I have been with wordpress hosting this blog for some time. It is a great system but does have a number of limitations. I have therefore decided to move this blog to another provider. The best ways to ensure you are always able to see the new blog is to bookmark the following address:

www.kevindavis.org.uk 

I am currently transferring the archive of posts but with almost four years

So. like those failed Governments of the seventies this one has now sunk to believing that it is better able to run a private company than shareholders are. Do not forget that much of the Northern Rock problem has been caused by this Government. They have allowed regulation of the sector and they have allowed the only viable proposition to buy the bank, an offer by Abbey last Summer, to be turned away without a second thought.

This is shambles and they should be thinking hard about whether Brown is in terminal decline.

Will this lead to another un on the bank? Who knows, but this Government has now presided over an economic sector that has more in common with a banana-republic than anything else. Which developed country, in recent times, has seen a run on the bank leading to queues of depositors trying to get their money back?

Only one other country has nationalised as many businesses as this one - the Soviet Union.

Wikipedia has a good history of nationalisation in the UK and you can see for yourself how disastrous the state has been at running things.

Technorati Tags: Northern Rock, Nationalisation

It is not often that I say this but it appears that there might be a Lib Dem MP with a small amount of integrity - at least on the subject of the EU treaty/constitution.

It appears there is a growing rebellion amongst Calamity Clegg’s troops over whether they should dishonestly refuse to back Conservative calls for a referendum - after the Lib Dems promised one in their 2005 election manifesto.

In a very silly and incomprehensible move the Lib Dems plan to table an amendment, in Parliament, calling on a referendum on whether we stay in or get out of Europe - this is a ridiculous move because a) they know it would never happen and b) the pro-European Lib Dems might find themselves outside the EU when they lost the referendum. How this is allowed, when it has nothing to do with the debate to ratify the treaty, is beyond me.

If the Lib Dems think an in/out referendum is such a bright idea why don’t Lib Dem MPs spend their £10k communications allowance holding a referendum in their constituencies anyway?

What will be very interesting is that this ultra-marginal Lib Dem MP for Somerton and Frome is being attacked on all sides because the I want a referendum campaign plan to hold a vote in his constituency to try and expose him.

Technorati Tags: Lib Dem splits, David Heath, Calamity Clegg

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dem MP to rebel on EU treaty

I have long believed that our tax system is too complicated. We can all debate about the merits of one tax over another, and argue about the relative cost to the taxpayer of the different taxes, but it is all too complicated. My view is that has to change and that a dynamic economy is one that has simpler and flatter tax. So I am therefore very excited by what George Osbourne has been talking about recently. Here is a flavour of what he had to say:

Our tax code is probably the most complex in the world. It is certainly the longest - we overtook India for that dubious honour following last years Finance Bill. The size of Tolleys tax handbook has doubled over the last ten years. Complexity is also incredibly costly a survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants found that the total cost to UK businesses of implementing new legislation is £10.2bn. That is why we are working with the experts to do the long term thinking on simplification. With PWC on simplifying corporation tax. And with Grant Thornton on simplifying income tax and National Insurance, and the administration of VAT. And it is why the final aspect of the proposals being examined by Geoffrey Howes group will be so important the establishment of a new Office of Tax Simplification with a remit to examine the existing tax system and make proposals for simplification. With a permanent staff of tax specialists aided by secondees from the tax professions, this will create a powerful institutional momentum towards a simpler tax system.

ConservativeHome’s ToryDiary: George Osborne promises simpler and flatter taxation

Technorati Tags: Tax, flat tax, George Osbourne

Those who know me will be aware that I am currently trying to move home. In  fact I have been trying to move home for some considerable time. The fact is that since putting my house on the market much seems to have conspired against me but the real problem is the economy.

It is obvious that the economy is in a fluctuating state and is tippling on the edge of chaos - much of it because of the appalling way the economy has been handled in the past year, let alone the past ten years.

But my house is an interesting story as it tells you a story about an economy being based on the very personal aspect of ’sentiment’. Economics is much about facts, statistics and projections, but my house seems to tell a story of an economy governed by the more personal mood of those who make the economy go round; people.

