**TALK**
Reforming the Blob
How To Stop the Sir Humphries Spending £1 Trillion / Year
John O'Connell, CEO of the TaxPayers' Alliance, shares his unique perspective on how to grapple with, and tame the alliance of big business, civil servants and Public Sector managers.
Some call it the Blob.
** The talk is sponsored by the TaxPayers' Alliance,
who are providing drinks beforehand.**
Monday 10th October 2022, 7pm
Venue: Upstairs at the Prince Albert, Albert Bridge Road, SW11.
Arrive 7.00pm
Complimentary pre-talk drinks
Talk 7.30pm
Dinner (not included in price) 8.45pm
Tickets £32
Door £35 (if available)
Sir Humphrey on Civil Service Numbers...
Sir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon), the fictional Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs.
Is Parkinson's Law to blame?
In the convivial company of your fellow Revellers, discover the true extent of power, size and cost of the UK's Public Sector.
Can it be reformed?
John O'Connell has access to some of the most intensive research conducted on Government waste.
Complimentary drinks are available to help you brainstorm some creative ideas to resolve this pressing problem...
Why call it the Blob..?
The Civil Service has grown. Its cosiness with big business has grown - as has the vast number of political appointees now sitting in the House of Lords. Regulations have grown, too, despite Brexit. Like bindweed. Or Ivy. But Michael Gove’s “Blob’” metaphor seems most apt.
In the 1958 film the Blob, Steve McQueen rescues Pennsylvania from a giant slithering alien amoeba.
It gobbles up everything in its path.
Rather like the Public Sector, which devoured nearly £1 trillion of taxpayers' money since the start of the pandemic.
Through John, you'll discover...
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The two departments that spend the most. One's Health. The other could actually be abolished, saving £1 trillion over 5 - 10 years
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Why Rees Mogg's talk of chopping 97,000 won't make a blinded bit of difference. Unless something else crucially happens
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Why the Ministry of Defence paid £20 for light bulbs
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Why Treasury Orthodoxy doesn't tell the full story. (Disastrously holding back tax cuts and growth.)
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Which countries run respectively the most efficient health service and online e-government? Could the UK emulate?
Learn all in the social, convivial company of your
fellow Revellers, over a glass or two.
Monday 10th October 2022, 7pm
Venue: Upstairs at the Prince Albert, Albert Bridge Road, SW11.
Arrive 7pm
Complimentary Drinks
Talk 7.30pm
Dinner (not included in price) 8.45pm
Tickets £32
Door £35 (if available)
About the TaxPayers' Alliance
About the TaxPayers’ Alliance
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is the leading grass roots research organisation and pressure group campaigning for lower, reformed taxes and cutting (often outrageous) Public Sector waste.
It was founded in 2005 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum. It is now run by CEO John O’Connell.
Under John’s leadership, the TPA’s achievements include:
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Stopping 327 public sector organisations funding Stonewall
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Forcing recognition that the real National debt is not £2.5 trillion, but £9.6 trillion. (Taking into account unfunded state and public sector pension contributions.)
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Sustained campaigning led Chancellor Sunak to raise the stamp duty threshold to £500,000.
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Publication of Trade Union and Town Hall 2021 Rich lists. Revelations include thirty trade union bosses and 2,921 local council employees earning more than £100,000 per year.
The TPA’s research revealed that the furlough scheme extension would have cost an extra £18 billion. That the Treasury couldn't explain how this was to be funded may explain why they decided not to proceed.
About John O'Connell
John O'Connell joined the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) as an intern in 2009, rising through the ranks to become CEO in August 2016. He wrote major TPA reports on quangos, government capital procurement, regional business policy and local government pensions. He won the Templeton Freedom Award from the Atlas Network for his work on the on the Single Income Tax final report and co-authored the influential paper How to Save £50 Billion.
John uncovered how local councils were spending Preventing Violent Extremism grants, finding more detailed information than could be gathered by Parliamentary Questions.
He oversaw the 2020 Tax Commission being written and frequently represents the TPA on television and radio, including prominent appearances on flagship broadcast programmes and documentaries.
In April 2012 John completed the Think Tank MBA in America, an intensive training course offered by the Atlas Network.
He has a BA from Nottingham Trent University and an MSc from University College London.
Monday 10th October 2022, 7pm
Venue: Upstairs at the Prince Albert, Albert Bridge Road, SW11.
Arrive 7pm
Complimentary Drinks
Talk 7.30pm
Dinner (not included in price) 8.45pm