Right's Think Tanks Enjoying Revival
Propeller-Head Wonk Watch: James Purnell's "workfare" proposals are being warmly welcomed by Chris Grayling his Tory welfare shadow. “Much of today’s package is a straight lift from our Green Paper in January... Because these are Conservative proposals we will support them. We will help him get them through this House."The Government's Green Paper may be lifted from the Tory Green Paper from January which itself bears a remarkable similarity to the Adam Smith Institute report from November 2007 - "Working Welfare". The ideas in that were were first expounded by the former MP for North Norfolk, Sir Ralph Howell. A resolute free-marketeer, Howell was the author of the ASI report "Why Work?" in the mid-1990s. The ASI's Madsen Pirie says "this idea has taken longer than we would have wanted to become government policy". The ideas were theoretical at that time in the 1990s before they were implemented in Wisconsin.
Michael Gove's advocacy of the Swedish model of "free schools" may owe a little to another recent ASI report - Open Access for UK Schools: What Britain can learn from Swedish Education Reform. Over at the new look Centre for Policy Studies things are getting more lively after a quiet period, Policy Exchange is becoming something of a powerhouse (incidentally, it was cleared by the Charity Commission of tit-for-tat allegations of partisanship).
Alas only the venerable Institute of Economic Affairs has yet to join the renaissance of right-of-centre think tanks in Westminster's wonkland...
26 comments:
I'd have been home to comment sooner if Mc Nazi & co hadn't made smoke-in's such fun! The Waggon & Horses sold more beer after last orders than before tonight I reckon.
What was that noise?
Ah yes, the last nail being hammered in Labours snout filled coffin!
Why have mass globalist EUrophile Tories called new Labour led by chief Nazi Brown when you can have the real selfish, corrupt, uncaring shitty europhile globalist thing With sCameron and his corrupt crooks.
Anonymous said...
The report says "to ensure they make a "fair contribution" in return for state support".
They have to work a full week in return for less than two days pay? Nulab in action. Things can only get better.
July 21, 2008 9:10 AM
NEWSFLASH
Slavery returns to the UK.
Draft em! bring back national service, what a cheap army 2 days pay for a full time squaddie snotty will go for that and they can bring their own guns.
O/T but has anyone seen the guardian photos of the canvassing for the East Glagow BY Election - good for a laugh if nothing else. One of the SNP candidate - with his head cut off - Freudian slip or what? Another of Ms ZaNuLab walking behind a bunch of people in a bus shelter. Why?
Despite all the hype its a green paper. A discussion document.
It means that its only the opening salvo or phut in probably 18 months of chatter about how to do this. Then a White Paper has to be drawn up, and then subject to votes and going thorugh both houses.
Give us a break from the media lap lap at the bowl of sensation. This in part has already been issued with new benefits costing more money to administer, and this from a government that has run out of money.
It won't happen at least while McBroon is still in the place. He himself has no mandate, will be terrified that the Tories, who he hates more than Ozzie Bin Laden, will be voting on his side...no wrong footing there then.
Occupational medicals have been going on for two years relating to Incapacity Benefit where the client is assessed for work he can do, while in receipt of IB. Little benefit from that, as the figures for IB claims have hardly changed at all since Zanu-Lab came to power.
Loadsa money (mine) spent on showing something is being done, but nothing happens!
Suprised?
Oh And I see that our very own war hero Gordo has pledged to do 'everything he can' to secure the release of the Iraq hostages
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/07/21/gordon-brown-s-pledge-over-british-hostages-in-iraq-86908-20656651/
What? Like sitting on his hands as he has done ever since they were taken?
"What? Like sitting on his hands as he has done ever since they were taken?"
It's worse than that: now Jonah the Bogeyman has waded in, the hostages are sure to be killed. Even if the hostage-takers weren't planning it already. He'll probably order a hostage rescue, SAS-style but using three drunken volunteers from the Catering Corps armed only with grenade launchers (more economical firepower than guns, you see). Sent in without training, they'll blow up the hostages, themselves and probably dozens of bystanders as well, yet somehow let the hostage-takers themselves escape unharmed to try again.
