Would that it were, Andrew, that Ken Livingstone were limiting his
unobtainable promises in London to the NHS. To name but one other, he's
vowing to re-instigate the EMA... although he would be able to force
London-based schools to provide it, there would be no replacement funds
from central government so the schools would have to cut expenditures in
other areas such as teaching kids.
In Scotland, the Holyrood Government just has announced that proposed cuts
to council tax and rent benefit (state benefits are not a Devolved issue)
will be deferred for a year; with the clear sub-text that this is a pitch
for the local elections. Again, they can do this... it's just that they'll
need to shuffle money from somewhere else (maybe money which is ear-marked
for wind farms if Donald Trump manages to stymie the one in Aberdeen).
Yogic flying sounds much better than just another bunch of hacks on the
make. I haven't been following the referendums in places like Brum
closely, but it'll be ghastly if an uninspiring percentage of the
electorate votes and still manages to approve yet another tier of
governance with superannuated salaries.
~alec
