Avoiding confrontation with the heirs of Scargill

The unions are bent on confrontation. The elephantine Bob Crow, finding unlikely inspiration from Malcolm X , has called for a ‘campaign of civil disobedience’. Brendan Barber has described his hot-headed colleague’s remarks as ‘unhelpful’, and so they are. The situation is complex: the public sector is a Leviathan but one that provides lucrative contracts for private firms specialising in defence, financial services, consultancy, health etc.

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James Delingpole

The day I was heckled for speaking about the rape gangs

Cuts have to be very carefully managed to avert discontent and disruption – as Francis Maude observed on the Today programme. Yet the government still relies solely on the refrain that these ‘cuts are necessary’. It must offer more detailed arguments, and it has the capacity to do so.