Erasmusletter_en. La Culture va-t-elle passer l'arme à gauche ? - Idées. Bien sûr, il y a la crise. Le très gros effort budgétaire auquel l’Etat va devoir se soumettre pour réduire ses dépenses : 10 milliards d’euros. Bien sûr, l’argent ne fait pas tout, et certainement pas dans le domaine de la création artistique. Mais s’il y en a bien un qui semblait devoir échapper aux grandes cisailles de la rigueur sous un gouvernement de gauche, c’est celui de la culture.
Il faut se souvenir de Martine Aubry, alors candidate aux primaires du PS, plaidant pour une augmentation de 30 à 50 % du budget de la culture (environ 1 milliard d’euros tout de même). Il faut se rappeler des promesses répétées de François Hollande, devenu candidat, en faveur d’une sanctuarisation de ce budget. Nicolas Roméas, Eric Petrotto, Alain van der Marlière et Jean-Michel Ribes J-C Francis © Radio France On en est loin désormais. Il ne sera que de 2,43 milliards en 2013 : une baisse de 4,3% . « La Culture va-t-elle passer l’arme à gauche ? C’est notre sujet du jour. Et le contrepoint: GRANDE-BRETAGNE. 40.000 familles risquent la rue - Monde. Environ 40.000 familles britanniques risquent de se retrouver à la rue en raison de la réforme des allocations sociales prévue par le gouvernement britannique, selon un document du ministère des Collectivités locales révélé dimanche 3 juillet par The Observer.
Dans cette lettre adressée à Downing Street, le ministère fait part de son inquiétude sur le plafonnement prévu des allocations sociales à 500 livres (552 euros) par semaine et par foyer. Ces aides englobent notamment les allocations familiales, logement et chômage. Environ 40.000 familles pourraient se retrouver sans abri si la réforme est appliquée, affirme dans ce courrier Nico Heslop, chef de cabinet du ministre des Collectivités locales, le conservateur Eric Pickles, qui s'adresse à son homologue à Downing Street, Matthew Style. Une politique contre-productive "On constate déjà davantage de pression sur les services chargés des sans-abri", assure-t-il dans ce courrier. Objectif : éliminer le déficit public. Millionaire tax avoiders 'shock' chancellor. Royaume-Uni: la lutte des classes aura-t-elle lieu? Londres, le 20 mars. George Osborne, Chancelier de l'Echiquier (ministre des Finances) britannique, brandit sa petite mallette rouge devant le 11, Downing Street.
A l'intérieur, le cru 2012 du budget d'austérité: réduction des allocations familiales, «impôt sur les mamies» en forme de baisse des réductions d'impôts accordées aux retraités... mais aussi un abaissement de l'impôt des super riches de 50% à 45%. Le chef de file de l'opposition travailliste Ed Miliband s'étonne alors: «Sur quelle planète vivent-ils?»
Quatre jour plus tard, le mois de mars des Tories continue de tourner au vinaigre avec des soupçons de financement illégal du parti. Le trésorier Peter Cruddas est contraint d'abandonner son poste: il vient d'être piégé par des reporters du Sunday Times déguisés en entrepreneurs et à qui il avait promis un accès «de première division» à David Cameron et à ses proches conseillers du 10 Downing Street, en échange d'une donation (illégale) de 250.000 livres. publicité «Wait and see»? David Cameron pris dans le scandale de la tourte. Les conservateurs britanniques sont une nouvelle fois dans la tourmente, et cette fois-ci à cause d'une tourte, comme le rapporte le Guardian. Le gouvernement a en effet annoncé sa volonté de faire augmenter de 20% la TVA sur les snacks chauds à emporter, ce qui toucherait donc les Cornish pasties, une spécialité de tarte fourrée, généralement à la viande. Après un échec de son ministre des Finances qui avait déclaré ne pas se souvenir à quand remontait son dernier pasty, David Cameron probablement briefé par quelque conseiller a tenté un meilleur coup dès le lendemain lors d'une conférence de presse: à un journaliste qui l'interrogeait sur la place des pasties dans le budget, il a répondu: «Je crois que le dernier que j'ai mangé venait de West Cornwall Pasty Company (une chaîne de snacks).
Je crois que je me souviens que c'était à la gare de Leeds, et la question était de choisir entre leurs petits ou leurs grands. Publicité Devenez fan sur , suivez-nous sur. Pasty row hots up for David Cameron | Politics. David Cameron's efforts to show he loves a hot takeaway far more than a private dinner with his rich backers came to a crumbly end when his fond memory of eating a large Cornish pasty at Leeds railway station turned out to be somewhat faulty. The prime minister's problems began at the Treasury select committee on Tuesday when the fiercely independent and somewhat lugubrious Labour MP John Mann asked George Osborne why he was imposing VAT on hot foods such as pasties. He asked the chancellor when he had last eaten a pasty at Greggs the bakers.
