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I wouldn't normally open up my heart on the JRF blog. But I need to get this off my chest.

At points last year, it felt like I was in an intense and troubled affair. With the Health and Social Care Bill, that is.

At the start of our liaison we spent every waking hour together. I used to stay up late, learning its every clause. I wouldn't stop talking to my friends about it. I even introduced it to my parents.

Climate change is a hot topic in the news this week.

Last Thursday the Government published its first climate change risk assessment for the UK (UKCCRA), highlighting concerns for the natural and built environment, agriculture, forestry, business, transport and other sectors. Today the Public Accounts Committee published a report on flood risk management in England.

Nick Clegg repeated his calls for raising the income tax allowance today. Handily enough, we were discussing this at JRF just the other day. So here are two quick points. 

First, in 2010, we funded a Demos report, called How to Cut Taxes for Low Income People. This may be of interest, particularly for anyone wondering how to cut taxes for low-income people. 

This morning's brouhaha about the number of foreign-born benefits claimants raises a number of interesting questions. Including what 370,000 foreign-born benefit claimants have to do with reducing the welfare bill.

Here's a graph taken from the JRF's report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2011.