Article in Todays Guardian quoting a niave but critical freind of Cameron
A leading charity figure and key supporter of David Cameron's "big society" project warns that massive public spending cuts could doom the prime minister's main social policy initiative to failure and become a Hurricane Katrina moment for the government......In an open letter to Cameron, the co-founder of the Community Links charity warns that vital local voluntary organisations will be wiped out.
Robinson, whose charity has been described by Cameron as "one of Britain's most inspiring community organisations", writes: "Forcing an unsustainable pace on a barrage of uncoordinated cuts that hit the poorest hardest is not an act of God. Why let it be your Katrina?".....deprived areas face a "double whammy" of increasing unemployment and cuts to services. ....Community Links, based in east London, faces an uncertain future because of the government's changes to legal aid and welfare-to-work funding. "Charities like us are surely the bedrock of the big society, and we are wobbling."
Robinson, who regards himself as a "critical friend" of Cameron, praises his "big-hearted vision" and commitment to big society principles, but warns that without a big injection of cash, Cameron is in danger of losing any credibility he has a compassionate politician.
His comments reflect widespread nervousness and anger in UK charities at the speed and unco-ordinated nature of the cuts. As councils, NHS primary care trusts and Whitehall departments attempt to deliver the massive budget cuts from next March, recent surveys suggest huge numbers of charities face potentially calamitous losses of grants, contracts and infrastructure support. Examples in the last fortnight include:
• About 2,500 charities that provide welfare services in Greater Manchester – around a quarter of all voluntary groups in the area – could go bust because of the cuts, according to estimates by the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation.
• A quarter of charities in the north-east of England which depend at least partially on public funding will go bust in the next 12 months, according to research by Voluntary Organisations Network North East. It says that while demand for services has rocketed, 64% of charities surveyed say they will be forced to close services.
• A third of charities nationally that receive state cash say they will have to reduce the level of services they provide, while over a quarter expect to make staff redundant, a survey by the Charity Finance Directors Group, consultants PWC and the Institute of Fundraising found.
The charity thinktank New Philanthropy Capital recently estimated that the voluntary sector's income from state sources could shrink by between £3bn and £5bn as a result of the cuts.
Nearly a quarter of all charities get cash from the government, and 13% rely on state funding for more than half of their income.
Robinson calls for an urgent assessment of the cuts. He tells Cameron: "I'm not asking you to renege on policy pledges, but give us more time … Allow us to draw breath or you will kill off the agencies you need to build the society you seek."
Although the government is preparing to launch a big society bank to lend to charities and social enterprises next spring, Robinson argues it is undercapitalised, and will not solve the immediate funding crisis. "Our most desperate need now is to maintain those services for the most vulnerable which will never be self-sustaining.
"It is these that are least likely to survive and it is the public funding of this provision that marks out our economy as that of a civilised and compassionate society."
He says the rapid withdrawal of resources as a result of cuts will cause a build-up of unmet social need among the most disadvantaged citizens that will in turn create an expensive long-term problem for the state.
Community Links, which was set up in a back room in East Ham by Robinson, Kevin Jenkins and a group of volunteers, has grown into the UK's biggest and most admired community organisation, providing a range of welfare services, from housing and debt advice to employment support and children's centres and youth clubs to more than 30,000 East End residents. Its latest accounts show it has an income of £9m, of which the lion's share comes from central or local government sources.'
The penny clearly has not dropped with Mr Robinson that King Cameron and his cabinet of Barons want it all for free and then claim the credit for it in their ideological shake out.
A new age of coalition government has begun...... but an old story I came accross show just what King Cameron gets up to at Number 10 behind the net curtains in November at least...Any one for tennis
'AN impromptu game of tennis inside No.10 Downing Street almost led to a smashed chandelier, Andy Murray has revealed. The Scots ace and seven other top tennis players were invited to meet David Cameron..... The PM borrowed a racket from Rafa Nadal before trading shots with the 23-year-old from Dunblane in the dining room. Murray said: "When he asked to hit a few balls back and forth I thought it was just going to be light hearted stuff but he began to hit the ball really hard. "He missed the chandelier by a couple of inches and it was scary. I wouldn't call it embarrassing. "I wouldn't even call it difficult. The only word for it was downright frightening." At about the same he also became a member ofthe MCC after a twenty five year wait.
