An EU Commission paper on pensions argues that no more than a third of our adult lives should be spent in retirement writes Natalie Hamill. This means that by 2060, according to current trends, we should expect to be retiring at 70.
Yesterday, Libby Purves wrote in the Times of the free-range child as endangered species, writes Zenobe Reade. Purves’ eulogy touched upon the demise of dens, boating, unattended bramble scratches and nettle stings. Yet, as she acknowledges, this has long been the preserve of the wealthy, rather than the rural child.
Just how many punches constitute one punch too many, asks Annaliese Briggs?
A new climate change initiative is the cause of the latest rift in EU politics, writes Natalie Hamill. An EU Commission proposal that the target for the reduction of EU-wide carbon emissions should be increased from 20% to 30% (from 1990 levels) has been met with indignation by Germany, France and big business lobby groups,… [Read More]
2000 more Academies are to be opened, the coalition government has announced. It’s now even more important to ensure that they’re genuinely effective.
A short article in the Telegraph last week was of a gravity unmatched by its modest coverage. It told of Oxford University’s plans to create a fund to pay the tuition fees of graduates who go on to careers such as teaching and social work. Graduates would apply to have their fees paid by the fund, made up of donations by alumni.
Freedom. Fairness. Responsibility. The sounding words of the coalition document, released today. But do these words (most particularly the last one) not, then, require at least a mention in the section on the NHS of the scale of the productivity challenge facing the health service… and perhaps a few ideas of what to do about… [Read More]
Most of us mere mortals were sound asleep when the slightly sordid ménage a trios of sorts we were presented with on Friday quickly transformed into a happy, blossoming marriage between two men who appear to have been separated at birth.
The news is in. The new coalition government are sticking to the Tory pledge of increasing spending on the NHS in real terms in each year of the new parliament (even if the use of the word ‘should’ increase, rather than ‘will’ leaves a little room for manoeuvre). But don’t think that this gets the… [Read More]
Yesterday, Catherine Ashton gave a lecture at LSE on ‘Economics and Politics post-Lisbon’ writes Natalie Hamill. Ashton opened her speech with an anecdote, stating that her young daughter had thought her title (Baroness) meant she was “half way between a princess and a politician”. Listening to her expand on what her new EU foreign policy… [Read More]