In the interests of security, the head of North Bromsgrove High School recently asked BAM, the PFI contractor managing the facilities, to price up the installation of three locks and deadlocks to three sets of double doors in the school atrium. BAM’s charge for this was £961.85 in capital costs, and a recurring sum of £49.40 in “lifecycle” costs for the remainder of the contract. There are 26 years still to run on this, meaning a total of £2,246.25.
PLAN B, published this week by the Compass thinktank, is a good-faith attempt to fill the gaping hole where Labour's economic policy should be.
The authors generously credit me for putting the question they try to answer: Where is the Left on the economy? The first thing to say is that their report is far more thoughtful and constructive than Ed Balls's own five point plan, whose centrepiece is a very risky cut to VAT costing £12.5 billion a year.
