| Teacher jailed after child raped A deputy head teacher who encouraged another man to rape a three-year-old girl is sentenced. bbc.co.uk |
The coalition banks on black to save the country It's not just child benefits – the government is making some other big bets in an attempt to restore prosperityCabinet ministers are curious things. With their seals of office and grand titles, we give them a velvet cloak of respectability. For most of the year, we help them act like statesmen. Then they scoot off to party conference, drop the cloak and remind us they are nothing but scheming politicians.The chancellor's Monday morning breakfast bombshell on child benefits was raw politics and bad policy. There was dismay among very senior civil servants, who still believed that this government was going to be different. No more rushed, confused announcements in time for the news headlines. Monday morning challenged the optimists to think again. The policy didn't add up, the contradictions couldn't be explained and the size of the backlash was not properly assessed.Cabinet ministers could not hide their anger and frustration at being out of the loop. They asked their offices back in London what went wrong, but the answer was that nobody knew, as no one had been told. This was worse than sofa government – it was breakfast TV sofa government, where the first the cabinet hears about something is on the early-morning news bulletins.But the politics was good. What better way to start the period of pain than to kick off with high earners mourning their loss and Tory MPs explaining their angst that it will hit their supporters? What better way to illustrate that we are all in this together and set the scene for the tougher things to come?The howls of protest also silenced the unease over drastic changes to welfare benefits; surprisingly, few people really noticed those proposals. Amid the political heat, there was a far more damaging insight. It was clear to those working with the chancellor and prime minister that they had no sense whatsoever that Monday mornings are tough and depressing for parents working long hours in regular jobs. The timing seemed cruel and lacked any emotional intelligence.For the Treasury, this was a sidestep into a stinking bog. They already had their hands full playing the toughest game of public spending poker for a generation. This last-minute surprise almost pushed them over the edge. Luckily the last two years have given them plenty of opportunity to polish their crisis-management skills. They quickly managed to give this proposal a veneer of respectability and pretend it was all part of the wider build-up to the spending review that includes the Green review on public sector efficiency and the Browne review of tuition fees.As predicted, Phillip Green has been difficult to manage. He has not enjoyed his brief stint working in government and has not appreciated the way in which his report has been edited. There were some harsh exchanges and senior Whitehall officials working with him have been informed they will not be welcome in any branch of Topshop under any circumstances.Lord Browne's review of higher education will be the next bombshell. He will kill the idea of a graduate tax and suggest that caps on tuition fees are completely removed. As universities are about to be starved of funds, the only option is to allow them to charge the fees they require to recover costs. In future, a university degree will only be affordable for the rich and the gifted.Civil servants are stoically soldiering on with the business of dismantling some of the key pillars of our society. But big change takes time. Most of the plans laid out last week will not start until 2013. It feels like we are at the roulette table and have put everything on black. The wheel is spinning but the ball won't drop for a long time. Only then will the government know if it has won the bet.George OsborneChild benefitguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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