No matter your beliefs about what government should and should not do, privatising the Land Registry simply beggars belief. For those unfamiliar with the Land Registry, it is the government body, part of BIS, which registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It has done so since 1862, documenting ownership and… [Read More]
With less than 100 days to go until the Scottish independence referendum, much has already been rumoured about the effects of a ‘Yes’ vote on the amount and immediacy of Scottish representation in various international bodies and organisations – most especially, the EU. But less consideration has been given to the unprecedented constitutional anomalies that… [Read More]
This morning Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, reaffirmed her support for Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission President. Her announcement came after a ‘mini-summit’ in Sweden, where she had been discussing EU reform with David Cameron, Mark Rutte (the Netherlands’ prime minister) and Fredrik Reinfeldt (Sweden’s prime minister). The four leaders agreed to delay a final decision,… [Read More]
In Progressively Worse: The burden of bad ideas in British schools, teacher, writer and blogger Robert Peal charts how misguided beliefs about education took hold in the 1960s and continue to influence thinking to the present day. In this short extract, he describes an early exemplar of the so-called “progressive” approach. During the early 1960s,… [Read More]
The economy needs sustained rebalancing, whatever short-term trends from supermarkets, manufacturing and the housing market suggest.
On housing there is no shortage of warnings or advice for the government. This week, it came from the European Commission. As part of their annual assessment of member states – a friendly word of advice (though maybe a little less friendly than usual for the UK) – the Commission singled out the UK’s housing market… [Read More]
With Ukip’s victory drums still ringing in their ears, the coalition has been working on measures to woo temporary Nigel Farage supporters in a thin Queen’s Speech. We don’t know precisely what’s in the State Opening of Parliament programme tomorrow, but the speculation game has begun. The Daily Telegraph suggests new powers are expected to discourage immigration, including… [Read More]
Following Ukip’s triumph in the recent European elections, it appeared that the pro-EU case at the forefront of the political landscape in Britain had breathed its last breath. The televised EU debates between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage, prompted by the Deputy Prime Minister, only served to give Ukip more publicity and more momentum before… [Read More]
By Candida Whitmill In less than ten years, a third of the UK’s generating capacity is due to close down, either as a result of EU Directives or simply old age. In particular, our nuclear capacity will drop from providing 18 per cent of our electricity to having just one nuclear plant left at Sizewell… [Read More]
Rightly or wrongly, most in Britain do not regard a wish to reduce immigration as an expression of racial prejudice.