Cash Back Bangladesh

Independent film with a focus on British-Bangladeshi remittances and foreign-aid, and their impact on British and Bangladeshi society.

• By far, the largest overseas Bangladeshi communities that have settled in the West are in the UK (and increasingly the US,) with well over a quarter of a million people of Bangladeshi origin living in Britain.


• The total value of remittances sent by expatriates to the developing world was conservatively estimated to exceed $80 billion last year. As members of the largest overseas Bangladeshi community in the developed world, we have a particularly poignant interest in this topic.
  


• Remittances are conservatively estimated to contribute at least 4% of Bangladesh's GDP and have directly helped Bangladesh's balance of payments by contributing around a third of its foreign exchange needs. In monetary terms, remittance income is larger as a net gain than the near $5 billion foreign exchange earnings earned by the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, because the latter figure is significantly reduced when adjusted for the cost of materials and tax breaks.
  

Excerpts from a Memorandum submitted by the British Bangladeshi International Development Group (BBIDG) to the Select-Committee.


Via Bangladesh Blogger

Image Day - Leaving Number 10

Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves after a news conference in 10 Downing Street. The government will inject up to £50-billion of tax-payers money into the country's banks as part of a rescue package to shore up the system.

Related Post: The Real Budget Speech

> Reuters Pictures

"Appalling London"

London has an "appalling" rate of child poverty with about 50% of children in 16 boroughs living in or on the brink of destitution, a report claims.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty says 79% of children in Tower Hamlets, east London, are in families classed as "struggling" - 42,850 children. The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations.


There are hundreds of thousands of children living in our capital city who are being failed by the system - Martin Narey, Campaign to End Child Poverty


'High deprivation'
A Tower Hamlets council spokesman said: "We cannot underestimate the scale of the challenge. "Whilst high levels of deprivation should not mean reduced outcomes for children, we will be doing all that we can to ensure child poverty levels are significantly reduced here in Tower Hamlets," the spokesman said.

Related Links: Mapping child poverty | Children of Bangladesh

The Real Budget Speech

Seen on: YouTube

Rory Bremner on Gordon Brown. What Mr. Brown's speech didn't tell-you.

Courage Under Fire

Peter Hain is facing further-questions about a think tank used to channel money to his unsuccessful bid to become Labour's deputy leader.

According to BBC-News, the two men who gave money to the Progressive Policy Forum were not told it would go towards supporting the campaign.

But Mr Hain says all PPF donors were asked if funds could be transferred.

"If it was a crime to report things late, beyond deadlines, then millions of taxpayers every year would probably be in trouble too." - Peter Hain

GovTube - PM outlines NHS reforms

Seen on: YouTube

Brief excerpts from a speech in which the Prime Minister outlined a programme of "deeper and wider" reform of the National Health Service to enhance its role in care, prevention and personalised health services.

Speaking to health professionals at King's College London, the PM said that the NHS had to embrace technological change, meet rising expectations of healthcare and adapt to a shift in priorities from tackling infectious disease to managing long-term conditions and "lifestyle diseases".

Image Day - Peter Hain

Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain arrives for the weekly government cabinet meeting at Downing Street in central London. He admitted failing-to-register a £5,000 donation to his unsuccessful-campaign to become the Labour Party's deputy leader because of an administrative-error.

Alistair Darling unveils-plan

Alistair Darling, will reveal next-week his plans to improve banking regulations that will give the Financial Services Authority more power.

He plans to introduce new legislation that will allow the FSA to step in and seize customer deposits if it detects that a bank is getting into trouble.

FSA’s new powers

• Step in if, a request by a troubled bank to the Bank of England for loans.
  
• Seize and protect cash deposits and repay them to customers.
• Gain access to information it needs to assess a troubled bank.

Via Times-Online

PM outlines plans for 2008

Gordon Brown has explained the Government's plans to deal with key challenges such as housing, energy, security and the economy.

The PM said: "The only way Britain can be great in the future, both in terms of its prosperity and in terms of the cohesion of our country, is by people who are prepared through thick and thin, and through bad times and good times, to take what are difficult long-term decisions, even if at times it may be easier to do simpler or less difficult things."

Brown plans constitution for NHS

Gordon Brown has signalled his intention to press ahead with a constitution for the NHS in the health service's 60th year. In a new year message to NHS staff, he said it would form part of a package of "reform and change" which will secure the future of Britain's tax-funded state healthcare service for another 60 years. In a message released by 10 Downing Street, in which he paid tribute to the efforts of NHS staff, he said: "Over the course of the next year the Department of Health, under Alan Johnson's leadership, will be setting out how the NHS needs to continue to reform to meet the new challenges of 21st century healthcare.

Government loses pension-data

Revenue & Customs, the government department responsible for collecting taxes, has admitted losing personal-details of more than 6,500-people. The details were lost at an office of HMRC in Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales, after a data cartridge went missing in September, an HMRC spokesperson said.

HMRC said in a statement on Tuesday: "We are taking this loss extremely seriously and have done everything possible to locate the data cartridge. We would like to apologize to all those affected."

In November, HMRC admitted to losing the details, including bank account information, of 25 million people claiming and receiving child benefits, while, earlier this week, the Driving Standards Agency admitted to compromising personal details of 3 million driver's test candidates.