The target to reduce burglary by 26% was given a boost with the announcement that electronic tags are being developed for tracing stolen property. Building a low cost computer chip into electrical goods such as televisions, computers, cameras and other consumer products, could have a dramatic effect on property crime.Key industry players and the Government met in London to discuss how electronically tagging or “chipping” goods could reap rewards in the fight against crime. The ability to track and trace goods effectively would have far reaching implications. Firstly as a deterrent, but also as a means to supporting police in the recovery of stolen property.

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The Prime Minister’s commitment to increase spending on the health service to the European average should be extended to the remainder of UK public services. This view was presented in a pre budget speech by TUC General Secretary John Monks.Because the UK is a low spender on public services, the adoption of a European benchmark would result in a substantial increase in spending. This would certainly require a rise in spending above the 40% of GDP, which has become the accepted figure for deciding success or failure in managing the public purse. The TUC argues that while voters are unlikely to support increased taxes to fund better public services they are prepared to forego tax cuts to match the best public services in Europe.

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Levin, M. A. & Sanger, M. B.Argues that programme executives should be the entrepreneurs, the go-getters and risk takers; chief executives should be the more cautious gatekeepers and enforcers of rules. Asserts that managers must create an atmosphere for change, and in an effort to provide managers with specific guidance on creating this atmosphere, distills case studies into eight lessons, which include that public managers must develop a tolerance for error, or better yet, for `well-conceived failure’. Emphasizes the need for public executives to develop the mission statements from which organizational goals are derived. Difficult to distinguish this from the pack of entrepreneurial management books, but not impossible.

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