Osborne – more interested in the dynamic modelling of tax reforms than hot food VAT anomalies – looked nonplussed, and said he could not recall. One tweet suggested he was then probably subjected to a Treasury presentation where he was told that pasties were "similar to mini boeufs en croute". The Sun newspaper, currently intent on doing over the Tories, described him as the Marie Antoinette of the 21st century. He began to wax lyrical. Q&A with Polly Toynbee: politics and society. At the Guardian Open Weekend, Polly Toynbee's session with readers included wide-ranging questions and answers on the state of politics. What should Labour do now?
Why aren't they bolder? What are the issues that matter most now? What's the future for the Lib Dems - and will Labour be working with them after the next election, despite everything? At 12.30pm BST tomorrow, she'll be taking online questions and comments to continue the conversation. Johnmrson asks: Polly, when will you start putting Milliband under the spot light and showing him up for the failed Labour leader he is? Polly Toynbee replies: I did support Ed Miliband, though I found the choice between the brothers painful and difficult.
Plainly you hope Labour will fail. Polly Toynbee continues: All of you who take up the public spending excess theme: Labour's spending as a proportion of GDP was lower than under Thatcher and Major, is still not at a historic high. This is a repeat of the 1930's - only worse. LyingScameron asks: Cameron announces Tory plan to slash benefits | Politics. David Cameron will on Monday launch a scathing attack on what he calls the "culture of entitlement" in the welfare system, as he warns that claimants with three or more children may start to lose access to benefits, and almost everyone aged under 25 will lose housing benefit. The prime minister will claim there is now a damaging and divisive gap in Britain between those enjoying privileges inside the welfare system and those resentfully struggling outside. It is likely to be seen on the left as the death-knell for Cameron's brand of compassionate conservatism. He will also single out lone parents of multiple children as a focus for cuts and insist the welfare system should be a safety net available only to those with no independent means of support.
The reforms could see a range of benefits targeted, including income support payments. The Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary, Danny Alexander, gently rebuffed this, saying the focus should be on introducing universal credit in this parliament. Budget 2012: pensioners fund tax cut | UK news. George Osborne's gamble in cutting the top rate of income tax to 45p came under mounting assault after the chancellor announced that his generosity to Britain's richest 300,000 households would be accompanied by a "stealth tax" on pensioners, a fresh £10bn attack on welfare and continued cuts to child benefit.
Osborne insisted that the centrepiece of his third budget was a move to take a million low earners out of tax through the biggest increase in personal allowances for 30 years. But Labour accused the chancellor of funding this giveaway through a "granny tax", pointing out 4.4 million taxpaying pensioners would lose on average £84 a year as a result of the plan to freeze their personal allowances. They claimed Osborne had thrown away any pretence that he was a one-nation Conservative. Osborne insisted: "No chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing. It is as simple as that. " Les Britanniques les plus fortunés paieront moins d'impôts - ROYAUME-UNI. Budget 2012 visualised. George Osborne has now delivered his much-leaked 2012 Budget. But how did it compare to his previous two?
A quick and easy way of making the comparison is with a word-cloud, like this. This is a visualisation of his statement today: As you can see, all the tax changes - the personal allowance increase, the personal statements, the top rate tax cut - made an obvious impact. Osborne's frequent mentions of investment in infrastructure (echoing David Cameron's speech on the subject earlier this week) showed up too. In 2011, tax also had a large presence, of course. And finally, compare with the 2010 Budget, where the word 'spending' made much more of an appearance than it has since - unsurprising, given the lack of growth we've experience since then.
Tags: Budget 2011, Budget 2012, Coalition budget 2010. The myth of Tory credibility on the economy | Sunny Hundal. Quick quiz: has the government saved the economy by taking difficult decisions to cut spending drastically, or are they cutting by almost the same as Labour would have anyway? You'd be forgiven for being confused because the Conservative-led coalition is not sure either. The government's "new cuts narrative" has been outlined in the past by Fraser Nelson, attempted by George Osborne, and articulated last week by Tim Montgomerie as: "Cameron state is 3% larger than the Brown state.