(The *really* sad thing here? I was aiming for parody, but it's probably all too close to what Broon will actually do.)
"They have to work a full week in return for less than two days pay?"
Damn right if it's my tax money.
I can see much of the enforcement being watered down by squeamish minds (and no surprise, it is a tough one) but what I DO see remaining is the nice "tendering" to private monopolies - more Corporatism, more fat contracts for their mates. Watch how the terms of the deal are "negotiated" by the Nations "simple shopper".
I also suspect the real scrounging hard nuts will be left alone (too scary) and the honest and sincere will be pestered and bullied.
Well, as long as Her Majesty's opposition are happy to push this through on behalf of the Government.
Happy days...
will those who don't speak a word of English also have to comply?
Will this mean the tidal wave of immigrants we cannot house, school or treat will cease?
The IEA is probably considered too radical by the Cameroons.
A curious little confection this green paper in many ways. Let's stick to one aspect:
Consider that Purnell is an ambitious man. Consider also what Diane Abbot said on the last Andrew Neil 'This week' programme about Gordon being jealous of anybody who might be a threat to him, so is Gordon trying to screw Purnell?
Why think that? Well, it's a fair bet that Labour's 'Hard Core' voters are IB claimants, especially in Glasgow East. So there's a good chance that they will now vote SNP. Hence the loss of Glasgow East will be blamed on Purnell - and not the great leader.
new labour new fascism said...
"will those who don't speak a word of English also have to comply?"
Of course not. They will be sitting at desks learning English at taxpayers expense to enable them to become productive members of the workforce. What could possibly be wrong with that?
"Will this mean the tidal wave of immigrants we cannot house, school or treat will cease?"
No, that will continue as now.
no longer anonymous said...
"Damn right if it's my tax money."
But when other people's tax money is being used to support you you'll be upset?
This whole thing will just turn out to be another privatization scam.
I bet the civil-service contract writers will have been told to make sure these companies bidding to be able to Jack-boot order the sick about will not have suffer any effective penalties if they are crap - unlike their concentration camp style inmate 'clients'. The Nazis did a good line in forced labour, it really boosted the profits of BASF and others.
A crap policy from a crap government.
Madsen Pirie should have had a stake driven thru his hearty long ago, fucking evil freak
"But when other people's tax money is being used to support you you'll be upset?"
I see it as my tax money being given back to me. Anyhow, my savings will ensure that never has to happen.
Madsen Pirie anagram time:
Mad Penis Ire
Aim Red Penis
Ride Ma Penis!
A Rimed Penis
Sums him up quite well.
no longer anonymous said...
"my savings will ensure that never has to happen."
Dream on.
Re Madsen Pirie:
He tries hard, but does not seem to understand that in the real world organisations like those bidding to do this bit of Treasury phoney cost cutting are merely 'rent seekers' - curiously Adam Smith did.
If IB is £4,500 a year and if these companies are to be paid £50,000 for getting keeping somebody in a job for a couple of years then, when they promptly get the sack after the two years (the employers are paid a 2 year sweetener as well), the whole 'revolving door' caper goes around another loop. Result? The taxpayer forks out far more than he would otherwise have done (1 two year job on minimum wage versus the £50,000 + employer sweetner is a bad deal compared to two years of IB benefit).
Typical dodgy financial thinking coming from the Treasury.
I bet the SNP is rather more popular than NuLabour in Glasgow East as a result of this Purnell blockbuster!