Charity leaders are warning their organisations are facing bankruptcy because Government cuts will leave a £5bn funding black hole in the voluntary sector over the next four years.
Sir Steven Bubb, who heads up the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), told Sky News 39% of Government-subsidised organisations were seeing an increase in demand for their services - yet some are losing as much as half of their budget.
"We face significant cuts in public spending. Rising costs, rising VAT, loss of gift aid relief.
"A tax on bankers bonuses would bring in immediately something like £3bn - that would go a very long way to plugging that serious gap in our funding."
That is a radical idea that is unlikely to sit well with the Treasury - but it highlights the cynicism and disillusionment some voluntary sector workers feel towards a Conservative-led Government that put the concept of "The Big Society" with a key role for charitable organisations at the core of its election campaign.
Yet charities minister Nick Hurd MP says overt hostility from charities in the face of cuts is not a picture he recognises.
"Unfortunately the charitable sector can't be immune from the savings that have to be made, and in my conversations with them, they recognise that."
t is not just direct cuts in funding that is causing a financial headache for thousands of smaller charities.
The increase in VAT, changes to gift aid rules and falling public donations are putting some charities on the brink.
The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) is one of them.
It helps cancer sufferers from ethnic minorities combat the fact that their chances of finding a suitable bone marrow donor are one in 100,000 compared to one in four for white people by holding awareness drives targeting black communities.
But unless it can raise £80,000, it will close by April.
That will be a disaster for Charmaine Green, whose three-year-old daughter, Neveah, suffers from leukaemia and may need a transplant in the near future.
She believes it is not melodramatic to say saving the charity is a matter of life and death.
"It's a disaster - I don't know what we'll do - don't know where we would start looking for a donor.
"If the ACLT aren't here to help me find a matching bone marrow donor for Neveah, there’s nobody else out there who can do that for me."........
As all of us feel the pinch, the Government is advocating a programme aimed at building a stronger "culture of generosity" to get businesses and individual citizens digging deeper.
A survey confirms charities providing housing support and advice for homeless people, addicts, refugees and women's refuges are in line for dramatic reductions in funding
There's more grim news on the emerging Supporting People cuts funding scandal, which as I reported last week, will see housing and support services for the most vulnerable people decimated in many areas of the country, triggering a steep rise in homelessness and rough sleeping and an increase in crime and anti-social behaviour.
A survey published this morning finds nearly three quarters of supported housing charities have been warned by their local authority to expect "disproportionate" cuts to services which support homeless people, mentally ill people, refugees, women fleeing domestic violence, care leavers and teenage parents. One in five have been told to expect cuts of over 30%.
In Hull, 49 charities working with 8,500 vulnerable people in the city have been forced to issue redundancy notices after the council put them on notice that it "cannot guarantee" any Supporting People funding after March 31. The council this year spent £11m on Supporting people projects, but in theory next year could spend none at all. Liberal Democrat leader of the council Carl Minns said the removal of ring fencing meant "will have less money to put into grant-funded services next year."
The front page story of the Times this morning reported that the prime minster David Cameron's advisors fear the cuts are beginning to damage the Big Society initiative. It remains to be seen whether there are any levers Cameron could pull to protect Big Society, even if he wanted to. Philip Blond, the academic credited with providing intellectual ballast for the idea, is reported as saying:
Post by Colin Henderson on Jan 25, 2011 13:31:34 GMT
@ ikbikb:
If I had your talent for satire I would do an imagined exchange between Nick n Dave re the announcement this morning that despite (or because of) all this pain the UK is heading back into recession. It would suggest that Dave was completely indifferent to Nick's worry that their stab at government would be remembered for managing to actually halt a fragile recovery in its tracks AND simultaneously decimate the welfare state because he and his mates and those he represents are all far too rich to care. But I haven't so I won't.
