The Government today confirmed two Wandsworth schools will still be given millions of pounds for improvement work despite axing the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

At RNC meeting, a sense of opportunity -- and also urgency A3 Politics - United States - Chats and Forums - Government - Barack Obama

I see no reason why councils should use taxpayers’ cash to pay PR firms to influence government policy – and I’m going to stop it

Many councils and quangos hire public affairs firms using taxpayers’ money to lobby government for even more money: it sounds like something that shouldn’t be allowed, but it is happening with increasing frequency.

Residents want to see their council tax spent on improving services, not on lobbyist loud-hailer propaganda to sidestep transparency laws or peddle more regulation or secure special favours. That only weakens democracy.

To lobby on unitary council restructuring, Exeter county council hired Luther Pendragon, Norwich city employed Connect Public Affairs and Penwith paid for Atherton Associations. And when Surrey police authorities tried to raise their council tax precept by over 7%, they hired top dogs Weber Shandwick, using public money to try to oppose a cap.

Taxpayer-funded campaigns conducted by private lobbying firms mean public money gets taken beyond the local area, public policy is weakened and public discourse becomes a soundbite battle. Lobbyists are not subject to freedom of information or transparency rules. Democracy is at its strongest when it is cost-efficient, open and transparent, and lobbying on public money undermines it.

We need to change our political culture and the rules on publicity because these sorts of campaigns are not localist: public money is being spent outside the local area on national lobbyists to influence national politicians on parliamentary matters.

There’s nothing wrong with private firms choosing to hire public affairs firms, provided it’s transparent. But there is something wrong when local authorities increasingly feel they need to hire lobbyists to communicate with Whitehall.

Council tax should not be used for the corrosive and wasteful practice of government lobbying government. Local activism and localism doesn’t need corporate lobbyists. It wastes taxpayers’ money and adds to the cost of politics something this government is trying to bring down. We want a “big society”, not big government.

This new government wants a total change in the way our country is run – from closed systems to open markets, from bureaucracy to democracy, from big government to “big society”, from politician power to people power.

So I intend to introduce tough new rules around council publicity that will increase transparency and make sure Whitehall and town halls talk directly in open and accountable ways.

Councils are part of the team. We want to hand power back to councils so the door is open. If a local politician wants to change something they only need to knock, pick up a pen or fire off an email. We will continue to do business openly. At the recent Local Government Association’s conference, I made the point of trying to meet as many councillors face to face as I could.

The previous government’s weakening of the rules on town hall publicity not only wasted taxpayers’ money and added to the wave of junk mail but has also undermined a free press. That is why we also need to end the unfair competition between free council newspapers and independent local newspapers. They should not face unfair state competition from propaganda. Local press must continue to be there to scrutinise local government. Councils should also spend less time and money on the town hall Pravda and focus more on frontline services like providing regular rubbish collections.

Local councils are going to have a lot more power to shape their community under the new government. But accountability and transparency need to go with it. I want a transparency revolution so local people can hold local politicians to account about how their hard-earned cash is being spent. That is why I have urged all councils to publish details of all spending over £500 in full and online so you can see what they are spend your money on.

My own department needs to practise what it preaches. I’ll be publishing our departmental spending over £500 next week. And I’ve already instructed all quangos under my watch to cancel their lobbyist contracts. Taxpayers won’t have to bankroll any longer a £35,767 Ordnance Survey contract with Mandate; the Audit Commission have ended their £55,617 deal with Connect Public Affairs to keep Comprehensive Area Assessments (they’re gone too); and the Tenants Services Authority £80,000 plus contract with APCO Worldwide has stopped.

Yes. I’m walking this walk. Now it’s time for councils to walk the line too, to create a healthy and robust local democracy, rather than lining the pockets of lobbyists.

Eric Pickles introduces statutory rules intended to abolish campaigns being run from public funds

The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, today announced "tough new rules" designed to abolish the practice of town halls and public bodies hiring lobbyists.

He said he wanted to end "lobbying on the rates", whereby local councils and quangos used public money to employ firms to lobby the government.

Pickles has published a list of 85 local authorities and police authorities that have hired national public affairs firms.

All bodies that receive funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government have been ordered to sever their contracts with lobbying firms, he said.

The new rules take the form of an amended statutory Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which is intended to stop campaigns being run from public funds.

Ministers claim some of the most common lobbying hirers have been councils campaigning for and against unitary restructuring, against council tax capping, and for more central public funding, which they say are matters for parliament to decide.

Pickles said: "Taxpayer-funded lobbying and propaganda on the rates weakens our democracy.

