Each year on behalf of the ruling Government, the Chancellor of the Exchequer lays out for Parliament’s consideration his proposed budget for the coming year. The budget is based on a careful analysis of anticipated income from various revenue streams. This income then forms the basis his allocation to the Departments of State which, together with the lobbying of outside interests, have in the preceding months been presenting their case for a larger share of the total than they had received in the past. The Chancellor also takes a longer-term view of the country’s economic prospects, thereby allowing him a wider latitude in this process. He can borrow to fund desirable policies which cannot be immediately afforded in anticipation of more revenue from tax, for instance from higher levels of employment in the future. Or he can pay off part of the country’s national debt that has accumulated from previous years’ borrowings. Essentially, however, his task is to ‘balance the books’ – so that expenditure does not exceed income. Continue reading →

Prospects are grim if only lip-service is paid to our overriding responsibility to act as current stewards of the planet and to seek to ensure that the quality of life of the generations succeeding us is enhanced rather than diminished as a result of what we do. Continue reading →

Central and local government reach decisions, for instance on planning matters following public inquiries, which in due course of time may be seen to have been ill-advised and therefore to vindicate opponents who had presented counter arguments. Insofar as there is any subsequent analysis of such an outcome, the politicians involved are usually treated as if they had simply been misguided or mistaken in their judgement rather than having deliberately ignored the public interest for baser reasons such as short-term electoral advantage. It is commonplace to view a regrettable decision as the consequence of an inevitably imperfect process. In effect, it is written off as a lost cause with nothing to learn to make such errors less likely to occur in future. At best, aggrieved opponents may have the minor satisfaction of being able to say at a later date “we told you so”. Continue reading →

Overcome your initial fears and take up cycling. It is a unique way of keeping fit and healthy, feeling good, and getting about conveniently on far more of your journeys than you realise. Statistics show that, on average, for every ‘life year’ lost in cyclists’ fatalities on the roads, about 20 life years are gained from cyclists’ improved health leading to their greater longevity. Continue reading →

A review of successive governments’ policies directly or indirectly affecting the attractions of walking as a means of transport would be likely to conclude that there must have been a malign and ingenious spirit masterminding a strategy to make it an unpleasant and unsafe way of getting about in daily life. Continue reading →

The month of the year in which we are born can result in up to an extra 11 months of education in primary school, thereby providing undue advantage to those whose birthdays fall in the calendar year after rather than before August. Given the considerable difficulties, if not impossibility, of adjusting the school intake or evaluation of schoolchildren’s progress to reflect this, we have no choice but to accept the unfairness of the situation in the same way that we have to accept immutable genetic attributes affecting our height or intellectual capabilities. Continue reading →

What is the most important lesson we can learn from looking back over the last two millennia that we can apply in the early part of the new one? Could it be that although every country in the world is seeking to promote economic growth, it is both unsustainable and fundamentally flawed as a concept – for which reason we must adopt that level of resource-dependent lifestyle that is compatible with the planet’s capacity to support all its population roughly sharing that level? Or could the lesson be that, when the chips are down, self-interest is a far more potent motivator than altruism? After all, we seem prepared to forego very little of what we see as hard-earned improvements in our quality of life even when it is becoming apparent that that may lead to ecological disaster. Indeed, we seem to avoid enquiring or caring about what is going on lest it affect our dedication to pursuing hedonistic practices. Continue reading →