(KC -King Cameron NC Nick Clegg GP Georgie Porgie)
KC Georgy Porgy what all this about a double dip recession. Does that mean I will only be able to dunk mi Garibaldi the once from now on…what? GP Your manliness it about the economy stupid! KC OOOOH it’s bloody serious then…right on old bean…remind me what’s economy…is it the carriage Cleggsy travels in on the way to yonna land Eh? GP NOOOO your godliness its what you manage for the Queen. KC Oh right on Georgy, old Sam Cam needs a bit of managing I can tell you…but I’m master in my domain…isn’t that right Sugar? Voice from behind the sofa…’Yes your peachiness’ KC Cleggsy bloody wondered where you got orf to…why are you hiding behind the Sofa…why don’t you rustle up crumpets and tea…What! NC Your smugness, I have every right to be here, I am the Deputy Prime Minister..Earl Grey OK KC Gosh, that’s news, I thought you were the bloody butler Say what’s a Deputy Prime Minister? No Lapsong singsong for me.. GP Your cuteness He’s your right hand man…PG for me Cleggs KC PG ? common as muck Georgie…you mean he’s rather like mifag at uni….when did he start? GP Your Knowitallness There was an election…We lost….We went into coalition…With the Liberals….We cut everything….We were popular….Now we’re not…We are heading for a DOUBLE DIP DEPRESSION…and we need to make sure Cleggsy and the liberals carry the can …sorry.…carry the can do message to the country if you see what I mean. OK Cleggsy pass the Rich Tea KC Georgie can’t remember a bloody thing…an election…people power, bloody scary. NC The papers are talking about STAGFLATION your highness and they blame me…Garibaldi OK Mi Lord KC Ah Cleggsy I bagged a few Stags in my time with mi shooter but it was bloody cold up with them barbarians north of the border…..of Greater London. GP You bumptiouness there is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month…. KC OH Whoopee we got a plan…I told you it was cold up north lets blame the snowmen makes a change from the Liberals. NC Yes blame me for everything won’t you, that’s your plan. That what everybody else does all the time, all day all week and they call me Judi….Garibaldi OK for you your majesty KC I say Cleggsy Can you introduce me to this Judi…sounds a bit of peach….everyone talking about her…Ding Dong…where’s the toasted crumpets… NC Your Worldliness ITS ME THEY CALL JUDI because they say I betrayed everyone….we’re OUT of crumpets. GP The head of the CBI claimed that the government had failed to create a credible growth strategy. KC By Jingo the blighters rumbled us that our economic plan is ...we hasven't got one...DRAT! NC. Your godliness Daiwa Capital Markets said it was "an absolute disaster for the economy…… we will have to brace ourselves for a bumpy ride," KC GP (In unison Not the union) ‘WE CLEGGSY? ‘ NC Your Hugeness what are we going to do?… the Deutsche Bank said today's decline was "quite shocking", and questioned whether the snow could really be blamed for the drop in economic activity. They think we’re telling PORKIES! One lump or two. KC Bloody cheek How dare they speak the truth….I’ll have the blighters… GP ‘We will not be blown off course by bad weather,….that would plunge Britain back into a financial crisis." KC Ah Georgy that’s a whopper..do you think they will believe it after all we can’t be blown back into a crisis we are already in …AHHHH is that our plan….telling whoppers? NC Your prettiness How about this ‘Britain's economic recovery is still in its early days". Milk or Cream KC Golly Gosh that’s a whopper as well…why can’t I think of them…or maybe I can ‘the coalition winning the next election will be easier than falling oft a log’ Bloody Hell that was easy. NC Your snootiness how about this one "The government has been doing the difficult work of putting the building blocks in place." KC Manificant….What a plan…How about this one Georgy ‘This is a coalition of equals’ GP HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW KC Georgy Shut up the staff will catch on….So we got a plan Blame the Liberals…Tell Whoppers…and blame the Liberals....call the Snowmen.... and blame the Liberals GP We need a bigger plan...How about….Kick the poor. KC You mean pop em orf with mi shooter Georgie? Sounds a bit drastic old bean....hasven't we done that one already..What? GP You’re barking, NO we've not done it enough hit the scroungers that what i say! KC Yes stick the boot into those bloody scroungers making false claims, pick pocketing mi purse night or bloody day, trying to use legal aid when they get caught...Jail to good for em...Horse Whip em that's what I say...those scroungers Chaytor and Lord Taylor are a bloody disgrace...and mark my words they are the tip of the ice berg...So we stick the boot into MPs old bean is that the plan? Sounds Jolly good fun. GP Your Battiness NO!....remember us posh lot need to stick together…and manage the economy NC Your orderliness Does that include me? Choccy biscuit you two? KC GP (In Unison Not the Union) NO! NC Your Goldfishness I’m Posh as well…I am descended from Imperial Russia when it counts…and I joined the Tory Party on the quiet, I am richer than you two jokers, it is I! I! I! who is the real Tory The real heir of St Margeret of Milk Snatching, just don't tell the Liberals, all pray to our blessed saint….finished