This Week in Politics
Spending review announced!
This week there was only one story, every other story was simply the periphery to the core issue. The Comprehensive Spending Review, what in essence amounts to a audit of all the money that the government spends was announced by George Osborne is the house of commons on Wednesday. “today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink” announced Osborne as he set out explaining why the biggest cuts to the public sector since the end of the Second World War were necessary.
Even in the wake of the announcement before parliament and the publication of the review there is still debate wrangling over how fair the cuts are, especially to the poorest in society. The independent research institute, The Institute of Fiscal Studies, described the measures outlined as reinforcing the regressive nature of the coalition government’s economic plan. Nick Clegg responded to the accusations on Thursday, calling them “airbrushed” and a distortion of the facts. Despite the fact that the ramifications are unclear, here is what we do know:
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Department for Work and Pensions has been the biggest casualty with a £7bn cut to welfare budget. These cuts have some of the widest ramification with fundamental challenges to the idea of a universal welfare state. The highest bracket of earners are likely to have to see a decrease in their child benefit, whilst disability living allowance and the Employment Support Allowance are all set to be cut.
Department for Work and Pensions has been the biggest casualty with a £7bn cut to welfare budget. These cuts have some of the widest ramification with fundamental challenges to the idea of a universal welfare state. The highest bracket of earners are likely to have to see a decrease in their child benefit, whilst disability living allowance and the Employment Support Allowance are all set to be cut.
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The budget for Local governments is also set to be cut with the biggest casualty being the social housing budget which is to be cut by 50%. To make up for the expected shortfall the government is expected to raise the amount of rent paid by council tenants so that they are more in line with markets. It is still hoped that up to 115,000 new homes will be able to be built by 2015.
The budget for Local governments is also set to be cut with the biggest casualty being the social housing budget which is to be cut by 50%. To make up for the expected shortfall the government is expected to raise the amount of rent paid by council tenants so that they are more in line with markets. It is still hoped that up to 115,000 new homes will be able to be built by 2015.
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· The Home Office has also suffered major cuts to its budget, and as a result there will almost certainly be fewer police officers patrolling the streets. How badly the Home Office cuts of around 14% will affect front-line services are as yet unknown.
· The Home Office has also suffered major cuts to its budget, and as a result there will almost certainly be fewer police officers patrolling the streets. How badly the Home Office cuts of around 14% will affect front-line services are as yet unknown.
And there we have it, the Spending Review to end all Spending Reviews and certainly the most important document to come out of Whitehall in a generation. The country will change beyond recognition if these cuts are seen through with the public sector being relied upon less and less to provide services in this country and the private sector more and more. It remains to be seen whether what is being described as chancellor Osbourne’s “colossal gamble” will indeed pay off for the country.
This Week's Comment
Murdoch vs BBC: is it a fair fight?
“The time, it is hoped, is gone by, when any defence would be necessary of the ‘liberty of the press’ as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical government.” So begins the J.S. Mill essay On Liberty. Written to communicate the need and indeed necessity for a thriving society ( then 19th century Victorian Britain) to remain a pluralist one, guarding against what he calls the tyranny of the majority. Modern day Britain seems to have forgotten the lesson.
Out of the handful of big players in our free press there are two giants in the field: BBC and BSkyB. This week saw the beginnings of what looks like a divergence between the two,one growing stronger, the other, weaker. The BBC under the terms of the Spending Review will have to absorb the World Service and welsh provider S4C into its business model, for BSkyB and NewsCorp, the company which owns 40% of the shares of BSkyB, the prospect of buying the remainder shares, giving Murdoch control of Britain’s biggest broadcaster as well as the biggest selling newspaper in Britain, is still on the cards.
The plan, in case you weren't aware, is to have all of NewsCorp’s output in one place. The great unanswered question of print, how to make money from newspapers and websites is suddenly cracked. How? Step 1, set up a paywall on your newspaper websites. Step2, merge your print and TV operations. Step 3, at the point of payment simply incorporate your two sections – when people pay for their satellite TV simply offer them the chance to have access to the print websites added to any package, giving the customer convenience and access, whilst giving your newspaper much needed additional income.
Why is this so important? Well, while people are reading blogs such as toby raves more often they still pay attention to what the print media has to say. An endorsement from the Sun going in to elections is what parties spend time and money trying to achieve. Papers don’t give you money, but they do give you power. Days after becoming Prime Minister David Cameron held a private meeting with Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch left by the back door.