"So-called town hall newspapers are already closing down scrutiny from independent local papers. Now, lobbyists are being used to sidestep transparency laws and shadowy figures are peddling more regulation and special favours.

"Local activism and localism don't need lobbyists. If local politicians want to change the way government operates, their council should send a letter or pick up the phone.

"Councillors can campaign for change at a personal or party political level, rather than throwing away other people's council tax on the corrosive and wasteful practice of government lobbying government.

"These tough new rules will lower the cost of politics and increase transparency."

The assembly government pledges its supportover the next 25 years to help manage waste in north Wales that cannot be recycled.

Government should coordinate with the RBI for withdrawing fiscal stimulus as it would lead to less monetary tightening, said a research firm.

The Government today confirmed two Wandsworth schools will still be given millions of pounds for improvement work despite axing the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

The Government has been urged to consider banning strikes in essential services as unions prepare to take action against spending cuts.

The Tasmanian Government has defended allowing a pulp mill pipeline to be built in the state’s north, on land acquired for a road bypass.

The Canadian government has been spending tens of thousands of dollars each year to provide condoms to inmates in federal prisons.

America has long been a country of entitlement. Originally defined as a “guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or legislation,” entitlement now includes “anyone who is deserving of some particular reward or benefit.” This has changed the paradigm of entitlements, as well as the future of America, forever. Many think “entitlement” and welfare and Social Security come to mind. The United States did not have an organized welfare system until the Great Depression when emergency relief measures were introduced under FDR to prevent societal and economic collapse. Even then, Roosevelt’s New Deal focused predominantly on programs providing work and stimulating the economy through public spending on projects, rather than on cash payments. Entitlement is now understood to be anyone who feels entitled to any government funds. Our entitlement culture expects the government to provide things perceived as basic human rights such as health care, employment, food, shelter and education. But the underlying reason for its existence is the same as it was during the ’30s: Without it, we’ll be looking at the collapse of America and a revolution much like Russia suffered in 1917, though catastrophically worse. The problem with entitlements is how they’re paid for. Raising money through taxes won’t happen because the only segment of the economy that can afford a substantial tax increase, the rich, have political power to prevent it. And with the federal deficit at the point where any increase may break the bank, you can forget about borrowing much more. But as the economy continues to tank, more people need entitlements to survive these very times the government can least afford them. This is like retrofitting a bridge for the next big quake using weaker replacement supports as traffic using the bridge gets heavier. The bridge eventually collapses on its own. For years, I’ve been warning that industrial civilization’s growth economy has reached its peak and is entering a long period of contraction. As the private sector shrinks, so will jobs and income. Many economists now predict that most jobs lost since 2007 will never return and the situation is made gloomier by two government reports on July 22 showing that retraining programs are failing because there are few jobs to retrain people for and those unemployed who are 55 and older will probably never work again. In our entitlement society, this once productive segment of America will feel entitled to federal help, help we can’t afford. The questions that haunted FDR have to be on the minds of our leaders today as circumstances are exponentially worse. The economy had room to grow 75 years ago when the population was a manageable 120 million, one-third of what we have today. Adding to the problem is that the U.S. population is expected to grow another 100 million in the next 40 years. As people continue to lose their homes and unemployment benefits, they’ll then have to sell everything of value they have left. Turning to the traditional areas of help, such as families and churches, will be difficult as they are already stretched to the limit. Soup kitchens such as the Salvation Army or The Table in Napa are feeding record numbers while Napa’s South Shelter and other North Bay homeless shelters have long waiting lists. This desperate situation is the same all across the nation. As soon as the government cannot provide basic housing and food to these tens of millions of people, localized lawlessness and chaos will give way to complete anarchy. Those not believing this bleak scenario only have to be reminded that civilizations based on growth have always collapsed when their populations overshoot the carrying capacity of their financial systems and resources. Each civilization believes it will be different than those in the past because they’ve progressed farther and won’t make the same mistakes. Then they quickly proceed to fail with even more tragic results. There are some countries that understand this. Australia and Canada, both with about the same land mass as America and more natural resources, have decided to not pursue population and economic growth as they have in the past. They look at us, each with about one-tenth of our population, and wonder what we’re going to do with all these people who expect the government to take care of them in the worst of times? Entitlement/stimulus programs can work, but only if they don’t bankrupt the country first. As bad as things are, there are countries worse off, such as Saudi Arabia. Oil allowed it to have the largest entitlement program in history where every citizen is taken care of. But its population has long overshot its economic capacity. No nation is borrowing as furiously as the Saudis to keep their entitlement from sinking their ship on a sea, of all things, oil. http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_77b3f998-a11a-11df-a0b0-001cc4c03286.html (Lydecker lives in Napa.)

