Wasteland

New Labour’s 13-year binge on the public services driven by Gordon Brown without even a trace of quality control achieved little except the near bankruptcy of Britain. Our hospitals remain infection-ridden, their front-line staffs overworked, with patients, especially the elderly, so badly treated it has become an international disgrace. Our state primaries turn out illiterates, our state secondaries award qualifications so dire that the private sector is abandoning them, while 80% of our “universities” are a joke. Our pensions system is wretched, our infrastructure inadequate, our Armed Forces sabotaged by over-use and underfunding, and our police force demoralised. Who can look across this wasteland and seriously believe the narcissistic non-entities squabbling over the rotting carcass of the Labour Party could possibly have the solution.

Aging Britons

Britain has become a land with a ballooning population of elderly, debt-ridden people, many with no pensions or savings, who cannot afford to retire. Retirees rely much more heavily on credit than in the past with one in five still holding a mortgage of around £60,000 and credit card debts of over £3,000. Britain had the best private-sector pension system in Europe before it was destroyed by Gordon Brown and replaced by a Byzantine system of pensioner means-testing. Social disasters such as divorce, later families, dependent adult children and property misinformation hit the Boomer generation too late in the day to be repaired. Yet the politicians who created this geriatric apartheid and their public-service client state sail on serenely with gold-plated pensions their victims are forced to fund.

Complexities if Immigration

The Labour Market Outlook report said that demand for immigrant workers is rising in line with improvements in the economy. The proposed migration cap, due next year, comes at a time when many employers are still struggling to fill skilled vacancies despite the high unemployment rate. British candidates do not have the skills to match migrants and that their readiness for work is getting worse year by year. Four out of ten employers think their literacy and numeracy, business acumen, and personal skills are worse now than five years ago. Around a quarter of firms are already employing migrant staff, almost one half of whom are from India and South East Asia.

Childfree future?

There is an entire body of pop literature, magazine articles, and dodgy science proclaiming that having children does not make anyone particularly happy. The halcyon lifestyle that the professional middle class now enjoy will be gone forever as it will cost a fortune to raise just one sprog. And of course who could possibly relish the myopic drudgery of feeding, wiping, washing, burping and caring for said off-spring. Then there is the enviro-guilt of reproduction, with Prince Charles and Fat Albert warbling on about the carbon footprint of everyone’s child but their own. However, being lectured to yet again by that ghastly pair makes me hope that the next generation enjoys their participation in the continuation of the species as much as I did.

Trade union unrest

Trade union barons are secretly plotting a series of crippling general strikes involving all the usual suspects in Gordon Brown’s client state. The walkouts, led by the hyper-militant transport “workers”, are expected to include up to four million local government staff, paramedics, teachers, and postmen. Union leaders, who usually fight like ferrets in a sack, will set aside their differences to focus on bringing down the democratically elected government. They believe the Coalition Government is weak with the Lib Dems “already splitting at the seams” and will crack under the pressure of a 1926-type General Strike. Of course such mass disorder will also put huge pressure on the weak Labour leadership who may be tempted to support the opportunistic thugs planning the mayhem.

Whistleblowers Inc

Until now, press freedom to report the secrets of the powerful was protected by state law but Wikileaks can do so because the logic of the Internet permits it.

By their very nature the great media outlets become embedded in the power structure of the state and their continued access to information requires them to be deferential.

In an age when power brokers have used technology to seize control of information the world needs an equally aggressive, agile and resilient opponent.

As was seen in Climategate, insiders will blow the whistle if they know they will leave no electronic fingerprints and the amorphous, stateless web provides such protection.

The US Justice Department will find it hard to gain jurisdiction over Wikileaks, and even if it succeeded in winning a judgment, it will be difficult to enforce.

Lights in our darkness

The Pentagon Papers revealed that the US government knew from early on that the Vietnam War could not be won and systematically lied to the public and Congress.

The papers also showed a deep cynicism towards the public, a total disregard for safety of soldiers and civilians, and provide a chilling parallel to the Afghan fiasco and Wikileaks.

But Daniel Ellsberg spent months copying the 7000 page Defence Department’s secret history of the war and fought endless court cases before it could be published.

Today as we saw in Climategate, internal whistleblowers simply use a scanner to make the evidence of nefarious activity instantly available to everyone on the internet.

It has its dangers and limitations, but the ability of the web to bypass the gatekeepers of secretive organisations in government and science sheds a welcome light in dark places.

Reversing some daft legislation

In the teeth of opposition from doctors and the police, New Labour pushed through lax drinking legislation turning the night hideous in our town centres.

Other nations had already found that introducing round-the-clock drinking led to a huge increase in rape and violence placing a strain on police and ambulance resources.

Now the Coalition is to introduce powers to reverse this nightmare and hopefully bring back the traditional pub in which the public can socialize without fear of assault.

Licensing decisions will be rebalanced in favour of local communities enabling them to reinstate traditional closing times in areas where late-night opening has caused havoc.

I am sure there will be screams of protest from the drink trade but they have clearly failed to behave responsibly and it is about time ordinary people were allowed a night’s rest.

Property Outlook

New affordability tests have been proposed which will severely restrict the use of interest-only mortgages, making it harder for first-time buyers to get a home loan.

From next year, lenders will be forced to check every borrower’s income bringing to an end the toxic practice of ‘self-certification’ mortgages which fueled the property bubble.

The availability of mortgages for first-time buyers with small deposits has in any case already dwindled since the end of 2007.

It could be a blessing in disguise as a growing number of economists are predicting a sustained fall that could last for up to a decade and shave up to 25% off prices.

PricewaterhouseCoopers warns that the slump could be prolonged with a growing likelihood that it will take till 2020 for the market to surpass its pervious peak.

Under new management

The Coalition has proved to be popular mainly, I suspect, because their exercise of power seems more humane and reasonable than at any time under New Labour.

 It is heartening to see David Cameron and Nick Clegg working for the common good after years of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown fighting like ferrets in a sack.

 As the new administration starts to tackle the mess they have been left, it is hard not to be appalled by the unbelievable profligacy and waste of the past decade.

 Yet from health to foreign relations, from defence to civil liberties, the coalition has moved with degrees of fair mindedness and deliberation that are refreshing.

 To be sure there have been and will be blunders but the tone has changed and we are at last being led by grown-ups without displays of petulance and self-importance