services, although owned by taxpayers, became ruled by investor taxpayers not realising that as profits increased prices must too. Essentually Gov accountability became one of Investor accountability (shifting the focus and blame) and the more the profits the more the Gov profited too for spending on Public Services to evaporate unemployment figures. Such dependency on taxpayers “ever upward spending” hit the buffers however when Stock Market fraud closed cheque books besides which spending was destined to decrease at some stage given the debt mountain building as to people borrowing through their need to keep pace with product conveyor belts delivering new items

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Economically the theme has been one of “more and more for less” eventually forcing cut-backs whereby the employed become the unemployed on benefit books to which the Gov ( through income tax ) support. Through less consumer spending the Gov itself must now demonstrate savings while attempting to progress on-going projects to time scales. The catch 22 now is one of employment choice – to employ British workers on high salaries or offshore workers in the savings equation calling for £50Billion by 2020. According to the Director of transformational Gov for the cabinet office sending some areas of tech work abroad could result in cheaper and better-quality IT Services – this representing a smack in the face by a Gov whose paymasters are becoming unemployed.

 

Historically the Gov is well acquainted with rebranding businesses and departments inclusive of playing musical chairs through cabinet reshuffles to  shake off accountability but does it, the Gov, really know who owns what now on British Soil given buy-outs, mergers and take-overs by large institutions where the “trading name” may remain the same?. Its already demonstrated its ignorance as to the Banking system and so one must assume that much of Britain is controlled offshore – especially so when a portfolio of Mortgages crosses the Atlantic in exchange for British debt.

 

Spending needs to resume however will stagnation continue as before while legal goal posts are continually subject to change thereby criminalising a Nation for the extraction of their DNA and fingerprints onto Gov Databases – all while fines reduce Gov Public spending?.

 

Things need to change but is the UK alone in being exploiter/exploited?

 

DEFENCE / IT / Computers / Terrorism / Attacks / Systems / People / Gov Identity theft & losses

 

05 12 2008 £250,000,000 funding to train Scientists and Engineers. The money will create 44 training centres across the UK and produce 2,000 PhD Students while working on solutions to problems such as Climate Change, energy issues, our ageing population and high tech crime. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced the funding. At the Security Science centre at University College London, students will learn how to combat terrorism by developing new technologies, studying human behaviour and exploring how organisations can be vulnerable to both cyber and physical threats. The University of Reading will work on……; At Cambridge University Students will work on…………..;

03 02 2009 Nato's cyber defence warriors. Nato officials have told the BBC their computers are under constant attack from organisations and individuals bent on trying to hack into their secrets.

09 04 2009 Spies 'infiltrate US power grid'. The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.

29 05 2009 US launches cyber security plan. US President Barack Obama has announced plans for securing American computer networks against cyber attacks. He said that from now on, America's digital infrastructure would be treated as a strategic national asset.

25 06 2009 UK launches cyber security plan. The Office of Cyber Security (OCS), dedicated to protecting Britain's IT infrastructure, will be created in line with a model proposed - and in part practised by - the US, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday. The OCS will launch with a staff of 16 to 20, while the CSOC in Cheltenham will have 20 to 25. "We will start small and learn from initial US attempts

 

 

Indirect tax payer expenditure / Gov spending / Bonuses / MP expenses / degradation of Public services / cut-backs

 

06 12 2007 Civil servants - bonus pay worth £39,000,000 to staff

07 03 2008 HMRC bonuses - unjustified' say MPs. The Treasury Select Committee found that senior managers at HMRC received an average bonus of £7,727 in 2006/07, up three-fifths on the previous year. The total pot was £18.9 million - and that rose again to £23 million in 2007/08.

19 03 2008 Moves to stop MPs voting on their own pay and pensions.

