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Showing posts from May, 2010

Here we go...

Posted on This is My Truth on 24 May "A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" is how Oscar Wilde defined a cynic. How else can you characterise someone who can describe the end of the Child Trust Fund scheme as "Action to cut Whitehall waste" ? For those who don't have to worry about how to dodge inheritance tax because they can expect no handsome bequest the Child Trust Fund provided the promise of a future. Studies show that young adults with a small amount of capital at the beginning of adulthood had a significant advantage 10 years later over those who did not, enjoying more employment, higher earnings and better health It was one of the most radical attempts to engineer a more equal society in the long term. Waste, apparently. Among the £6.2 Billion cuts this financial year is England's £5 million "Play Strategy". Encouraging the poorest children to play, learn, grow in confidence and explore freely has now been e

New Politics?

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Posted on This is My Truth on 13 May 80% of the new Cabinet are male. 95% are white. 59% are privately educated 69% went to Oxbridge.

Don't be fooled

Posted on This is My Truth on 7 May 2010 "Labour is the luckiest party in Wales. End of" Darren Hill concluded this morning. It was a complex result no doubt. Labour held the notionally Conservative Vale of Clwyd and very nearly hung onto Cardiff North. It lost other Conservative targets in Carmarthen West and the Vale of Glamorgan as expected, but held on to Gower, Delyn, Bridgend and Cardiff West which could have been reasonably expected to have fallen into Tory hands. Why? I'm wary of instant analysis so I'll reserve my judgement. But Labour should not be fooled into thinking that this was a good result. Across the UK they achieved less than 30% of the popular vote - lower even than in 1983. This is clearly not a strong platform to enter the Assembly elections. Depending on the colour of the Government that is formed Labour looks out onto perilous territory. The Liberal Democrats are in strong positions in Swansea West, Pontypridd, Newport East and Merthyr