Whilst the proposals bear a remarkable similarity to those of two US guys the IEA had over to brief politicians and others earlier this year, in general the IEA's role is to be the long-range artillary trying to change the way people think. It is not the IEA's role to shape today's political agenda. Indeed, it was over a decade ago that the IEA set the ball rolling in this field by bringing over the architect of the Wisconsin reforms - the impact was long term. Consider also, for example, the IEA's recent papers on public sector pensions which have become the defining publications on the issue. In time, other think tanks will start doing work in this area and, eventually, the politicians will follow because the climate of opinion has been changed by the IEA. Guido seems to want all think tanks to have exactly the same role - that of influencing the Conservative Party. It is a good job that some choose to educate more widely (students, teachers, academics, and so on) otherwise any future free-market government (of any party) would be operating in a climate so hostile, it would not get anything done. To give another example, the IEA publication Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy is clearly changing attitudes amongst people who are making public statements about subjects such as development economics in churches. This work is important otherwise politicians of all parties end up just supporting campaigns such as the Make Poverty History Campaign (as indeed they did two years ago). Guido should familiarise himself with the role of think tanks in general and that of the IEA in particular. Arthur Seldon would be turning in his grave if he thought that people like Guido believed that the great reforms of the 1980s came about because the IEA tried to have influence in the Conservative Party (a party he had little time for). It was because the IEA changed the climate of opinion that the Conservative Party were able to enact some IEA ideas. And, indeed, the Labour Party did too after 1997. Even the Lib Dems are turning liberal again, not least because of the long-term influence of the IEA in changing the climate of opinion. Maybe Guido should also read the IEA's Prohibitions book (covered at great length on Radio 4). Abolish gun control? Allow the sale of body parts? Legalise prostitution? Can he see any of those as Conservative Party policy? Of course not, but that is not the point. The IEA wants to change the way people think about these issues, not policy engineer for political parties. All organisations find their niche.
The ASI suggested workfare before even Wisconsin had prototyped it.
The IEA in the heyday interacted with politicians. Nowadays it does not do much of that. If you want to put ideas into action, you have to influence those with the power.
Again, I think that shows a misunderstanding of both the history and mission of the IEA. I believe that Arthur Seldon named seven politicians with whom he had good relationships in one of his books (one of whom was Joe Grimmond of course) in a 35 year plus career. Insofar as politicians are its market, the IEA interacts mainly with those politicians of all parties who are seriously interested in ideas (but also with others too in the general course of its work). It is the few and the thoughtful that are the IEA's focus - not because all politicians are not important but because the principle of division of labour is as important in wonkland as anywhere else. Why should the IEA simply replicate what Policy Exchange does well? And if Policy Exchange are doing their job well but the bigger problem for the IEA is seen to be the long-term influence of socialism on students and teachers then it makes sense to redouble efforts in that area. How would Guido react if he was accused of not writing effective penetrating political philosophy on his blog? Clever as he is that's not his job. As it happens, though, the last issue of Economic Affairs had articles by both David Laws and Michael Gove and the former has contributed three times to IEA publications in the last couple of years. The recent book on Happiness Economics was not only referred to by Cameron in a speech but Cameron has given up talking about maximising "general wellbeing" since he read it(or his advisors read it or attended one of the many public debates the authors have been participating in). But, in any case, these things are not so important as the fact that the monograph is second on a UK and sixth on a worldwide google search of the issue (and if you google a very general term such as Catholic social teaching, the IEA's monograph is 7th out of over half a million worldwide references - second in the UK). This is at least as important for the IEA than whether a passing politician picks up an IEA publication (the ideas in which he will probably reject as they do not compromise sufficiently). It is acceptance in the intellectual community that the IEA has always aimed for - that is what FA Hayek told Fisher to seek. Politicians are only a small part of that community.
Professor Emeritus Sir Madsen Pirie shows the necessity of taking the long view for those in the business of nano-incrementalism. After all, it took around two hundred years for Adam Smith (the first in a distinguished tradition of freaks from Kirkcaldy) to re-brand himself as a free-marketeer.
Nevertheless, some may accuse Lord Pirie of being too modest for his claim that 'welfare to work' has only recently attracted attention.
Politicians have discussed such schemes for as long as he's been flying kites and squirting water-pistols.
It's just such a shame that the institute gains influence with the Brown administration at such an inauspicious time.
Never mind ... today Wisonsin, tomorrow Vermont!
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