With the Irish bail-out agreed upon EU leaders and Eurozone country governments have been returning to the long-term task of placing the Eurozone on a more sustainable footing. However a number of recent pronouncements highlight the difficulties in concurrently achieving short-term stability and long-term change.
Bing Crosby may have dreamt of a white Christmas; but, as festivities approach a climax, bringing with it a band of rain, sleet and snow, the reality of spending another year cooped up at home like a turkey in a battery farm rapidly moves down the list of seasonal aspirations.
When school choice emerged as a popular policy proposal for the UK, the pro-Whitehall control contingent in the education debate began latching on to any argument to suggest it couldn’t work. Now a new report by Gabriel H. Sahlgren puts many of their concerns to rest.
In June 2009, 7 year old Dominic Johansson was snatched by the Swedish authorities as he and his family boarded a plane bound for India. He was immediately taken into care and his parents permitted only one short visit every five weeks. There are no allegations of gross neglect; there is no evidence of serious… [Read More]
The last couple of days have witnessed three very different events that have led to calls for action to be taken against controversial individuals. The cases of Julian Assange, Frankie Boyle and Pastor Terry Jones share the common theme of censorship, and demonstrate the difficulty of deciding when censorship is justified.
Students are hitting the streets again today, for the climax of protests against the tuition fee hike. Despite their cries, you can bet good money that the Bill will pass, with some estimating a decent seized majority of 20-40 in favour of the fees rise. In light of this inevitability, what is the legacy of… [Read More]
The UK is threatening to halt funding earmarked for the EU’s international development programmes because allegations of corruption and fraud continue to plague the EU’s development aid spending.
Over the last number of weeks, the WikiLeaks debacle has demonstrated incontrovertibly the power and potential of disseminating information online. However, the ability to access a near infinite databank of knowledge, though arguably valuable for scrutinising politicians, is less welcome elsewhere. The country’s most senior judicial figure, Lord Judge, has condemned juries’ use of the… [Read More]
The Equality Act 2010 came into force on 1st October; however, not all provisions have been implemented. One provision which is being considered by the Government is the prohibition on ‘age discrimination in services and public functions’. This would extend the law prohibiting discrimination on characteristics other than age (sex, religion, race etc). I imagine… [Read More]
The value of the humanities in this country has long been under-represented in public discourse. Never has this deficit been more evident than in last month’s Browne report, which saw the removal of the teaching budget for arts and humanities subjects, writes Aoife O’Donnell.