with the tea then… KC GP (In Unison Not the Union) Oh god Gripper Gummer and the Cambridge Mafia were right you are our top agent in the Liberal Party on a very secret mission. Of course your posh, anyway you have your uses Cleggsy as a undercover Butler to HRH KC NC Your Spendiferousness Some one likes me…you won’t regret it…its hard being deep under cover in the Liberal Party they are as odd as you. They all drink green tea, have huge beards and want top ban the bomb. Anyway how are we going to kick the poor and develop our economic flan sorry plan…another cup KC GP (In Unison Not the Union) We certainly won’t regret it, we haven’t so far! GP Kicking the Poor well lets make the youngest age for JSA 100 AND all claiments have to be actively seeking work all day and night. That will also get rid of all pensions. Next lets make ESA only claimable by the dearly departed so that rules everyone out bar Derek Acorah. DLA will be renamed Dead Legs Annonamous and all claimants will be nameless so we can’t pay anything to anyone but they then also will be publically stigmatized for free. Finally we vote outselves a huge whopper of a pay rise for such a great plan. KC Well Baron Hardup you’re a genius….but I thought we already had done this. NC Your Joyfulness The twins Ian and Duncan Smith already did this in the universal credit. It’s a much fairer system of means tested help because no one gets anything and it has a right of appeal. There no legal aid to help but that doesn’t matter because no one can win anything, so no human rights are breached. It’s a perfectly fair system with an independent review system that saves money…Perfect. It also fits in with my liberal social democratic values. KC Your battier than a fruitcake Cleggsy GP Battier than you KC but its so mad its got to be true KC By Jove, WUFF WUFF, I think your right Georgie. Tell me Cleggsy will you go and sell it to the great British people NC Your corrosiveness Is my name Judi or is it the Town Hall Clock…I am after all the heir to Saint Margret of Milk Snatching, all pray. GP Yes it seems he will...Amen KC The plans a winner then…Its blame the liberals…tell whoppers….blame the liberals…be ever so posh….blame the snowmen ….kick the poor….and… KC GP (In Unison Not the Union) BLAME THE LIBERALS WHOOPEE…masterful Georgie…spot on Daveyboo.
Later that evening.....
KC Psssst Georgei Who's this bloody pretender King Mervyn isn't he descended from King Arther. He's been gaffing off on the bloody goggle box talking about things being 'Choppy' are we ship shape Porgie...or are you Baron of ideas? GP Your Worriedness you fret...King Mervin is nothing more than a bank manager....St Margeret of Milk Snatching sorted the earthly King Arther out in the eighties. KC AH Blessed Saint Maggs all kneel...but even I know King Mervin runs the Bank of England...isn't that important to us. GP Your Toryness all he does all day is sign bank notes...he not as important or an econnomic mastermind as ME ME. KC But Georgie King Mervyn said the Bank was not driven by headlines, but would work harder to explain the ''big picture.'' Our chips are bloody up....can't we nationilise him like the other banks GP Don't worry we have our plan.... KC Golly Gosh I forgot...Blame a whopper...tell a Liberal...whop a teller...kick a liberal.....and build a snowman and have a snowball fight... GP NO your Chinlessness...Its blame the liberals…tell whoppers….blame the liberals…be ever so posh….blame the snowmen ….kick the poor….and now...... KC Oh Georgie a seceret weapon....spiffing GP...Your Interuptingness...Blame a Liberal and be compassionate... KC Wow! Great! Super! How will that work....We're Millioniares? GP Be oh so serious, no smirking, and say common things that show were down there with em.. KC WHO Georgie? GC Your Magnifyingness The bloody riff raff...The ELECTORATE. KC Oh I don't know that sounds bloody bolshy Porgy we don't want any reds under my regal beds. GP Your tryingness Its easy like telling whoppers. Just don't laugh when you say "It is a hard road, but it leads to a better future."...."I am not going to hide hard choices from the British people...."Our policy is to raise from the ruins of an economy built on debt a new, balanced economy where we save, invest and export." Sounds good eh. KC BY JOVE I think I've got it. Hows about this one '"I would say it is more homely than chi-chi but all the more charming for that," - GC Your majesty not quite. KC How about this 'The only thing that's been disrupted are sleep patterns around here. We've all been working 16 or 18 hours a day, and either you don't get enough sleep when you try, or you stay awake wondering what needs to be done next. GP NO! KC 'It's our fault, too.' GP NO! KC 'I want to be a voice for change, for optimism and hope in this country' GP Better! KC 'People are crying out for a Conservative Party that is decent, reasonable, common sense and in it for the long term of this country.' GP That a Whopper! KC I want to confront the big challenges this country faces GP Perfect KC But Georgie please will you let us play wiff waff and bun fights...please georgie peorgie pudding and pie for after if you do.... GP Your Majesty OK close the curtains and remember the plan its fool proof..........of dear we're in trouble.....where's the pudd....
