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| Diary: How the welfare secretary got a ticket to free-ride | Diary: How the welfare secretary got a ticket to free-ride |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| • More news of our something-for-nothing society; of people for whom it has become a habit to live with hand outstretched. One assumes Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, enjoyed the £2,400 worth of hospitality that he and his son received as guests in the directors' box at Tottenham Hotspurs' game with Arsenal on 3 March. But the gesture went down less well outside the ground. Tottenham is one of the areas hand-picked by the Department for Work and Pensions to trial Duncan Smith's benefits cap initiative, which is set at £500 a week for a couple. "Duncan Smith is a Spurs supporter and of course we come from all walks of life," observes Keith Flett, secretary of Haringey TUC. "That said it surely must have occurred to the work and pensions secretary that accepting hospitality for one afternoon of almost five times the amount he planned to cap the weekly benefits of an ordinary couple in Tottenham at Spurs' ground was extremely insensitive. He might at least have paid for his own ticket." It's that sense of entitlement. God knows what we are going to do about these people. | • More news of our something-for-nothing society; of people for whom it has become a habit to live with hand outstretched. One assumes Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, enjoyed the £2,400 worth of hospitality that he and his son received as guests in the directors' box at Tottenham Hotspurs' game with Arsenal on 3 March. But the gesture went down less well outside the ground. Tottenham is one of the areas hand-picked by the Department for Work and Pensions to trial Duncan Smith's benefits cap initiative, which is set at £500 a week for a couple. "Duncan Smith is a Spurs supporter and of course we come from all walks of life," observes Keith Flett, secretary of Haringey TUC. "That said it surely must have occurred to the work and pensions secretary that accepting hospitality for one afternoon of almost five times the amount he planned to cap the weekly benefits of an ordinary couple in Tottenham at Spurs' ground was extremely insensitive. He might at least have paid for his own ticket." It's that sense of entitlement. God knows what we are going to do about these people. |
| • What's been happening while the secretary of state has been waving his rattle on the terraces? Well, his beloved universal credit wheeze – the bringing together of all the different kinds of benefit – has its fourth project leader in six months. Computer Weekly says this may indicate problems with the big system needed to make the programme work. Duncan Smith says it's all fab. His permanent secretary, Robert Devereux, says the latest head of universal credit, Howard Shiplee, has a "wealth of experience in the successful delivery of projects of significant scale and complexity". And he does, but none of it obviously related to computer systems. Shiplee was construction director of the 2012 Olympics, and before that worked at construction firms including Amec and Laing. He managed projects such as the Ascot racecourse stands, Manchester Airport and the GCHQ "doughnut" building. However, while many of these had computers inside them, Shiplee doesn't seem to have been running IT projects. According to Tessa Jowell (quoted in Building magazine), Shiplee told her that he was in favour of getting more women working on the Olympics, not least because they were better at using computers thanks to their "dexterity". Sure, he meant well but Jowell's a diplomat. He should make the same comment to Germaine Greer. | • What's been happening while the secretary of state has been waving his rattle on the terraces? Well, his beloved universal credit wheeze – the bringing together of all the different kinds of benefit – has its fourth project leader in six months. Computer Weekly says this may indicate problems with the big system needed to make the programme work. Duncan Smith says it's all fab. His permanent secretary, Robert Devereux, says the latest head of universal credit, Howard Shiplee, has a "wealth of experience in the successful delivery of projects of significant scale and complexity". And he does, but none of it obviously related to computer systems. Shiplee was construction director of the 2012 Olympics, and before that worked at construction firms including Amec and Laing. He managed projects such as the Ascot racecourse stands, Manchester Airport and the GCHQ "doughnut" building. However, while many of these had computers inside them, Shiplee doesn't seem to have been running IT projects. According to Tessa Jowell (quoted in Building magazine), Shiplee told her that he was in favour of getting more women working on the Olympics, not least because they were better at using computers thanks to their "dexterity". Sure, he meant well but Jowell's a diplomat. He should make the same comment to Germaine Greer. |
| • Was it only two weeks ago that the Mail and its allies in the "free" press began railing against the BBC for daring even to contemplate playing a few bars from Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, the Margaret Thatcher protest song. This was seized on as yet more evidence of leftwing bias. Yet her biographer, Charles Moore, has since been given acres of airtime on radio and TV by the same dastardly corporation to praise his heroine and promote his Thatcherite masterwork. After Sunday's generous slab of promotion, Radio 4 unveils its latest Book at Bedtime – yes, readings from The Lady's Not for Turning, by one C Moore. One can have too much of this kind of balance. | • Was it only two weeks ago that the Mail and its allies in the "free" press began railing against the BBC for daring even to contemplate playing a few bars from Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, the Margaret Thatcher protest song. This was seized on as yet more evidence of leftwing bias. Yet her biographer, Charles Moore, has since been given acres of airtime on radio and TV by the same dastardly corporation to praise his heroine and promote his Thatcherite masterwork. After Sunday's generous slab of promotion, Radio 4 unveils its latest Book at Bedtime – yes, readings from The Lady's Not for Turning, by one C Moore. One can have too much of this kind of balance. |
| • Wherever she is now, the Lady continues to be a subject of adoration and friction here on terra firma. Nowhere more than Croydon, once a crucible of Thatcherism – but less so now. There is a call by Conservatives for the deselection of the mayor, Eddy Arram, after he ordered a member of the public out of the council chamber for refusing to stand during a minute's silence. Thatcher always said she was all about freedom, but that hardly seems to matter these days. | • Wherever she is now, the Lady continues to be a subject of adoration and friction here on terra firma. Nowhere more than Croydon, once a crucible of Thatcherism – but less so now. There is a call by Conservatives for the deselection of the mayor, Eddy Arram, after he ordered a member of the public out of the council chamber for refusing to stand during a minute's silence. Thatcher always said she was all about freedom, but that hardly seems to matter these days. |
| • Finally, we begin and end with football, for there is joy and pain up and down the land as promotion and relegation come ever closer. QPR and Reading slide out of the Premier League. Newcastle are slaughtered 6-0 by Liverpool. Aston Villa thrash Sunderland 6-1. And yet success and failure is relative. The downhearted professional might think of Woodford United FC in Northants; played 42, won 0, drew 0, lost 42, scored 21, 185 goals conceded. Eighty-four fans saw them lose the last game of the season, 2-1 to Godalming Town. They live in hope. Perhaps a draw next year. | |
| Twitter: @hugh_muir | Twitter: @hugh_muir |
| • This article was amended on 2 May 2013 to correct the location of Woodford United FC from Essex to Northants. |