“Health and safety gone mad!” is a cry oft uttered by grumpy ranters; harking back to the good old days, they remember when children boldly scaled the lofty heights of the school oak tree, experimented with explosive chemicals in the lab, and roamed forests without any sign of parental permission slips and supplementary adult protection.
On the Daily Telegraph’s blog, Richard Preston writes about Civitas’ latest publication, Failing to Figure by Mervyn Stone, emeritus professor of statistics at UCL. Half-way through, Preston makes the wry observation: ‘His biggest case study is the immensely complicated, deceitful and deluded means by which the formula was arrived at that determines how much of… [Read More]
At tomorrow’s European Union summit, Heads of State and Government from the EU’s 27 member states are likely to back the incumbent EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso for another 5 year term, writes Luke Clark. Barroso will then need to be endorsed by the European Parliament (EP). This will be more problematic…
How bold must New Labour have seemed to itself in 2001, when it re-branded the Department of Education the Department for Education and Skills. And again, in 2007, when it reconfigured the DfES and the DTI into three new departments: one for Children, Skills and Families (DCSF), a second for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)… [Read More]
By Lara Sonola Some might call it a poisoned chalice, or instead, a great opportunity for an up-and-coming young minister to make his mark in a challenging department. Either way the approaching years, (or year) depending on your political outlook, will be very challenging for Andy Burnham, the new Secretary of State for Health.
Entrepreneurial, or dangerous? Creative, or subversive? This week it was disclosed that staff at a top Merseyside grammar school, St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead, have successfully foiled a plot designed to break Jamie Oliver’s heart: sweet racketeering.
The cat’s out of the bag. In an erudite and commendably candid paper, the NHS Confederation tells it as it is: the NHS will not be immune from the financial crisis, it will face real term cuts (Tory or Labour government, don’t believe either of their protestations to the contrary). And they will be of… [Read More]
Last June, the lamp-posts of Dublin were strewn with Libertas posters calling on voters not to sell Ireland’s future to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, writes Luke Clark. Others appealed to Ireland’s nationalist spirit – some even reproduced the ‘Proclamation of Independence’. The campaign against Lisbon was significantly aided by the incomprehensible text of the Treaty… [Read More]
Today marks the publication of Education for All: The future of education and training for 14-19 year olds, the long-awaited outcome of the five-year long Nuffield Review of 14-19 education and training.
Last week we wrote about the purpose of patient choice as a policy aim and its potential outcomes in practice. Interestingly, the Health Service Journal has just reported that Local Involvement Networks (LINks), the government’s newest patient and public involvement initiative, claim they are not receiving enough financial and directional support from the DH.