Borrowing to Pay Public Sector Pensions is £1 in £7

Tory MP Breaks Pelvis | Telegraph
Obama is a Hypocrite and Coward on the Falklands | Nile Gardiner
Update From the Envy of the World | The Commentator
Number 10 Wanted Hayes Out of DECC | James Forsyth
Gunboat For Guido | MediaGuido
Dave Would’ve Lost Leveson Vote But Won Moral Victory | ConHome
Lord Ahmed Says Sorry, Now Labour Can Kick Him Out | Dan Hodges
How Bitcoin Could Destroy the State | Hugo Rifkind
Damian McBride and Me | Iain Dale
Is Cameron Scared of His Own Party? | James Kirkup
We Don’t Want David Miliband’s Help | Guardian

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Borrowing to Pay Public Sector Pensions is £1 in £7

The budget has yet to entirely unravel this year though there are some nasty figures buried in the small print. The Centre for Policy Studies has spotted that deep within the Budget Red Book is the admission that the cashflow shortfall between public sector pensions’ contributions and pensions in payment is now forecast to double within 5 years. The pensions gap is growing to such an extent that it will soon represent a significant driver of the deficit. The 2013 Budget now forecasts a Public Sector New Borrowing Requirement of £96 billion for 2015 – the year the Coalition optimistically intended to close the deficit. At £13.6 billion, the pension cashflow shortfall will then be equivalent to 14% of the deficit. Unaffordable.
To put it plainly the government will by 2015 be borrowing £1 in every £7 it borrows to cover the gap in public sector pensions, at a cost of £1,500 to every household every year. So much for the post-bureaucratic age…

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013

Goodbye Glen Oglaza

Goodbyes are flooding in to one of the nicest blokes in politics, seasoned telly hack Glen Oglaza, who is leaving SkyNews today.
Glen says he is “open to interesting well-paid offers”, and that “the time is right” to move on.
Another favourite face from Sky gone.

McBride Coughs Fishy Poll

The news that McBride’s book will upset Labour conference has caused a flutter today. Many of his old allies have popped up to help the re-branding exercise. No doubt they will be salivating at the prospect of the serialisation rights, hence why no one has noted that the deal will earn Mad Dog far more than the royalties he has pledged to give away. Looking back at his recent blogposts shows the level of detail we can expect about the Brown years; one thing stuck out about his latest musing though:

“As our internal polls used to tell us, there were a number of Tory leaders who could potentially have beaten Tony Blair in 2005, and Hague was arguably one of them.”

You have to wonder what a Civil Servant at the Treasury was doing having access to “internal polls” in 2005. What internal polls? Surely the Treasury were not polling this sort of information? A Labour source familiar with that particular period does not recall any Labour Party poll commissioned on the subject. Was this done by that famous impartial charity the Smith Institute? If not, who paid for it and was money declared? What else will Damian let out of the bag about doing Gordon’s leadership dirty work on the taxpayer? 

Guidogram Going Out Shortly

The Guidogram round-up of the week is going out shortly.
Thousands of Westminster insiders read the Guidogram, everyone from Downing Street insiders to Fleet Street never miss it. All your Handy-cock latest, and more.
Join the conspiracy and become asubscriber to the Guidogram, free, to keep in the loop. You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

BBC Apologises to Tories for Using Term “Bedroom Tax” on Air

Local Tories have managed to get an apology out of the BBC for their use of the term “Bedroom Tax” on BBC Look North.  Economic and Social Affairs Correspondent reporter Jayne Barrett told Pendle Conservatives that she was “told off” by her boss and emailed to asking them to “please accept my apology”. Given the widespread use of the term all over the airwaves, perhaps someone more senior might like to apologise for misleading viewers…

No Charges for Eric Joyce This Time

Cheers!

WATCH: Obama a Coward and Hypocrite on Falklands

Well someone had to say it. 

Via @liarpoliticians.

LISTEN: Clegg Blames the Postman for Handy-cock Silence

Clegg has been spinning hard on LBC this morning. On Handy-cock he, surprise surprise, says he wasn’t told about the allegations:

“My office never received the letter from the claimant’s solicitors (in 2011), we did however receive a letter in February this year. Police have looked at this before and dismissed it on the advice of the CPS. My chief whip has gone down to Portsmouth and spoken to Mike Hancock’s solicitor. I hope you won’t imply in any way that we are not acting thoroughly and quickly to what are very serious allegations. I’ve not spoken to Mike Hancock, he’s been very ill.”

Given the story broke in 2010, Clegg has a lot to thank the postal service for. On David “The Jews” Ward:

“I’ve spoken to David Ward, and he’s apologised. I am finalising an agreement with him that he will commit never to use generalised language that is offensive to communities in Britain.”

Because that worked so well last time…