" So did they save the economy or are they matching Labour? That depends on how you slice the figures. But the government is getting away with such brazen U-turns because journalists either look away or don't understand the economics. You may want to ask why it's retreating from the fighting talk of severe cuts? It is now received wisdom among the media and political class (including some within Labour) that the government is seen as credible on the economy because it's willing to make deep cuts. It is a myth. 1. Protesters set for London march against spending cuts. 27 March 2011Last updated at 00:09 Watch: The BBC's Sophie Long spoke to some people taking part in the march More than 250,000 people have attended a march and rally in central London against public spending cuts.
Labour leader Ed Miliband addressed crowds in Hyde Park and the main march organised by the Trades Union Congress passed off peacefully. But small groups attacked shops and banks with a stand-off in Piccadilly. There have been 214 arrests and 66 people injured, including 13 police. Ministers say the cuts are necessary to get the public finances in order. In the largest public protest since the Iraq war rally in 2003, marchers from across the UK set off from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park, where TUC general secretary Brendan Barber was first in a line of speakers. "We are here to send a message to the government that we are strong and united," he said. "We will fight the savage cuts and we will not let them destroy peoples' services, jobs and lives.
" Continue reading the main story. Budget 2011 at a glance: George Osborne's key points. 24 March 2011Last updated at 09:34 The key points of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget on 23 March 2011. Fuel duty to be cut by 1p per litre from 1800 GMT Planned inflation rise in fuel duty due in April to be delayed until 2012 Annual 1p above inflation "fuel escalator" rise scrapped until 2015 Measures to be paid for by £2bn extra taxes on North Sea oil firms VAT on fuel will not be reduced No additional changes to alcohol duty rates but 2% above inflation rise in excise duties for wine, spirits and beer to go ahead Tobacco duty rates up by 2% above inflation, duty regime to be reformed No personal tax increases Personal tax allowance to rise a further £630 to £8,105 in April 2012 Consultation on long-term plan to merge income tax and National Insurance 50% top rate of tax to remain but review of how much it raises 2011 growth forecast downgraded from 2.1% to 1.7% 2012 forecast also down from 2.6% to 2.5% Inflation set to remain between 4% and 5% in 2011, falling to 2.5% in 2012.
Public sector cuts – the truth | Society. A week today the cuts will start to bite. As the financial year ends, grants will run out, contracts will wind up, and charities and services will begin to shut their doors. After months of anxiety about the impact of the cuts, the consequences of the government's rapid deficit reduction programme will begin to be real. The Guardian gives a slice of what this will mean across the country, highlighting a cross-section of 50 services that will shrink or cease to exist from the end of this month. Most are unglamorous, obscure, unfeted projects, staffed by employees who are not very well paid, but hugely committed to what they do. All of these losses come as a result of the government's decision to cut spending by £95bn over five years. Their disappearance may not be noticed by anyone with a good income, in secure employment, in sound health, without caring responsibilities – anyone who does not look to the state for support with life's problems.
Protest march against coalition cuts expected to attract 300,000 | Society. More than a quarter of a million protesters against public sector cuts are expected to flood central London today in the biggest political demonstration for nearly a decade. Police sources, normally cautious about estimating numbers, said last night they were braced for up to 300,000 people to join the march – far higher than previous forecasts from TUC organisers. More than 800 coaches and at least 10 trains have been chartered to bring people to the capital from as far afield as Cornwall and Inverness. The Metropolitan police, under fire for their use of kettling in previous protests, said "a small but significant minority" plan to hijack the march to stage violent attacks. Organisers, however, insist it will be a peaceful family event. Ed Miliband said the government was dragging the country back to the "rotten" 1980s.
His remarks are reinforced by a Guardian/ICM poll that shows the public divided over the cuts. Two other polls put the balance more strongly against cuts. A recession is no excuse for dismantling the NHS | LabourList.org 2.0.2 | LabourList.org. By Diane Abbott MP Last week, David Cameron promised a ‘public sector revolution‘, It has become clear that the top target on Cameron’s hit list is our NHS. But we know that the so-called “public sector revolution” is merely an excuse for cuts and scaling down the welfare state permanently.
The Labour Party is committed to improving the National Health Service and making changes where necessary. And we accept that there is a continuing need for savings and economies. But the economic challenges we face are no excuse for slashing the NHS. We also know that this Conservative-led coalition has no mandate for this huge top down re-organisation. Like roadside confidence tricksters, David Cameron and Andrew Lansley are keen to focus attention on what seems most patient-friendly and easy to understand. The Health Secretary is imposing his reorganisation of the NHS, whilst blocking out an onslaught of criticism from all sides: from patient groups, professional bodies and health experts. EMA day of action: students fight for grant. Public sector strikes live blog | Society. Axing EMA is not a tough choice - it's a stupid one.
How Austerity Is Ushering in a Global Recession.