LOS ANGELES — Republican Sharron Angle believes the clergy should be allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit and opposes laws allowing gays to adopt children, according to a questionnaire by the Nevada Senate hopeful that was obtained by The Associated Press.

Angle, who is trying to unseat Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, completed the four-page questionnaire for a conservative political action committee that has endorsed her candidacy.

The document provides a window into Angle's social and moral views, which would place her among Congress' most conservative members at a time of ongoing culture wars over gay rights, abortion and the boundaries between religion and government.

Among her positions, outlined in answers to 36 yes-or-no questions, Angle would oppose making sexual orientation a protected minority in civil rights laws. In a section on school prayer, she affirms that students and teachers should be able to talk openly about religion in schools, including the right to "publicly acknowledge the Creator."

The federal government bans churches from participating in political campaigns on behalf of candidates, but Angle said clergy should be able to express views on candidates from the pulpit.

Angle is a devout Southern Baptist, and she has talked openly about her faith and how it informs her politics. She describes her campaign as a spiritual calling, and accused Reid and Democrats in Washington of trying to "make government our God" by expanding entitlement programs.

Reid's campaign has called those comments "radical" and "frightening."

In the questionnaire, submitted to the Washington-based Government is not God political committee, Angle said she would vote in Congress to prohibit abortion "in all cases," and considers a fetus a person under the Constitution.

The Washington-based group's website says it supports candidates who oppose abortion rights and "stand firmly against the unbiblical welfare state that is destroying the spiritual and economic greatness of our nation."

Angle favors laws to restrict the production and sale of pornography, and believes that federal involvement in public schools should end. Also, she would oppose federal efforts to regulate private schools.

Angle's campaign has attracted support from conservative groups, including the Tea Party Express and the low-tax Club for Growth. She has been blaming Reid for Nevada's dismal economic condition – it leads the nation in joblessness and foreclosures – while Reid has sought to depict her as an extremist who would dismantle Social Security and Medicare.

Angle's views on church-state separation have been an issue in the race.

In a June interview on Nevada's KVBC's news interview program "Face to Face with Jon Ralston," Angle was asked about minutes from a 1995 legislative hearing in which she reportedly said the doctrine of church-state separation is unconstitutional. Asked on the program if the separation of church and state arises out of the Constitution, Angle answered "no." She said Thomas Jefferson is often misquoted and that he wanted to protect churches from being taken over by a state religion. The drafters of the Constitution "didn't mean that we couldn't bring our values to the political forum," she said.

Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based advocacy group, said allowing clergy to make endorsements from the pulpit would turn houses of worship into "electoral machinery."

"When candidates are trying to get the endorsement of religious leaders, it tends to corrupt the political process and the integrity of the church," Lynn said. "I don't think churches should be cogs in a political machine, but that's what happens when you have to decide yes or no to a candidate's particular election."

Angle spokesman Jarrod Agen said the nation has a long history of clergy speaking out on matters of conscience and Angle "believes it is improper for the federal government to use the threat of revoking tax exempt status against churches and pastors."

Under the federal tax code, churches and other religious organizations could lose tax-exempt status if leaders make partisan comments at functions or in publications.

On adoptions, Angle believes children should have a relationship with a mother and a father, and she believes education should be managed at the local level "not by bureaucrats in Washington," he added.

The annual checkup of the government's big benefit programs for the elderly showed that the administration's sweeping health care overhaul will extend the life of the Medicare hospital insurance fund by 12 years.

Government says health care overhaul extends life of Medicare hospital trust fund by 12 years Medicare - Health care - Trust law - Health - Hospital

The government has published hundreds of previously-classified files on UFOs and ‘flying saucers’ revealing several curious incidents from recent history.

The government has decided not to introduce export duties on potash, Vedomosti reported Thursday, in what analysts said would be a boon for producers and a sign of the lobbying power of Uralkali’s new owners.

The Government was today accused of “hiving off” parts of the NHS and forcing Trusts to axe jobs as hundreds of fresh cuts were announced to make millions of pounds worth of savings.

The U.K. government is seeking to part-privatize NHS Professionals Ltd ., a staff agency that provides workers for the state-funded National Health Service.