Put frankly people are feeling poorer and nervous. The fact that the average family is spending more (£1,300 more) then it was a year ago is bound to cause pressure as families either face up to trying to maximise their income or making cut backs in their spending - not an easy task when you have children!

But what about the nervousness? Well, house prices where I live are in a very strange position. There are obviously not many people out buying as they try to batten down the hatches in case the economy goes into freefall. Equally, and perhaps oddly in a supposedly falling market with few transactions, there has not been the expected flood of houses onto the market. Demand might not be soaring but then neither is supply; as a consequence prices are not falling in the manner you would expect in a period of over supply. So, is this a sign of nervousness, where buyers and sellers, in equal measure are too nervous to commit? This is a stagnant economy, and whilst the Government might well tout the view that we are all OK in the long-run, my fear is that in the long-run a stagnant economy can very easily tip into a recession. Is the Government doing anything about this?

Well, in housing terms ,which is clearly the largest asset of many of us, they are not. The Bank of England, rightly, has inflation as its target and whilst the economy slows, and the risk of rising inflation increases their minds will probably be set on increasing interest rates not letting them come down - bringing them down ‘might’ act as a stimulus package for the economy. I have never been sure as to whether their concern must be the wider economy or merely the target they are set by Government.

So for now, buyers and sellers, me included, are stuck in a stand-off and none of us really know when the tide might turn.

Technorati Tags: Housing, economy

I always find it surprising how news sometimes coagulates around issues? What do I mean, well one story on a subject leads the increased likelihood of another story in a similar subject area. Maybe it is just co-incidence, or maybe it is news editors trying to outdo each other on stories, who knows, and in any case, who cares? On a slightly different issue I am often surprised at what does and does not become a story.

Here’s a good example. Whilst all the furore was raging about the ramblings of the Archbishop (a man who has no control over Government policy) there was a not very widely quoted story about a Government Minister (Phil Woolas - a man with power) who wants Muslims to stop marrying their cousins..

“whereby a lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children].”

Has their been much debate about this? Not much…but then should there be…?

There was also a story I reported, that did not seem to pick up much coverage but then is also very closely aligned to these two stories - Multiple wives, multiple benefits

Anyway, the point of this post is to discuss two very important announcements that came out within hours of each other. The first is announcing the NHS rolling out a cure for Type 1 diabetes - the most difficult form of diabetes usually present at birth and not related to diet etc.

Pioneering 45-minute treatment for diabetes holds prospect of cure | Society | The Guardian

The second announcement concerns a very important breakthrough in the fight against prostate cancer. I was not aware, probably to my shame, that prostate cancer is now the third largest killing cancer. There are some 10,000 men who die each year.

See the Independent report on this.

Technorati Tags: Prostate cancer, sharia Law, diabetes, phil woolas

I am unsure what I feel about this new device. It seems that until you reach your early 20’s you are able to detect very much higher pitched sonic waves and that that these can be uncomfortable to the ear.

This is an interesting concept that takes the opportunity to exploit the differences of age as a method to possibly preventing anti-social behaviour. It is an interesting debating point but its use is deeply flawed. Its main problem is that this is a totally indiscriminate way of controlling anti-social behaviour as both those causing ASB, as well as the innocent bystander, are swept up in the problem. I suppose, in many ways, this is like the idea that every car should have a speed limiter fitted to prevent you from exceeding the speed limit - it falls into the prevention by banning category where the innocent get swept up in the rush to crush the guilty.

However, there are apparently some 3,500 of these ‘Mosquito’ devices being used across the country in shopping centres and parks - watch out if you are under 20 and visit Newcastle! Is there a place where these can be used effectively? I am not sure I know?

You can read the report on this below - the website of the manufacturer can be seen here.

The Press Association: Campaign to ban dispersal device

Technorati Tags: Mosquito, anti social behaviour

I must admit to feeling somewhat shell-shocked by the recent Sharia utterings of Rowan Williams.

