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There are some facts people find it hard to accept. They are too painful to consider or we doubt what they mean, assuming that if they were really true then surely everyone would demand something was done about it. Yet, if the last century has taught us anything, it is that people are very willing…
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On Wednesday the Government announced plans to increase National Insurance contributions for those in work. The money is certainly needed, even before the pandemic the Government had cut public spending to levels not seen since before the existence the NHS and modern welfare state. The fact that throughout this period they cut taxes for those…
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It’s with surprise I find myself now Crawley’s second longest serving council leader, the longest serving of course being the late great Alf Pegler, whose serving I doubt will ever be equalled. While the years have gone in a flash, it’s amazing to see how much we have had to weather in that time. When…
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This Autumn, the UK is playing host to the UN’s 26th Conference on Climate Change. Earth is on fire, literally in some places, and we’re almost out of time to do anything about it. Yet, despite almost everyone accepting that climate change is real, that speed is critical in limiting its impact, and that left…
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Councils are obliged house every local person who is ‘unintentionally homeless’. To be clear, that’s a legal definition, it doesn’t just mean rough sleepers, in fact the numbers with a roof for the night but lacking permanent places to stay is many times greater than those sleeping on the streets. Housing is not the main…
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Governments can fund spending on services in a range of ways. They can raise taxes, sell assets, borrow, even print new money. Each approach has its own pros and cons and due to the scale of Government spending in a modern mixed economy, the implications don’t just affect the public sector but the entire economy.…
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We’ve probably all heard the story about boiling frog. Not the greatest image I’ll admit, but stay with me. The story goes like this, if you have a boiling pan of water and you throw a frog into it, the frog will hop right out. If, on the other hand, you put the frog into…
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Crawley’s economy has been harder hit than any other in the country by the Government’s Coronavirus restrictions. While these were necessary, by doing too little, too late, the UK has suffered both amongst the worst death tolls and worst economic consequences of any major industrialised nation. For the Government to now put Crawley at the…
Peter Lamb for Crawley 