À la recherche du temps perdu
31 August 2010Proust’s madeleines may evoke a merry-go-round of warm childish memories, but a trip to Disneyland Paris is the stuff of nightmares, writes Annaliese Briggs.
The Blog
Report exposes hidden costs of community sentences over custody
28 August 2010The internationally respected former Home Office criminologist, Professor Ken Pease, has shown that it will not be feasible to save money by releasing convicted prisoners from jail. According to Prison, Community Sentencing and Crime, not only does the available evidence suggest that offending will not be reduced, the Government’s hope of cutting expenditure on prisons… [Read More]
3D Incapable
26 August 2010A survey has found that very few people are intending to buy 3D capable TVs in the coming twelve months. While this finding has been labelled as a ‘surprise’, it is hardly shocking given the rapid (and perhaps temporary) ascent of 3D TVs into the market. The result reflects not the ‘conservative’ habits of consumers… [Read More]
Borderline policy
25 August 2010France’s decision to expel its Roma minority has reignited debate on who should decide citizens’ right to free movement: ‘Should it be the host state or the EU?’ asks Natalie Hamill.
How bad are short custodial sentences?
24 August 2010It is an article of faith amongst some prison reformers that the use of short prison sentences increases the chance of re-offending, sometimes turning a one-time offender towards a life of crime. They are counter-productive in terms of fighting crime, they argue. According to the most recent systematic evidence, this is probably not the case.
The parent trap
23 August 2010The one GCSE guaranteed not to get any results is in Parenting, writes Annaliese Briggs.
1066 and All That
19 August 2010The BBC series The Normans, presented by Professor Robert Bartlett, concluded last night and has shown the licence payer just how well History programmes can be made. Not only was it well-rounded on facts, interesting asides and minimal judgements; it also displayed great insight into themes such as multiculturalism and colonialism, both still hot topics… [Read More]
Re-sits undermining the A-level
Michael Gove has proposed scrapping modular A-levels and reverting to linear ones, in a bid to restore the ‘gold standard’. However both teachers and top universities have made clear that re-sits, not modular exams, are the major cause of grade ‘inflation’.
The ‘catch’ in Iceland’s EU negotiations
Iceland’s EU accession negotiations have got off to a stormy start due to its determination to increase its fishing quotas, writes Natalie Hamill. The Nordic country, which was granted EU candidate status less than a month ago, is determined to increase its mackerel catch quota, despite warnings it will damage its relations with the EU.
Probophilia
18 August 2010In this article, written for Civitas, Dr Peter Davies and Dr Adrian Kenny, two GPs from Yorkshire, draw on an amusing medical analogy – probophilia – to describe a painful affliction across UK public services today – not least the NHS. ‘The probophile’, Davies and Kenny write, ‘ places false confidence in numbers , and… [Read More]