06 07 2008 Civil Service bonuses under fire.The Tories have accused the Government of running a "something for nothing" culture after it was revealed that civil servants banked more than £128,000,000 in bonuses during the last financial year. Bonus departments included: Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Home Office and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra); Ministry of Defence [ 2007/08 £41,300,000 ]; Department for Work and Pensions (& Child Support Agency); Colleagues at the Treasury racked up £21.7 million. "With Government failing on so many fronts, this looks like a 'something for nothing' culture.". News: 06 12 2007 Civil servants - bonus pay worth £39,000,000 to staff.

24 10 2008 Government agency - Sats fiasco - awarded thousands of pounds in bonuses. The National Assessment Agency (NAA), a division of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) which appointed private contractor ETS Europe to carry out the process, are to receive the payouts, which are linked to performance. ETS failed to get the papers marked on time while scripts went missing or to the wrong place.  Bonuses were worth some 5.5% of their salary. A QCA spokesman said: "…….more generally, all bonus payments are linked to the meeting of specific performance objectives set for each individual …….”

30 03 2009 Around 2,500 top "fat cat” Council bosses to reveal their perks and pay. Local government minister John Healey wants to change disclosure rules requiring councils to set out the full details for around 2,500 top posts. The changes would force councils to reveal the salaries, bonuses, pensions and redundancy pay-offs of their highest earners in their annual reports. Extras such as private cars, chauffeurs and accommodation would be made public as well. He said top salaries had been rising faster than the rest of local government and accused some councils of "swapping managers like premiership football clubs". Last month it emerged that around 20 council chiefs earn more than the Prime Minister.  The heads of Newham and Wandsworth council in London are paid more than £240,000 a year, compared to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's salary of £194,250.

24 06 2009 CUT in Public Services Spending of £50,000,000,000 by 2020. According to the Transformational Government Director the sending of IT work abroad could result in cheaper and better quality Services. The Ministry of Justice suggest that more work offshore could be beneficial including application development such as an offender case management system for prisons [C-Nomis]. There exists some Gov Depts taking development offshore while a report looms into just how much Public Sector work should be offshored by the cross-Gov strategic Supply Board. It is suggested that Increases to offshoring could help meet targets as set out by the Operational Efficiency Programme(OEP) in saving £7.2Billion per year on its IT and back office systems. More than 100 NHS trusts already offshore some 60% of their back office work as more trusts sign up to meet Gov targets.

03 11 2005 ID CARDS – Labours Plastic Poll Tax: Home Office maintains - cost to taxpayers will be just £5,800,000,000 over 10 years. Initially the London School of Economics (LSE) claimed the costs would be up to £19,000,000,000 however the LSE has since revised its estimates to almost £30,000,000,000 and that could rocket by another £5-10bn. Initially the assumption was that the Gov Dept users would be the Home Office [HO], the UK Passport Service and the Department for Work and Pensions however the HO has revealed that 265 Gov Dept and bodies are to utilise the ID cards meaning that all IT database systems need to change to include an ID Card Number alongside OLD Indexing numbers. 

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14 03 2008 MPs angry as spending list exposed. MPs were furious and bewildered after the shopping list of furnishings they can buy on expenses for their second home was revealed to the public.

24 05 2008 Blair's bills woe revealed. Of 450 documents released under freedom of information laws Mr Blair was sent reminders to pay water and gas bills and warning bailiffs could be sent in. Almost £15,000 of taxpayers' money went on doing up kitchens for Blair and Brown.

02 12 2008 Jobless face losing benefits. The unemployed could get their benefits stopped for up to four weeks if they repeatedly refuse to co-operate with attempts to find them work. Ministers are desperate to end the "something for nothing" welfare culture

16 01 2009 MPs condemned as disgraceful over expenses move. MPs were branded "disgraceful" after launching  another bid to avoid publishing details of their generous expenses. Commons Leader Harriet Harman proposes Parliament will get key exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act.

26 01 2009 PEERS – cash to change legislation. An undercover investigation by Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists resulted in allegations that the peers asked for as much as £120,000 to help secure amendments to a Government bill on behalf of a business client.

