Some of you may remember when Gordon Brown declared that the City’s “old excesses” were coming to an end. His Op-Ed in the Times this Spring was full of ambition, swagger and purpose. He made absolutely clear what he considered to be an unacceptable bonus, setting out some basic principles (see below).
Brown’s first principle: “there must be no reward for failure”. Read more
In defence of Alan Duncan
Am I the only person unimpressed by the man who accepted Alan Duncan’s offer of a conciliatory drink at the Commons – only to then film him undercover? Read more
Creeping expenditure on bureaucracy at DCLG
This may be of interest to council chiefs at a time when they are expected to find ever more efficiencies: The accounts for DCLG, just published, show an anticipated rise in central administration costs (for the next financial year) from £203.8m to £208.7m for the department.
A case of do as we say, not as we do? Read more
PPS vacancies – true list could be “closer to 20″
No wonder Labour is so reluctant to hand over the whips’ list of Parliamentary Private Secretaries. I’ve just had a word with Valerie Passmore, editor of Dod’s Parliamentary Companion.
It was Dod’s which provided me with the list of 12 vacancies in government for PPSs – the lowest rung of the ministerial ladder. We ran the story on Monday. The fact that many MPs don’t want a job in government any more implies that morale is sliding. Read more
Public jobs, private jobs
I haven’t had a chance to number-crunch today’s unemployment figures yet. But there was an interesting chart in the Audit Commission report – also out today – on how councils are faring in the recession. Read more
Further Reading
Unemployment keeps on rising
Is the FSA watering down its restrictions on bank bonuses? Read more
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Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
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