Understandably there have been cries from the church about how he has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. However, he is the most senior member of the C of E and has a press office that should understand what the consequences of even discussing issues such as this, might well be.

In fact, the Archbishop tried his own version of political spin on this. He appeared on the Today program, prior to giving the speech, to tell everyone what he was going to say.

He said in that interviews that Sharia Law in the UK “Seems unavoidable” and that it is “not as if bringing in an alien, rival situation”. He does talk of internal religious law but also uses the example of divorce being settled under Sharia Law and not British Law.

He also says: “Saying there is one law for everyone is a bit of a danger”.

I can not agree with this at all. We are discussing the fundamental collapse of Britain as a cohesive multi-cultural society if we really believe that not having one law, under which we all abide, is the only method by which we can live together.

Technorati Tags: Rowan Williams, Sharia Law

You will have read the recent think-tank report concerning this issue. I have agreed with this statement for some time and blogged a few years ago about the issue. I am re-posting what I said then.

Summary

Education; there is too much of it, too early and with too little effect. Increasing the starting age of education and stopping the transfer, at age 11, would contribute to making kids have a more focused and socialised school education. For the “iPod, skype and msn” kids of today “less is more”.

Explanation

The Labour Government believes that children should be educated and appraised from the earliest possible age. Children of 2 or 3 are now being assessed by some crazy Government doctrine that governs how nurseries and play schemes should have a “curriculum”. Other countries take a different view. The most successful education systems tend to be in Scandinavia, yet here formal education, reading and writing, does not start until children are 7, or even 8. Till then parents or playgroups are expected to give children the space to be children and learn to play. More importantly children are the responsibility of their parents and not handed over to some state sponsored pre education system, whose sole purpose, at times, seems to be to drive the mother or father out to work. The greatest looming crisis in our education system is the expected mass retirement of senior teachers, due sometime in the next five years. A policy that full time education of children did not start until age 7 would militate against some of those problems.

In the UK, the child having spent up to 7 years in the education system, we then inflict another injustice on them; transfer to secondary school. Why? Many teachers will tell you that the most difficult period for a child in education is the transfer from primary to secondary. All certainty in their lives is upended and many spend the first years of secondary school recovering from the trauma of transfer. Parents also do not survive the transfer. Whereas parents are often very engaged in their child’s primary education they quickly drop out when their child transfers. Once again the most successful systems have all-through schools that go from 7 or 8 through to 16 or 18, and we should adopt this system nationally.

Risks and opportunities

Teaching unions would complain that this is more change after decades of change. Political opponents would paint this as a lessening in the learning opportunities for young children and an attempt to limit the opportunities for poorer families to have both parents’ working. Would the policy actually not be a positive benefit to a Conservative party looking to give families more time? Currently GCSE
study takes two years – a more focused approached to learning leading up to that might actually increase the ability, especially if you did not have to spend a whole year adjusting to a new school and a whole new method of learning.

The cost of the idea

There are pluses and minuses. The cost of not providing formal state education for children between the years of 2 and 7 (£5,750 per pupil per annum by 200 could be used to fund more generous child care allowances.

The opportunity for all-through schools is here. The current programme to rebuild, or substantially refurbish, every secondary school in the country is in its early stages. A more radical approach to this programme could be used to fulfil the difficulty of all-through schools.

A key problem would be the limiting size of urban sites within London to take all-through schools. However, not all schools need to have 2,000 pupils. There have been a myriad of studies that have shown that small “schools”, not necessarily small “classes”, are far better at raising standards and behaviour than the increasing size of school this Government is currently set on building. (See Lindsay, Paul (1982). The Effect of High School
Size on Student Participation, Satisfaction, and Attendance, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 4 (1), 57-65 and Barker, R. and Gump, P. (1964). Big School, Small School: High School Size and Student Behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press)

If we accept that small is best then many of the existing secondary and primary sites could be adapted to suite a range of schools. After all a typical 2 form of entry primary school would have 14 forms. A 1 form entry all-though school, starting at age 7, would need 10 or 11 forms.

BBC NEWS | Education | Is five too soon to start school?