‘Food Glorious Food’ sing fellow inmates of the workhouse in which the young Oliver Twist finds himself incarcerated at the start of Lionel Bart’s musical named after the hero of Dickens’ famous novel similarly named after him. A half a century on, the same startling discovery seems once again to have been made by the… [Read More]
As the snow casts a thicker blanket over Britain than it has done in twenty years, thousands of sympathetic UK workers are joining walkouts over building jobs, which unions claim are being assigned to workers from other EU Member States… writes Lara Natale
As education secretary Ed Balls announces the further rolling-out of the government’s flagship academies, resisting ‘calls for a slow-down’, a significant hidden cost of the programme has been revealed.
On the basis of a report by the CMO, Sir Liam Donaldson, the government has recommended that no child should drink before the age of 15; and that children between the 15-17 years should only drink under the supervision of adults.
I read the news today, oh boy/About a lucky man who made the grade And though the news was rather sad/ Well, I just had to laugh, I read the paragraph. He blew his street-cred as a peer/ By being willing to make laws for cash. And though the bribe was rather small/ He didn’t… [Read More]
More foreboding. The run-up to the summer European Parliamentary elections has officially started. Some disquieting new findings were released last week (courtesy of YouGov): writes Lara Natale …
So, the NHS Constitution has been released after almost a year of negotiations, at a reported cost of around £1 million of taxpayers’ money. Was it worth it? Will it really make a difference to patient care?
‘Making sure children are safe, well and receive a good education is our most serious responsibility… However, there are concerns that some children are not receiving the education they need. And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse. We cannot allow this to happen and are committed to… [Read More]
From the Czech presidency’s ominous start with the gas crisis in the previous Europe blog, they faced a diplomatic predicament of an altogether more jocular sort last week as the ‘Entropa: Borders without Barriers’ was unveiled in front of the European Council building in Brussels on the 12th January…writes Lara Natale
This week social mobility has been high on the government’s agenda – and something of a low, in terms of reception. First there was Alan Milburn’s new position as ‘remover of barriers’ for the disadvantaged, then there was Harriet Harman’s bid to foster equality through legislation. On the latter, in particular, the response has been… [Read More]