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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS BULLETIN... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short one today, because you're probably thinking more about holidays than the world of work (or in the world of politics, which definitely can't be described as 'work' of any useful sort). Still, in the goody-bag today is: IF YOU'VE GOT IT...: More tales of government waste and inefficiency AUTUMN EVENTS: New conferences, seminars and meetings STUFF: Wind, health, and the French (these subjects are not related) BUT FIRST... Next week I'm off to Iceland, where (believe it or not) I've been invited to give a speech on education policy. I mentioned this to one of our authors on the subject, and asked him what I should say. His reply was obviously coloured by long experience of these things, but wasn't immediately helpful to me: "Say you've got 'flu," he advised. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IF YOU'VE GOT IT, WASTE IT: More depressing news from www.ePolitix.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASTE AND INEFFICIENCY ********************** A European Central Bank report says that waste and inefficiency in public services costs the UK up to 70 billion pounds a year... ... while one in six Crown Prosecution Service workers took long-term sick leave last year, with 915 of them being off for more than four weeks... ... and ministers left 1.4 billion-pounds-worth of budgeted funds for schools (846 million) and hospitals (601 million) unspent last year... ... but strongly-worded motions at the TUC Congress will challenge further government public-service reforms, such as foundation hospitals... ... and the Chancellor will need to borrow an extra 27 billion pounds over the next two years to fuel his spending splurge, predicts the NIESR. FAILURE AND FRAUD ***************** The 'New Deal' isn't working, says Tory David Willetts, Some 600,000 under-24s were not in education, work, or on a training scheme.... ... meanwhile the Home Office admits that 'several hundreds of thousands' of people may be working illegally on forged immigration documents. THE COST OF STYLE ***************** The cost of spin-doctors' salaries have trebled since 1997, with advisers now costing the taxpayer 5.4 million per annum... ... and Tony Blair's travel bill was nearly a million pounds last year. HOLDING GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT ***************************** The National Audit Office has rejected the accounts of the Child Support Agency for the ninth year in succession... ... and has found that the computer system for the new GCHQ spy centre will cost 20 times more than originally estimated... ... and reports that the new 311-million-pound Home Office HQ will lack the space necessary to accommodate David Blunkett's army of civil servants. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTUMN EVENTS: See http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW CONFERENCE PROGRAMME We've now got a big programme of international conferences locked in for the Autumn and Winter, including subjects such as telecomms regulation, energy markets, and rail. WESTMINSTER EVENTS And we're locking in our Autumn/Winter schedule of lectures, seminars, and other events. Power Lunches just added today, for example, are: - 10 September: David Smith, Economics Editor, Sunday Times - 16 October: David Willetts MP, Tory frontbencher on welfare/pensions I'll keep you up to date with other new dates as they're added, but see http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm for full listings and information. ISOS (SIXTH-FORM CONFERENCE) Our annual sixth-form conference on politics and economics, featuring well-known senior practitioners of both, moves forward a bit this year, to Thursday 2 October. Contact Steve on tng@adamsmith.org for information. YOUR CHOICE You might have your own suggestions on who would make good speakers for our Power Lunches, our Next generation meetings, our bigger evening seminars and our immense Adam Smith Lectures. No boring political hacks please, but if you've other good ideas, feel free to email me on butler@adamsmith.org . --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUFF --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WINDY THINKING The UK government's plans to have up to 20 percent of energy demand met by wind power are just daft and won't work. And the trouble is, by the time they discover that the wind doesn't blow constantly round the UK, they'll have closed all our nuclear generators. No idea why weblinks have to be so long, but I've an article on it that might interest you, at http://www.techcentralstation.be/2051/wrapper.jsp?PID=2051-100&CID=2051-0722 03M And of course we have a lot of work on at the moment, looking at energy futures, as you can see from our Industry issues page: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/industry-and-employment/home.htm NEW HEALTH ISSUE PAGES We've added a new set of website pages to explain what we're doing in the vexed field of health policy -- in particular, looking at what future there is for the NHS in a world of diversity, choice, and customer-focus. Do take a moment to skim the new pages and tell me what you think. They're at: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/health/home.htm NEW FRENCH INSTITUTE A French-speaking free-market think-tank? The world must be changing fast. But yes, it's true. The new Molinari Institute (named after the great nineteenth-century liberal thinker Gustave de Molinari, wants to spread the message of freedom and deregulation. Don't know what the French will make of that, but good luck to it, and you can visit the website at: http://www.institutmolinari.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AS ADAM HAD IT: Customers or captives? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Adam Smith said in The Wealth of Nations (Book I, Chapter X, Part 2): "The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman ... is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence." Hmmm. Maybe that's why government is costing us so much and why the National Audit Office discovers so much fraud and waste: we're not the free customers of public services, but their captives! Remember, for fully-searchable versions Adam Smith's books, go to: http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-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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