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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS BULLETIN... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TWIGG... breaks off his Adam Smith Lecture commitment BRIEFINGS: with Shakespeare, Davis, Barber, Bell and more REPORTS: on Higgs, the Beeb, research Councils, and schools PROJECTS: on prisons and probation, and the future of energy policy GROAN-INDUCING STATISTICS: more dismally distressing data BUT FIRST... This year, the UK government will spend 456 billion pounds. And a billion is a big number: - a billion seconds ago, Tony Blair was only six; - a billion minutes ago, Jesus was still alive; - a billion hours ago, Homo Sapiens was still evolving; but - a billion pounds ago was only 19 hours and 12 minutes, given the rate at which the government spends it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TWIGG BREAKS OFF --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two weeks to go to the Adam Smith lecture, and the office of Schools Minister Stephen Twigg find that he has to be in a week-long conference overseas. Humm. And these guys are supposed to be running 23,500 schools? No other minister is available at such short notice, of course. So with much regret (plus considerable inconvenience and two-and-a-half grand in costs) we have to cancel our May 13 event. Sorry to those of you who had signed up. Still, you'll be glad to know we're going to send the DfES a bill. Mind you, I don't suppose they'll cough up, and if it takes the money as long to reach us as it does to reach the schools, it'll be a long wait. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMING UP: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- POWER LUNCHES: Here's a selection of some of the guests we have coming in over the next few weeks. Contact Steve on events@adamsmith.org for info. - STEPHAN SHAKESPEARE, head of online polling agency YouGov, 8 May - KELVIN MCKENZIE, controversial broadcaster, 15 May - DAVID DAVIS MP, high-profile Tory frontbencher, 20 May - STEPHEN NORRIS, London Mayoral hopeful, 22 May - PROFESSOR MICHAEL BARBER, head of Downing Street's Delivery Unit, 28 May - LORD POWELL, former Downing Street Foreign Policy adviser 17 June - ANN OWERS, chief inspector of prisons, 9 July - DAVID BELL, head of schools regulator OFSTED,16 July - MARK MARDELL, BBC Westminster correspondent, 22 July NEXT GENERATION: Hard luck...you've just missed the May meeting of our under-30s movers and shakers. But they meet again on Tuesday 3 June, which just happens to be Adam Smith's birthday (and the day after Tax Freedom Day). Contact events@adamsmith.org for information and invites. WESTMINSTER BREAKFAST BRIEFINGS. With LCS International Consulting and Standard Life Healthcare, we're doing a series of breakfast briefings in the Palace of Westminster on health issues for businesspeople, health experts, and MPs. The first, on consultants' contracts, is on 2 June. Places are like gold dust, obviously, but try grovelling to project leader Matthew Young: asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- REPORTS: More on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/publications/home.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IS RENEWABLE ENERGY JUST HOT AIR? Chris Lambert and Eamonn Butler think it probably is. See their Comment article on the front page of: http://www.adamsmith.org PUBLICATIONS: With Iraq slipping down the news pages, we're resuming our publishing schedule, with four important reports coming soon: - THE BEEB. Media entrepreneur EBEN WILSON on why the BBC monopoly should be ended and what to replace it with; - RESEARCH COUNCILS. London Business School prof TIM AMBLER on why the UK's research councils are a waste of money, and what to do with them; - SCHOOLS. Education expert PROFESSOR JAMES TOOLEY on how to bring genuine choice, performance, parental accountability and value into state education; - BOARDROOM RULES. Corporate policy guru ELAINE STERNBERG on why industry should stop worrying about Higgs and learn to love its shareholders. Other topics in progress include MOTORWAYS (tolls, privatization, high-tech stuff), RAILWAYS (time to convert some into bus lanes?) PARTNERSHIP (giving same-sex couples contractual legal rights), and TRANSPORT (deregulation, naturally). And more. Contact butler@adamsmith.org for more info. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROJECTS: More on http://www.adamsmith.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRISONS, REHAB, PROBATION. It's time to bring in more private and voluntary bodies to help keep young offenders out of jail, and our 'Full Stop' project explores how to do it. For information -- or if you would like to support or participate in the work -- contact the project co-ordinator Chris Lambert: ASI@chrislambert.org ENERGY POLICY. Can wind and waves ever make up the gap caused by closing nuclear stations? What to do with waste? Is Hydrogen a runner? The government obviously hasn't the faintest idea, so we're going to tell them the answers. Contact the project co-ordinator Chris Lambert for information: ASI@chrislambert.org FUTURE STUFF. And we're looking at lots of other topics, including the future of PFI and PPPs, the value of pharmaceuticals (deregulating and ending the monopsony) and all sorts of good stuff. For info, contact: asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAX FREEDOM DAY. Don't forget, Tax Freedom Day falls on 2 June (if you can believe the Treasury's figures). You can send friends a TFD e-card by zipping over to our splendid website and downloading one. http://www.taxfreedomday.co.uk/ AIRPORTS. In December we plan a one-day inquiry into UK airports policy, in the City of London. For information and invitations, contact Matthew Young: asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GROAN-INDUCING INFORMATION: lifted from http://www.epolitix.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - France, facing 220 legal actions for failing to comply with single-market rules, is the EU's top law-breaker. - The government's running costs soared by a third last year. Central government administration is at its highest level for 18 years. - Local authorities are over a billion pounds short of funds to maintain roads. There's enough money to resurface the roads only once in 76 years. - A record 620,000 now go to independent schools. So much for the public's faith in state education. - Council tax has nearly doubled in 10 years, says the Halifax. The average tax on a Band D property is now 1,102 pounds. - Over a third of student nurses are being left alone in charge of wards, according to the Royal College of Nursing. - The Parliamentary Ombudsman says that the Education Department was guilty of 'serious maladministration' in running the learning accounts scheme. - Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett has stopped funding for a scientist whose research on BSE undermines government policy. Meanwhile, Alastair Darling is reported to be thinking of winding up the Commission on Integrated Transport, which is critical of his department's policy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AS ADAM HAD IT... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct. The whole, or almost the whole public revenue, is in most countries employed in maintaining unproductive hands... Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book II, Chapter III. Find the whole text of the Wealth of Nations on our website, at: http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/tms-intro.htm e -- Dr Eamonn Butler Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BL, UK E-mail butler@adamsmith.org - Visit us online at www.adamsmith.org Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995 - Fax +44 (0)20 7222 7544 To unsubscribe, visit www.adamsmith.org/lists.htm
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