Brazil is in the news a lot at the moment. Today their embassy is outraged because a Brazilian citizen, David Miranda, was controversially held at Heathrow on anti-terrorism laws for nine hours.His partner Glenn Greenwald, who broke the Edward Snowden surveillance revelations, has accused the UK of abusing its own law – a charge not… [Read More]
David Cameron’s hopes for a reformed relationship with the EU are looking more likely after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the repatriation of powers from Brussels to national governments should be discussed. In a German radio interview, Merkel said: “In Europe at the moment we have to take care to coordinate our competitiveness more closely,… [Read More]
The row over Miss Edwards’ legacy reveals the size of the gap between the interests of party and government.
Speaking at a Tory rally in Bedford in 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan very confidently announced that ‘most of our people have never had it so good’. He went on to say, ‘go around the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as… [Read More]
Over the weekend it was reported that missed appointments, known in the NHS as DNAs (‘Did Not Attends’) have risen to 771,421 in Scotland, an increase of 24,729 from last year. Last August, it was reported by the UK Department of Health that in England 5.5 million (about one in ten) were missed, though this… [Read More]
Norway is in the news thanks to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s publicity stunt. The Labour leader is campaigning for re-election in September, and decided to mirror Henry V at Agincourt by going incognito to get the public’s real views – in this case moonlighting as a taxi driver rather than a soldier.
After the scandal which saw the disgraced Petr Necas step down as Prime Minister and leader of the centre-right coalition in June, political uncertainty in the Czech Republic continues after President Milos Zeman failed to win support for his new cabinet. Concern about the political crisis increased when Zeman, who won the country’s first ever… [Read More]
Today Dr Christoph Lees, Dr Mark Slack and Magnus Boyd of the Doctors’ Policy Research Group (DPRG) are calling attention to the need for a fundamental change in the NHS’s culture and the way in which it is managed in the wake of the Keogh report, which led to 11 NHS trusts being placed under… [Read More]
Dealing constructively with surplus labour is part of planning sensibly for growth.
by Giles Hall The rise in youth unemployment within the eurozone has been much publicised in recent times. Greece and Spain have in particular experienced rates as high as 62.5% and 56.4% respectively. The problem is seen as such a major issue that Angela Merkel called an EU summit early in July which resulted in… [Read More]