Next Day after PMQ at No 10 Tiffin
KC Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pies I went to Parliament and told a lie....it was a whopper. The plan worked! GP What did youi sday KC I said it was inevitable that the recovery would be "choppy and it will be difficult"....."What we need to do in our country is get the deficit down and accompany that by doing everything we can to encourage growth." GP HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW Cracking KC and wait for it a biff on the labour chappie nose...." your only plan is to borrow money we haven't got, to spend money on things we can't afford and not to do the work we need to do to sort this economy out." GP And did they believe it your trustfulness KC Hook, Line, and bloody sinker... Topo plan Georgie...And Cleggsy on TV selling it now to the Great British Public.. GP Quick turn the TV on NC "there are signs that the repair job we are doing on the government finances and the general creation of greater confidence in the economy might also start showing itself as well. KC What a bloody whopper...you think he believes it GP He does SHHHHH NC "I think it will be a crucial year - a crucial year, yes, of some very challenging circumstances for millions of people in this country, but I hope the beginning of a real turnaround as we move forward and as we successfully implement the repair job on the economy." KC HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW What a plan... GP Simple your eminance KC Close the curtains...Bun fight Georgie GP You be rock buns KC I'll be cream cakes ready, steady, throw....
Sooooo ....... at 1.31 pm on 25.01.11 ch subtly (!) tempts ikb to write something satirical, and by 4.53 on same day ikbikb has produced a sitcom script. Love the posts, ikbikb. Do keep them coming - we need the light relief to keep us going.
Truely awful interview at 8.50 on the Today programme by Tory Blah Blah responding on an announcement by Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, who slayed the BIG SOCIETY.
Hoodless told Today: "The cuts that are being imposed on local government and the health service are taking place now, so a lot of very worthwhile programmes, ... are now under threat of closure because local authorities have to make immediate cuts..... "We know we need to save money but there are other ways of saving money without destroying the volunteer army."
Nick Hurd on Today the minister for civil society, said some charities had become "too dependent on the state" and that the government wanted to help them become more independent. "
I believe it will be discussed in meetings today so watch this space
Truely awful interview at 8.50 on the Today programme by Tory Blah Blah responding on an announcement by Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, who slayed the BIG SOCIETY.
Hoodless told Today: "The cuts that are being imposed on local government and the health service are taking place now, so a lot of very worthwhile programmes, ... are now under threat of closure because local authorities have to make immediate cuts..... "We know we need to save money but there are other ways of saving money without destroying the volunteer army."
Nick Hurd on Today the minister for civil society, said some charities had become "too dependent on the state" and that the government wanted to help them become more independent. "
I believe it will be discussed in meetings today so watch this space
For info, nickd covered this over on MyLegal earlier:
The interview by Hurd was particulrly cynical basically stating that charities had become too dependent on public money BUT the HMG still wanted this help for free. He wanted to help Charities to change in a painful 'transition process' with lots of 'opportunity' and help them to be 'independent.'
This is the son of former Home Douglas Hurd and who was paid £138,969 in expenses 2008/9 www.guardian.co.uk/politics/person/9347/nick-hurd) Fatherin law Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian.
