How we could equalise constituency sizes
2 May 2013Genuinely equal constituencies are possible if the boundaries get drawn after voting, not before.
The Blog
Another German lesson: the benefits of an exchange rate target
1 May 2013Yesterday we published An Exchange Rate Target: Why we need one, by entrepreneur and economist John Mills. He argues that the government should set an exchange rate target to lower the value of the pound to help exporters. Some may see this idea as untested and radical, a big jump into the unknown. This is… [Read More]
NHS 111: lessons to learn
30 April 2013A developing story in health in recent weeks has been the issues with the government’s rollout of NHS 111, a new non-emergency triage telephone service designed to combine NHS Direct and local out-of-hours services, since its initial ‘soft-launch’ in the run up to April 1st. The idea is that by combining these services and equipping… [Read More]
The pound must fall to avoid a ‘lost decade’ for the UK economy
By David Green, director of Civitas Today we have published An Exchange Rate Target: Why we need one, by John Mills. It argues that the value of the pound should fall. Demand for the pound has been kept artificially high because we have been selling off our businesses and high-end residential properties to overseas owners… [Read More]
The Lords are wrong on EU crime and justice
29 April 2013The government must decide by May 2014 whether to ‘opt in’ to all 130 EU police and criminal justice measures. The Home Secretary intends to opt out – which legally must be done en masse – before negotiating re-entry to specific measures which fit Britain’s needs. This re-entry right is enshrined in Lisbon. The measures… [Read More]
Italy forms new government but populism gains ground
26 April 2013After two months of being suspended in a political no man’s land, Italy is finally forming a government. This week the re-elected President Giorgio Napolitiano, chose Enrico Letta, of the centre-left Democratic Party, to be Italy’s Prime Minister. It has not been a straightforward process; elections in February were inconclusive, with the centre-left coalition led… [Read More]
Isn’t school discipline for parents, too?
25 April 2013If teachers really are excluding covertly, maybe they need some better, legal options. They may already be making up for parents’ shortcomings.
Why doesn’t the government just create a regional banking network?
24 April 2013Hopes for greater competition and pluralism in the banking sector were dashed today as The Co-operative Group pulled out of a deal to buy 632 bank branches from Lloyds Banking Group, citing the worsening economic outlook and also regulatory requirements in the banking sector as reasons. The Guardian reports that the deal will be a… [Read More]
User charges: the debate
23 April 2013Recently, NHS England board chair Malcolm Grant made some comments in the Financial Times that Guardian journalist and King’s Fund fellow Nicholas Timmins described as a “mini-bombshell”: “It’s not my responsibility to introduce new charging systems but it’s something which a future government will wish to reflect [on], unless the economy has picked up sufficiently,… [Read More]
The Implacable EU Expansion
22 April 2013Catherine Ashton, who has never been elected to any post other than Treasurer of the CND, is one of the most powerful women in Brussels. Except, of course, in her role as High Representative for the EU the good Baroness is seldom in Brussels. Instead she acts as a kind of ambassador-without-portfolio for the entire… [Read More]