Tuesday 29 January 2008

"Nursery fees rise ahead of inflation"

Well of course they bloody well do! Nurseries are very labour intensive, so you'd expect prices to go up in line with wages, which usually increase faster than headline inflation - it's called 'productivity growth'.

Further, they are comparing price rises of 5% with CPI inflation, which is a meaningless measure, the price rise is barely more than proper RPI inflation.

I'm also disappointed that the FT fell for this "free nursery places for three year olds" nonsense, children of that age can choose between 2.5 hours a day free nursery (which is hardly enough to enable a Mum to go back to work) or vouchers worth about £7.50 a day.

Must try harder! 4/10.

5 comments:

The Sage of Muswell Hill said...

MW

Two points about the FT:

1. While it generally follows the old-fashioned route of distinguishing between fact/reportage and opinion, as a glance at its leaders will show the FT's political and economic line is indistinguishable from that of the Guardian and Independent.
2. With few exceptions, the FT's reporters are as useless, lazy and envious of the City salariat as the rest of the shower in the MSM. One example is Robert Peston (ex-FT and now business correspondent of the BBC - a seamless transfer) who, among other things, takes the hedge-funds to task for being too successful at making money: you know - that horrible, distasteful activity indulged in by oiks whose fathers weren't lefty academics.

Snafu said...

I guess the clue to the FT's political leanings is in the colour of newsprint used...

Anonymous said...

Translation:

"The Daycare Trust sent me this press release and, despite this being the FT, I've decided to run it lightly re-arranged so as to obliquely suggest journalism without actually fibbing and claiming to have done any."

Daycare Trust is the national
childcare charity. We have been
working since 1986 to promote high
quality affordable childcare for all.


Of course their press release says 'oh, shocking the price of childcare, innit?' That's what they are supposed to say.

Here's the press release the FT got:Childcare costs still soaring, says Daycare Trust

Daycare Trust
Charity 327279
What they do

You might think that they way to tackle the high cost of child care would be to provide some at lower cost. In which case, you've come to the wrong organization. This is a talking shop, not a doing shop. The chances of it ever running a press release which says 'Hurrah! Childcare cheap as chips and fantastic quality' is not mathematically expressible, unless f-all is now a designated expression like pi.

On the accounts 2006 interesting income came from:

Unrestricted grant received from the Association of London Government £114,116 (see p.12)
and
Policy, research and otherprojects:
Department for Education and Skills
Surestart Unit £330,642
Inland Revenue £15,000

There are other headings which might be public sector but it is difficult to tell - the names or headings do not make it immediately apparent.

It is possible that all this work is incredibly socially valuable and a credit to the other trusts and donations which fund the charity.

Mark Wadsworth said...

WOAR, excellent research as ever, shall I be lazy and just cut and paste that into a new post? It's sort of wasted in the comments on an obscure blog.

Anonymous said...

Please use as you see fit.

Thanks also for the analytical explanations - they are helping.