Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship
Free Market think tank Reform is very keen for the public sector to spend less. So, for example, director Andrew Haldenby has argued that there should be 300,000 fewer employees in the NHS, and one million fewer in the public sector as a whole. So if the public sector shouldn’t spend money on front line staff, what should it spend its money on? Why – free market think tank conferences, of course.
[i-Reform-think-tank-logo]Tory-Liberal Democrat run Birmingham City Council is sponsoring Reform’s upcoming conference “Localism and the Public Services Revolution”, at the cost of £7,500.
Reform’s business model is a sound one – take sponsorship from private companies, many of whom apply for public sector contracts, and then advocate for ever greater outsourcing – for example, in the NHS. (Although how that qualifies Reform to charitable status is puzzling).
That a local authority like Birmingham, currently cutting social care, meals-on-wheels and youth centres, thinks this is the best use of taxpayers’ money seems bizarre. Despite the enthusiasm of communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles for targetted attacks on local authorities and agencies he doesn’t like, we don’t expect he’ll be using his headlining appearance at the conference to comment.
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Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship: http://bit.ly/jQuqyV writes @DanielElton
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
@thedancingflea FYI: http://tinyurl.com/3lm9twq
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Birmingham Council finds new & offensive ways to waste money at the expense of services: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l Good digging by @danielelton.
Birmingham Council finds new & offensive ways to waste money at the expense of services: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l Good digging by @danielelton.
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/QRXo9VC
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/pz6Qq3f
Birmingham Council finds new & offensive ways to waste money at the expense of services: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l Good digging by @danielelton.
Birmingham Council finds new & offensive ways to waste money at the expense of services: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l Good digging by @danielelton.
@emmaboon need to look into this council http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/pro-cuts-think-tank-reform-takes-public-sector-sponsorship/
@emmaboon need to look into this council http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/pro-cuts-think-tank-reform-takes-public-sector-sponsorship/
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship: http://bit.ly/jQuqyV writes @DanielElton
RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
@stoneageman1 RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
Tory-Liberal Birmingham Council spends £7.5k sponsoring free market think tank (while cutting services) http://bit.ly/iQuwW4
RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
You’re right that it seems a waste of money. There’s too much of this think tank, wonkery nonsense these days. I wish people would stop trying to overcomplicate politics and realise that it should, at its heart, be about trying to make life better.
I would point out, however, that two sentences in your first paragraph don’t follow on logically from one another. You state that Haldenby argues for job cuts in the NHS and the public sector as a whole, but your next sentence suggests that Haldenby advocates that these cutbacks should affect frontline staff.
Is that the case? Surely there must be at least one million people working in the public sector who aren’t on the frontline.
Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship: http://bit.ly/jQuqyV writes @DanielElton
RT @thedancingflea: Birmingham City Council are spending the pennies wisely, I see: http://bit.ly/jWfK4l
Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship (Left Foot Forward): Tory-Lib Dem council Birmingham … http://bit.ly/isgo6X
These are a bunch of hypocrites: RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/2EDs2uV
B'ham City Council sponsoring right wing thinktank conference. They should be spending the money on adult social care. http://t.co/EsrfTI8
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/sFy3fT5
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/sFy3fT5
“You’re right that it seems a waste of money.”
That’s the understatement of the week by the bollox-monger. It’s downright hypocritical!
‘Ed’s Talking Balls’, there’s been a lot oftalk from the right about how there’s so much waste in the public sector, but judging by what’s being cut you wouldn’t know.
At any rate, Daniel, you’re entirely right; Pickles seems to have a witch hunt against Labour-run Nottingham City Council, but I don’t expect this to get too much attention…
Richard,
Uncalled for. I wasn’t trying to downplay an obvious waste of money. I was agreeing with the author on that. But if you want to exchange gratuitous insults I’m sure I could do better than ‘bollox-monger’.
Mr. Sensible,
I’ve heard of, and seen first hand, public sector waste. I am adamant that the government has a duty to taxpayers to spend money confiscated from them responsibly. I would hope that no-one would disagree with that.
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/bdBIQgk
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/WxbqT7Z #ohtheirony #nocuts
RT @leftfootfwd: Pro-cuts think tank Reform takes public sector sponsorship http://t.co/N5NYXZS
Talking of govt waste and Pickles, it was interesting that the mainstream media barely covered Pickles’ purchase of a large Jaguar to replace John Denham’s £20k Prius. And then there was Clegg’s £300,000 student proof car. If these had been Labour ministers….
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