Oh my God! A heatwave! Yes, the government has officially declared a heatwave today. With temperatures 'soaring' to 32C, the 'heatwave alert' is now at level 3 amber in London and southern England. There is only one more level before we hit extreme danger, Level 4 red alert.
"There are four key things to try to remember during a heatwave. If possible stay out of the heat during the middle part of the day; cool yourself down; keep your environment cool; and look out for others, especially older people, those living alone and babies and young children."
Everyone stay calm!
The Guardian also reported the following statement from the unions:
"Staff should be encouraged to wear shorts during the sweltering heat to make work more bearable and prevent them "collapsing" at their desks, the TUC urged."
Help, I'm wearing trousers and might collapse at any moment! HMV are leading their new radio advertisement with the promise of 'air conditioning' in their stores. Oh, and they also sell CDs.
I just hope I can survive the extreme temperatures without spending all my savings at HMV.
Although, I should note that here in Manchester, it is 24C and very pleasant.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Cuts
The UK economy shrank by 2.4% percent in the first quarter of this year, much more than expected. Companies continue to shed jobs and there predictions of another sharp decline later this year. Nonetheless, given the massive intervention to stabilise the banking system and prevent a total collapse, all parties are now engaged in debate about the extent of necessary cuts to public sector spending to balance the books.
A Conservative shadow minister accidentally blabbed on TV a few weeks back that the Tories planned a 10% cut across the board to public services from 2011. Labour says they're not going to cut that much, but it seems generally agreed in the media that they will also have to cut spending by that much (in the event that they win, which is of course highly unlikely).
However, I heard that some agencies are preparing contingency plans for a budget cut of up to 20%. This would be equivalent to the drastic cuts of the Thatcher government in th early 1980s. Most likely, the Conservatives will take government next spring and, shortly afterwards, delcare that they opened the books and were 'shocked' at the 'unanticipated' scale of public sector overspending, and that even more drastic cuts than planned at the election would be necessary. Just like the Australian Liberal government's '$8 billion black hole' mantra that we heard after their election, year after year.
Public opinion polls are already reporting that the public would accept public spending cuts and minor tax rises to pay off the debt, so Labour's pro-spending argument is unlikely to get very far with the voters. In two years' time, all public sector employees are likely to be squeezed, and I imagine I will be thinking about how to squeeze another dozen students into my tutorials.
A Conservative shadow minister accidentally blabbed on TV a few weeks back that the Tories planned a 10% cut across the board to public services from 2011. Labour says they're not going to cut that much, but it seems generally agreed in the media that they will also have to cut spending by that much (in the event that they win, which is of course highly unlikely).
However, I heard that some agencies are preparing contingency plans for a budget cut of up to 20%. This would be equivalent to the drastic cuts of the Thatcher government in th early 1980s. Most likely, the Conservatives will take government next spring and, shortly afterwards, delcare that they opened the books and were 'shocked' at the 'unanticipated' scale of public sector overspending, and that even more drastic cuts than planned at the election would be necessary. Just like the Australian Liberal government's '$8 billion black hole' mantra that we heard after their election, year after year.
Public opinion polls are already reporting that the public would accept public spending cuts and minor tax rises to pay off the debt, so Labour's pro-spending argument is unlikely to get very far with the voters. In two years' time, all public sector employees are likely to be squeezed, and I imagine I will be thinking about how to squeeze another dozen students into my tutorials.
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