One of the mantras of modern education has been the benefits of (need for) 'lifetime learning'; the utility of adults retiring to education when their skills need updating or they wish to acquire knowledge to change (or develop) their career(s).
That funding cuts since 2010 have nearly halved the numbers of adults (re)entering various levels of education is both depressing & another instance of austerity & Tory cuts constraining people's life choices (chances).
#Austerity#Populism#Europe#Globalization#Inequality: "Governments have repeatedly adjusted fiscal policy in recent decades. We examine the political effects of these adjustments in Europe since the 1990s using both district-level election outcomes and individual-level voting data. We expect austerity to increase populist votes, but only among economically vulnerable voters, who are hit the hardest by austerity. We identify economically vulnerable regions as those with a high share of low-skilled workers, workers in manufacturing and in jobs with a high routine-task intensity. The analysis of district-level elections demonstrates that austerity increases support for populist parties in economically vulnerable regions, but has little effect in less vulnerable regions. The individual-level analysis confirms these findings. Our results suggest that the success of populist parties hinges on the government's failure to protect the losers of structural economic change. The economic origins of populism are thus not purely external; the populist backlash is triggered by internal factors, notably public policies."
You'll be unsurprised that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed 'extra' NHS spending promised by the Tories was eaten up by inflation;
this is what happens when the focus is no nominal not real (inflation-adjusted) values.
Its been obvious that the defunding of the NHS was at least partly achieved by being publicly obscure (with media collusion) about inflation-adjusted funding & instead trumpeting absolute/nominal funding increases.
As usual, #IMF enforcing capitalists' debts over #Pakistan by forcing #austerity over a #ClimateCrisis stricken country, while (2 years on) promised funds by international banks remain #Greenwashing stunts.
'..why there has been a delay, Mr Ye said that the amount pledged was for reconstruction.. "..the new climate risk profile and the possibility that these areas may be flooded again,”...'
Another day, another part of the NHS beset by crisis & workforce problems (here the toxic combination of de-funding & de-skilling) as cash-strapped GP practices cannot afford locus GPs & are shifting to 'associate' positions... if you think this looks like the Teaching Assistant move in schools you'd not be wrong.
Its just another aspect of the Tories attack on professions via budget cuts & 'facilitating' their work to be done by the un(der) trained.
@sjwrenlewis explores relations between the Public debt/GDP ratio & 'tax smoothing' to manage higher levels of debt when particular expenditure seems both necessary & prudent, but when taxes should be more stable.
If you have a Direct Debit to pay for their energy bills, 'tax smoothing' is like the DD while public debt changes are like your shifting energy use.
I don't like the household metaphor but here it does makes sense even if SWL doesn't use it.
Hallituksen mukaan joukolla sopiminen on huono asia koska
Jokainen työläinen voi paikallisesti sopimalla saada paremmat palkat kuin joukkosopimalla saisi
ja
Joukkosopiminen on liian tehokasta ja nostaa palkkoja liikaa
Miten hallitus perustelee nämä kaksi kantaa yhdessä? Mumisemalla jotain höpöhöpöä valtion taloudenpidosta ja kiirehtimällä asiantuntijoiden ohi iskemään lait voimaan.
Its been clear for ages that many public service cuts are false economies.... as a friend of mine pointed out some time ago, if you cut early intervention & prevention services (which can be relatively cheap & effective), you then enlarge the demand for more expensive (and often mandatory) crisis services....
A new IFS study that looked at closing police stations, suggests, likewise that every £1 saved by closing a location increased social costs by £3!
"oh but my local tory councillor is a lovely person doing great work in the community..." doesn't matter. they're still part of a party that has completely and utterly shagged this country for the last 14 years, a party that welcomes racists, islamophobes, tax dodgers, sexual predators with open arms, gave you #brexit, #austerity, systematically dismantled the #nhs... if your local councillor is such a stand-up person, ask yourself why... #LocalElections#toryScum#neverKissedATory
To be clear, I don't blame the nurses & doctors in A&E who are encountering budget & capacity pressures that would make it difficult for anyone to do a good job.
As length of waiting times in A&E grow, so do deaths while waiting to be seen; but this is part of the crisis engineered by the Tories, not a managerial or staff training issue (which is not to say these have no impact).
@ChrisMayLA6
There's nothing wrong with the #NHS that undoing 15 years of #Tory#austerity won't fix. Just look at wait time and satisfaction data from 2009.
It's not the NHS model that's the problem, it's the #Tories
So, while there are lots of things that one might be concerned about with the civil service, equally its problems are unlikely to be resolved by reducing the workforce.... but, this is now being presented as the redirection of funds to the defence budget.
Don't be fooled; this is a classic but of 'securitisation': using the narrative of 'security' to obscure other goals; in this case an attempt to shrink the state - a task the Tories have already failed at.