Merging what was previously two separate entities, print with its forum for outspoken journalism and broadcast with its much stricter regulation is a revolution in media with the potential to damage the free press Murdoch is said to care about.
Murdoch himself has come out fighting. This week he gave the inaugural Margaret Thatcher lecture in which he described those who were opposed to the merger as “small thinkers,” who were opposed to growth and therefore, implicitly, not seeing the bigger picture. The whole theme running throughout the lecture is that state dependency, in all its guises is something to be abhorred.What then, in the paradise world that Murdoch inhabits should the press look like? Murdoch has this to say:
“A free society requires an independent press: turbulent …enquiring…bustling…and free. That's why our journalism is hard-driving and questioning of authority. And so are our journalists. Often, I have cause to celebrate editorial endeavour.”
In truth I am opposed to the merger. Primarily because Murdoch would be the first to admit that he is an influential person, not many are angry of that fact, though some are, and some would even applaud him of that fact. It certainly is not his job to say, “hold on, I’m too powerful, let me stop” but it is someone’s job. A job that would neglected if the nation’s strongest commercial broadcaster were to be allied on a solid,official basis with multiple print outlets. One opinion stream, one headquarters, two outlets – diversity, but hardly pluralism. It is in my opinion the job ofthe government to mitigate the influence that one person has in shaping the agenda and deciding what people should be outraged at and what people shouldn’t- this isn’t the same as restricting growth. But for the sake of playing devil’s advocate I will say that Murdoch could, could, have a point.
Much, then, becomes dependent on the BBC, the natural counterweight, and the only other big beast. This week saw their leaves being pruned. The World Service will no longer receive a grant and S4C, the welsh language channel will be paid for from the licence fee, this equates to a 16%cut in the budget. Austerity has spread even to the wild free for all that is the beeb.
The BBC is becoming weaker right at the time when its strength is needed most. As Mark Thompson explained in his MacTaggart lecture, competition between the two is welcome but BSkyB (and soon the whole ofthe Murdoch empire) has to invest more in keeping journalism at a high quality and programming to a high standard - Sky’s marketing budgeting is the same as ITV’s programming budget. In a world where the BBC is diminished and NewsCorp is keen to fill the breach in market share, who will feel the breach for high standards of journalism and programme making if NewsCorp are all about marketing and less about finding the best talent around? Journalist and news agencies can sometimes be the story themselves. The phone hacking scandal at the News Of the World bear testament to that – in a society whose mainstream media is so close to decision makers and where the media is a monopoly who will hold Cameron or Murdoch to account? The intentions of NewsCorp may be noble (thisis me playing devil’s advocate here) but to have a situation where the Times, theSun, and Sky News are dominant is dangerous.
There are many ways you can interpret the J.S Mill quote I started with. Freedom of the press can mean freedom from government interference, or it can mean freedom to hear many different viewpoints and not have any suppressed but a strong counterweight to the BBC cannot hide from its responsibilities or indeed, if it were true to its moral code, be happy to be a monopoly.
Full transcript of the lecture is availablehere - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/21/rupert-murdoch-inaugural-margaret-thatcher-lecture
Pictures of the Week -Yangshou, China
Playlist of the week - American Harmony
Everyone loves a good harmony and it seems that those Americans do it better than anyone else. This week's selection of tracks certainly emphasises that point. starting with the gentle tones of Freelance Whales this playlist takes you on a acoustic guitar ride of cheerfulness with afrikaan drums from Vampire Weekend along the way.
Track Listing
1. Freelance Whales -Location
2. Fleet Foxes - Quiet Houses
3. Vampire Weekend-Horchata
4. Local Natives-Airplanes
Location by blackbirdflyy
05 Quiet Houses by Stephen Branch
Horchata by audiodax
Local Natives - Airplanes by stndrdeviations
Video of the Week - London art scene
London: the centre of it all, where the action occurs. Well, if your like me and not in on all the art action going on in the big city then see these clips.
The Frieze Art Fair came to town this week. This five day festival of contemporary art was full of the latest trends and the usual debates on what is art. On the off chance you missed it check out this clip of the show and see if you can spot the appearances of Ai Weiwei and Grayson Perry.Also this week saw the opening of the London Film Festival - here are trailers from two highlights of the festival, Route Irish directed by Ken Loach and Mike Leigh's Another Year, out on the 5th November. That's all from toby raves until next week.
if you have noticed any problems with the format of this blog - words strung together that sort of thing please accept my apologies I have had an abundance of technical issues this week.
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