Education secretary Ed Balls and his Tory counterpart, Michael Gove, are battling over what belongs in the league tables. Are they focusing on the right thing? Continue reading at Guardian CiF: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/27/education-league-tables
The Patients Association today releases a compendium of sixteen stories from patients that have contacted them with ‘shocking accounts of hospital care’; that, extrapolating from the hundreds of phone calls they have received in recent times and from the two per cent of patients who rate their care as ‘poor’, they say could reflect the… [Read More]
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ should be the Labour Government’s new slogan because the EU is burning a hole in the UK’s wallet and the Government was hoping you wouldn’t notice… writes Ariane Poulain.
Last week’s release on ‘compassionate grounds’ from Scottish jail of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdul Ali al-Megrahi must surely go down as one of the most disgusting acts of political ineptitude ever perpetrated by anyone to hold any kind of ministerial office in Britain.
As we have noted in recent weeks, health system reform has been high on the agenda of policy makers in both the US and UK, and has been featured widely in international news media. Here is a round-up of recent opinions and contributions to the debate:
One of the crucial ironies that today’s youngsters face is that they have more future options and choices than ever before, yet coupled with this overwhelming onslaught of opportunity is poor guidance, frustrating inaccessibility, bureaucracy and a notorious lack of reliable information.
It is of great sadness that political dogma manages to blank out any consideration that methods and experience from elsewhere could ever be applicable in the UK, writes Ed Hoskins.
Yesterday, the latest development – or should I say hitch – on the rocky road to the Lisbon Treaty’s ratification occurred in Germany, one of four EU member states that have yet to ratify the treaty, writes Ariane Poulain. The Treaty aims to ‘streamline’ the EU by changing its decision-making processes, eradicating EU symbolisms, and… [Read More]
Peter Hyman was a political strategist to Tony Blair between 1994 and 2003. He is now the deputy head of a London comprehensive. In last Sunday’s Observer, he correctly identifies what’s fundamentally wrong with state schooling, but then proposes a remedy that will only make matters worse. What is that prevents Labour Party supporters like… [Read More]
Laura’s blog lays bare the issues, so let’s try to encourage a bit of reasonable, rationale and sensible discussion on the whole USA vs. NHS question. Is it, in fact, the case that many insurance-based health systems in Europe, equally committed to universal coverage as the NHS, do better than both? Are there lessons all… [Read More]