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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS BULLETIN... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS - All that's happened while you were away on holiday COMPETITION - For the daftest public-sector job description EVENTS - Some highlights from our autumn programme SITES - On ourselves, on power, and on skateboarding politicians BUT FIRST... In a few weeks' time, the excellent and entrepreneurial Iain Dale of Politico's Bookstore is launching a website full of political quotations. I'll tell you more when it goes live, but I had a sneak preview. I think my favourite is this from Ronald Reagan: "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------- WHO'S HOT? WHO'S NOT? ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------- POLLY FLINDERS: Makes kids happy POLLY TOYNBEE: Adults. Miserable http://www.pollyflinders.com/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/columnists --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS: Things have been getting even worse while you were away... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Royal Mail is resisting further competition, saying that it could result in a 7p increase in a first-class stamp. (Funny, when postal competition has reduced stamp prices in every other country it's been tried....) The government plans to make farmers responsible for disposing of rubbish that is fly-tipped on their land. Cheaper than hiring more policemen.... UK business investment has hit its lowest level for five years. A new study has found that four out of five firms have yet to attract a single penny in contributions to their stakeholder pension schemes. EVEN MORE TAXES (YES, REALLY!) ****************************** - A record 30.7m people now pay income tax - 1.3m more than last year and 4.5m more than 1997. July's VAT receipts leapt to a high of 7 billion. - But the Chancellor is still planning a 40-billion-pound raid on Middle Britain, says the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. EVEN LESS EDUCATION ******************* - The funding crisis has left us with 3,500 fewer teachers and 1,150 fewer support staff, says a TLS survey. - Test results show no improvement in the number of 7-year-olds reaching basic levels in reading and maths, while writing skills have deteriorated. - Brunel University plans to set up a selective school on its campus. (Not how the government intended them to improve access for poorer pupils....) - The government is mounting a fresh bid to promote the idea of student top-up fees. But it's going to call them an "individualised graduate tax". - One in three school and college leavers believe their education has not prepared them for the world of work, says a new survey HOW NOT TO GET PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR CARS *************************************** - Fares on London Underground are to rise by a quarter, says Mayor Ken Livingstone, making the cost of a central-zone journey two pounds. - The Strategic Rail Authority has ditched plans to upgrade rail stations. Just 13 of the 68 stations will get new facilities such as lavatories. (Meanwhile, SRA head Richard Bowker has commissioned a report to compile "positive information" about the state of the industry. Good luck to him.) - The Commission for Integrated Transport says that air passengers should face a new 600m-pound anti-pollution levy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMPETITION: The daftest public-sector job description --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our competition to identify daft public-sector job titles brought in a big e-mail bag. Here's some that struck me. Can you do better? Ben Leapman pointed out a Home Office plan to employ 'Regional Business Crime Reduction Advisers'. Jonathan Jardine writes: I'm the "Scrutiny Co-ordinator (Health)" at Coventry City Council, so I nominate myself." Good call, Jonathan. Another correspondent points out a Guardian ad for a "Head of Knowledge Management" at the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement. Andrew Chisholm liked "Mink Catcher Grade 3, Western Isles". (Actually, thanks to "animal welfare" campaigners releasing them into the wild, feral mink are a real problem there, so let's not be too flippant about this!) And Scott McCleskey points out that a health board in Multnomah County in Oregon is employing a Klingon Interpreter because so many fans speak it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- POWER LUNCHES ************* Fairly busy programme of lunchtime talk-ins here in Westminster. Contact steve@adamsmith.org for more information or to grovel for an invitation (subscribers get first crack, of course). Some highlights: DAVID SMITH, Sunday Times Economics Editor, 10 September JOHN HORAM MP, ex-Environmental Audit Committee chief, 18 September MICHAEL DOBBS, author and ex-political fixer, 24 September ROD MORGAN, Chief Inspector of the Probation Service, 30 September NEIL COLLINS, Telegraph City Editor, 8 October DAVID WILLETTS MP, Tory Welfare spokesman, 16 October PETER PIKE MP, Regulatory Reform Committee head, 22 October IVOR CAPLIN MP, Defence minister, 30 October SIR CHRIS GENT, Vodafone pensioner, 11 November MALCOLM WICKS MP, Work and Pensions minister, 18 November DANIEL HANNAN, MEP and journalist, 24 November MIKE SUMMERS, Falkland Islands councillor, 1 December STEPHEN CARTER, Ofcom chief executive, 10 December WESTMINSTER BREAKFASTS ********************** CHRIS GIBSON-SMITH, Chairman of the London Stock Exchange and of National Air Traffic Control, will talk on aviation and airports policy at a special House of Commons breakfast on Wednesday 1 October. The event heralds more work we're doing on airports policy this Autumn/Winter. Contact Matthew Young on asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk for information and invitations (they're like gold dust, though). Find our views on transport policy at: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/transport/home.htm SIR DEREK WANLESS (he of the Report, and now leading the Chancellor of the Exchequer's review on next steps in NHS funding) and SIR GRAEME CATTO (President of the General Medical Council) debate health policy at a House of Commons breakfast briefing with us on Friday 10 October. Contact Matthew Young on asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk for information and invitations. Find our own views on health policy on our Health Issues page: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/health/home.htm SEMINARS ******** Iconoclastic education expert Professor James Tooley leads off an ASI education policy seminar on Tuesday 18 November. Experts from other countries too will be asking how we can reform the state education system - or whether we need to scrap it. Email asiprojects@matthewyoung.co.uk for information and invitations. And find James's report for us on: http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/publications/education-pub.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SITE NEWS: On us, on power, on skatesmen --------------------------------------------------------------------------- An internet check by one of our boffins revealed that many hundreds of websites link to http://www.adamsmith.org already. Why don't you? We've thoughts, ideas, and free reports on policy issues, not to mention stuff on Adam Smith himself and other liberal thinkers like Hayek and Friedman. Let me know if you link, and I'll see if we can reciprocate! The OnPower site does us all a service by looking at the nature of power and the stupidities that it generates, so I think it's worth a look: http://www.onpower.org And if you'd like to see pictures of politicians doing silly things (actually, that's what they do most of the time), have a look at: http://www.statesmanorskatesman.co.uk/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- AS ADAM HAD IT... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sage of Kirkcaldy didn't mince words when it came to regulation. Try this: "The property which every man has in his own labour; as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable... To hinder him from employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper without injury to his neighbour is a plain violation of this most sacred property." (Wealth of Nations, Vol 1) e -- Dr Eamonn Butler, Director 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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