Yesterday (27th July), EU foreign ministers agreed to open accession negotiations with Iceland, just a year after the country formerly applied for membership of the EU, writes Natalie Hamill. The move coincided with David Cameron’s first visit to Ankara, where he lamented the lack of progress on Turkey’s candidature and identified himself as the “strongest… [Read More]
The Coalition has dropped plans to grant anonymity to men accused of rape, following protest from female MPs and rape victim groups, writes Meike Beckford.
“O Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?” laments Juliet from a shabbily built balcony, borrowed from the set of Evita. If the Treasury has anything to do with proceedings, Romeo may not turn up at all, writes Annaliese Briggs.
Geraint Davies MP wants to end the use of anonymous pre-paid credit cards on the grounds that they can be used to purchase child pornography. The problem with his suggestion is that it doesn’t take into account all the manifold legitimate uses of pre-paid credit cards. In fact, they might well be much more of… [Read More]
We are sending far too many offenders to prison: at least, that is the new meme round Westminster. Ken Clarke, in a speech last month, complained that ‘Just banging up more and more people [for longer] without actively seeking to change them is what you would expect of Victorian England.’ Today Crispin Blunt, Clarke’s parliamentary… [Read More]
“This is not a European Union competence … so as President of the EU Commission I will not take a position on this issue”. This is a phrase seldom used by President Barroso, but he chose his words wisely when asked to comment on recent campaigns to ban the burka, the full body veil worn… [Read More]
Part of an ongoing examination of academies’ curricula, the latest revelation from Parliamentary Questions tabled by Tristram Hunt MP is that there is a huge shortfall of academic entries in academies:
July 15, 2009 “As state schools prepare for their long recess, a report by the Daycare Trust reveals large regional fluctuations in the cost and capacity of childcare.” July 14, 2010 “Research published today by the national childcare charity Daycare Trust, ahead of the school holidays, has uncovered a postcode lottery and patchwork of childcare… [Read More]
Andrew Bridges, Chief Inspector of Probation, made quite a splash on Monday when he suggested that the public should bite the bullet (almost literally in some cases) and let criminals convicted of violent offences out of prison early.
In an extraordinary move announced this week, the EU proposed that decisions on genetically modified (GM) crop cultivation be returned to national jurisdiction, writes Natalie Hamill.