The Axe
| Use attributes for filter ! | |
| Google books | books.google.com |
|---|---|
| Originally published | 1925 |
| Authors | Sigrid Undset |
| Genres | Historical Fiction |
| Followed by | The snake pit |
| Date of Reg. | |
| Date of Upd. | |
| ID | 2925736 |
About The Axe
Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter became lovers when they were barely beyond childhood and endured a long and bitter separation before they could wed. Now they are beginning what each hopes will be a new life--but in Ingunn's past lies the shame of an illegitimate child and in Olav's past lies murder. . . .
Tributes to axe attack victim in BBC series The Detectives
... A number of tree surgeons including Mr Brooksbank were working close by and attempted to defend the woman before he was hit twice with The Axe and his hand almost severed...
Are spending cuts to blame for the schools concrete crisis?
...By Faisal IslamEconomics editorWhen the public finances are in a tight spot, The Axe often falls first on capital spending...
Denmark's new government drops public holiday to boost defence budget
... The Axe is likely to fall on Store Bededag (the " Great Prayer Day" ), which falls every year on the Friday before the fourth Sunday after Easter and was introduced as a public holiday in 1686...
Katie Kenyon murder: Man who said axe death was accident jailed
... Andrew Burfield changed his plea at Preston Crown Court to admit killing mother-of-two Katie Kenyon, who was hit an estimated 12 times with The Axe...
Katie Kenyon: Man who said axe death was accident admits murder
... " He claimed she had been hit with the back of The Axe and she had no other injuries, but the jury heard a post-mortem examination showed she was struck an estimated 12 times...
Katie Kenyon: Man claims he accidentally killed woman, jury told
... " He claimed she had been hit with the back of The Axe and she had no other injuries, but the jury heard a post-mortem examination showed she was struck an estimated 12 times...
How Xi Jinping made himself unchallengeable
... " They were already retired when The Axe fell, but Xi s ability to target them reduced the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin s lingering influence in the PLA, " said Joel Wuthnow, a senior fellow at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University...
Self Esteem: The bigger I get, the more threatening I become
... " Having narrowly avoided The Axe, she started trying to make an album that would have more commercial appeal on a much lower budget...
Are spending cuts to blame for the schools concrete crisis?
By Faisal IslamEconomics editor
When The Public finances are in a Tight Spot , The Axe often falls first on capital spending. This is government spending on buildings and facilities, not on, for example, wages and day-to-day services.
The political rationale is that it takes time, often years, to see The Material impact of a squeeze on capital sending. It kicks cans down The Road . But are capital spending cuts in education during The austerity years to blame for The current schools concrete crisis?
What is clear is that, overall, investment spending of all kinds has been squeezed over The Last Decade . Under The Last Labour government, capital spending as a proportion of The size of The economy, or GDP, rose from 0. 3% in 1997 to 3% in 2010. Since then, however, it has fallen back to an average of 2% where it is set to remain.
This issue is being made worse by Inflation - The rate at which prices Rise - which has soared and remains stubbornly high. The chancellor said on Sunday that " one of his first decisions" while he was trying to shore up The Public finances Last Year was to protect cash spending on capital, in other words maintain it at current levels.
But accounting for Inflation , it means significant real-terms cuts are coming. Indeed The Treasury's own documents forecast an average cut from departmental capital budgets of about £10bn from 2025-2028.
For schools The Situation is even tougher, because since 2010 education has received a lower proportion of capital spending as money is directed elsewhere.
In 2005, for example, one in every eight pounds of capital expenditure went On Education . Over The Past three years it has been one in every £20. The Inflation -adjusted education capital budget fell by 50% from its peak between 2010 and 2022.
The Conservatives inherited just under £10bn a year in education capital sending in 2010, and have spent £5-6bn a year since then, in real terms. Part of those savings came from scrapping The Building Schools for The Future (BSF) project in 2010, which aimed to rebuild and refurbish every Secondary School in England.
In The 2010 Spending Review, which set out The government's priorities, 60% cuts to education capital spending were very clearly signalled. Indeed, this planned £4bn Fall In education spending was The biggest single departmental contributor to The Coalition 's austerity savings in The overall capital budget from 2010 to 2015. That document claimed " The decision to end BSF will allow new capital to be focused on meeting demographic pressures and addressing maintenance needs".
What has actually happened since then, is that government capital spending has been focussed on hospitals, transport, energy and science, and away from schools and housing. Indeed over 20 years health will have roughly swapped places with education as home for one in eight pounds of investment. This is a tangible reflection of differing political priorities - " education, education, education" for The Blair-Brown Labour administrations, and reducing borrowing while protecting The NHS for The post-2010 Conservatives.
'Critical risk'On The Bbc 's Today programme on Monday, former top education civil servant Jonathan Slater said The government cut The schools' repair budget in 2021 despite A Warning of a " critical risk to life" from crumbling concrete. This Was when Rishi Sunak was chancellor. In 2019, The Office of Government Property calculated that in order to bring The schools estate to best practice, partly because of The concrete issue, £7bn a year in funding was required.
Mr Slater also suggested that ministers preferred to spend money on opening shiny new schools with opportunities for photos in hard hats, than The more routine job of ensuring The existing stock of School Buildings were up to date.
However, The Prime Minister said it was " utterly and completely wrong" to blame him for failing to fund The programme.
Nevertheless, decisions over how capital spending budgets should be allocated raise significant questions for The current government and whoever wins The Next election.
At times, capital investment has been exempted from The government's rules on borrowing. Governments have said it is fine to borrow money to invest in The Future . But in recent years, self-imposed limits on Government Debt levels have directly affected capital spending decisions for The long term.
Is health gobbling up The capital budget to The exclusion of neglected schools? How does Westminster prioritise The sometimes crumbling fabric of public services?
The design life of concrete systems in post-war schools was 30-40 years. There is now a pressing requirement to replace, presumably, all of it which this government or The Next will have to meet. This post-dated cheque is coming due at a time when capital budgets are being squeezed again. But The Problem cannot wait until after The General election.
Related TopicsSource of news: bbc.com