Government to persevere with browser despite high-profile vulnerabilities and advice from France and Germany The government has ruled out scrapping the use of Internet Explorer 6 on department computers, saying it will persevere with the bullet-riddled browser despite its high-profile vulnerabilities . Responding to an online petition with more than 6,000 signatures urging government departments …

The government raised its pay offer to civil servants on Thursday to try to avert a strike by nearly a million public workers.

The Governments plan to restructure the Vinashin group aims to build a new company to build, repair and work as a supportive partner for the shipbuilding industry.

Ferreting out waste in Washington isn't much sport. Opportunities for the government to spend taxpayers' money are so plentiful that discovering boondoggles is like shooting fish in a barrel. Even so, it's disappointing to find so much waste in last year's stimulus, heralded by the Obama administration as the key to economic recovery.U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona ...

Prime minister misses one-to-one talks with Italian counterpart but joins him for dinner

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Turn up late. David Cameron, on his first visit to the Italian capital since becoming prime minister, arrived almost an hour behind schedule and had to skip planned one-to-one talks with his Italian counterpart.

Instead, he went straight into dinner with Silvio Berlusconi. This can be quite an experience, as numerous young women have testified to Italy's police and prosecutors. Only this week, it was reported that a 38-year-old prostitute, Maria Teresa 'Terry' De Nicolo, had described how she and "perhaps 15" women enjoyed a meal with Italy's prime minister before she and a couple of the others joined him in bed.

The prime minister has already gone to see his counterparts in France and Germany. So it was natural he should take up Berlusconi's invitation to Rome.

The two men had much to discuss. Officials said the agenda included the world economy and its recovery, including how to boost trade between Britain and Italy, and Afghanistan, where the two countries are among the biggest military contributors. They also said Britain saw Berlusconi and his right-wing government as "influential" in the Middle East and that the talks would cover Israel and the Palestinians, Iran and Turkey. Italy also vigorously supports Turkey's entry into the EU.

That said, anyone speculating that the prime minister was just the slightest bit embarrassed to be in such close proximity to his flamboyant Italian counterpart would not have been dissuaded by the speed with which he swept in and out of Rome without holding a press conference.

The fragrant De Nicolo's alleged encounter with the media tycoon-turned-statesman took place at his private residence, Palazzo Grazioli. But the prime minister was shown to Berlusconi's official home in Rome, Palazzo Chigi, which is about a quarter of a mile away.

It was clear their menu had been carefully vetted to remove any possible culinary double entendres. Officials said they sat down to an unabashedly patriotic meal of Insalata Caprese, Penne Tricolore (pasta in the colours of the Italian flag), strips of Chianina beef from Tuscany, cheese and, of course, Italian ice cream. The only mystery surrounded the vegetables for the main course, which a spokesman for the Italian government described as "unspecified".

Who needs all those boring old paintings on the wall when I've got my brilliant avant-garde street-arty stuff?

So before Dave went to India, he said to pick some art for the flat, supposing it ever gets finished, which is so kind of the government to offer but quite disturbing really, because it means Gordon Brown must have personally chosen that flayed lion being eaten by rats, in actual skin, that used to hang over the bed.

But it was thanks but no thanks, I told Mummy, because you'd think from the list there hadn't been an important artist since Sergeant and, to be honest, everyone's got one of those. I mean, hello, Government Art Collection – Banksy or Eine anyone? It's as if the whole avant-garde street arty thing never happened. God knows what you're meant to do if you're going for a pared-down look with basically an eclectic mix of bold abstracts, photographs and irreverent stencils to subvert the hideous corporate vibe – losing battle with Cherie's crystal pelmets, the architect says, since it turns out she actually got them listed.

The little clerk in charge was so sweet at first, said Cherie hasn't returned the Sergeants yet anyway, but he was sure there was a Vanessa Bell somewhere, lots of orange, very modern, look lovely with the futons. Well, I went, absolutely no disrespect but if this is really all you've got, would the government like to borrow some stuff of ours, there's way too much for the flat?

I can't be certain until they've repainted the drawing room in blighted udder, as intended – unbelievable Cable thought I'd be taken in by the Homebase magnolia – but we could probably spare the large Gobshite and a couple of quite rare Philths, from when he was still using his own bodily fluids. Instead of leaping at the chance, clerky man goes all huffy, so I'm like, I do have a degree in fine art, for what it's worth, as well as counting Gobshite, Dregz and the Grotmeister as personal friends.

Texted Dave who said some people are born chippy, look at Pakistan, and forget the big state babes, just ring Govey. Which is a brilliant idea because they haven't got a thing unless you count those seascapes from John Lewis. They must dream of living with a genuine Tosspot.