01 04 2009 MP's want £800K to bail out their pensions. Taxpayers are set to be hit with an £800,000-a-year bill to top up MPs' pensions, it was revealed yesterday.
31 05 2009 MP – submits claim for £5 church donation!. 18 06 2009 Commons publishes MP expenses. Official details of MPs' expense claims have finally been released by the House of Commons authorities, more than a year after the High Court ordered their publication. Commons authorities gave up a £100,000 legal bid to keep them secret.

19 06 2009 MPs repay almost £500,000 in expenses. MPs pay back money to quell voters' anger. House of Commons continues to be accused of a cover up after the official release of MPs expenses was heavily censored.

01 07 2009 On this date Mr Brown expects others to declare outside employment interests  

 

20 02 2008 Northern Rock- new £90,000-a-month executive chairman

22 04 2008 RBS- £4,200,000 pay package last year included a £2,900,000 bonus

21 07 2008 Report by MP’s - Train boss bonuses 'extraordinary. Rail bosses to get huge bonuses after passengers had been "humiliated and inconvenienced" by three major engineering overruns at the new year. The Network Rail (NR) overruns, including one on the busy West Coast Main Line, had "laid bare an entire catalogue of management failings for all to see", the House of Commons Transport Committee added. NR's top three directors are to get annual bonuses in excess of £200,000 each, with chief executive Iain Coucher receiving £305,000.

03 01 2009 Tax payer funded NHS Agency worker Rates. Anaesthetist £187.50/hr [£365,625/year] ; A&E Doctor £167.13/hr; Prison GP £157.50/hr; Nurse £127.55/hr. Also revealed were the cuts charged by agencies for sourcing workers. The Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, for example, paid agency fees of up to £50 per hour, per nurse - almost £100,000 a year.

03 02 2009 BP reveals profits boost. BP announced its annual profits jumped 39% to 25.6 billion US dollars ( £18,100,000,000 ) as last year's soaring oil prices fuelled results. But BP's profits - alongside rival Royal Dutch Shell's European record of £22 billion in profit last week - leaves the duo with a combined £40,000,000,000 from 2008. BP shed 3,000 staff in 2008 and expects to axe more than the 5,000 posts originally planned by the middle of this year.

 

Direct tax payer expenditure/ rising prises / VAT to the Gov on spending

 

13 03 2008 Morrisons profits rise by 66% to £612,000,00015 04 2008 Tesco rings up annual profits of £2,850,000,000,000 (?)

21 02 2008 British Gas reveals profits rocketed to around £576,000,000

02 02 2008 Scottish Power electricity prices rise by 14%, with gas prices up by 15%.

25 02 2008 National Grid fined £41,600,000 for depriving gas suppliers and customers access to lower prices

04 01 2007 Npower tariff rises 17.2% for gas and 12.7% for electricity

Gas prices will vary regionally for the first time to reflect gas transportation costs.  Is this a drive to force homeowners to relocate nearer to energy sources?. Perhaps next electric will be charged by the discharge length along cables!.

24 02 2008 Stamp duty soars by more than 60 per cent in five years, new figures show.

 

 

 

Dependancy to spend / Red tape / EU / regulations

 

14 02 2008 Grocery ombudsman plan criticised. Retailers including the UK's biggest supermarket chain have criticised the proposed creation of an independent ombudsman for the grocery sector. Tesco warned it could increase red tape and prevent retailers working flexibly with their suppliers. But farmers who describe a "culture of fear" in the food supply chain welcomed the Competition Commission's recommendation. The Commission also wants to stop the practice of supermarkets using banks of land to prevent rival chains opening up new stores nearby

01 01 2009 UK Farmers – Producing LESS.  Red tape, bad weather and the "ruthless methods" of retailers could contribute to plummeting farm production in the UK in 2009, National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall warned. The credit crunch is making it hard for farmers to finance growing crops and rearing livestock in the face of increases in costs such as animal feed and fertiliser and the investment needed to meet new regulations.

 

………………………………………………………. Continuance