Wednesday 14th of May will see the inaugural London Boxing Academy Gala Dinner. The aim of the evening will be to raise awareness about and money for the invaluable work that the Academy is doing.

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In a head-to-head debate in the British Medical Journal, we argue that instead of backing away from the reality that supplementing of NHS care with private treatment is already widespread – and will become even more so as the finite budget of the NHS becomes less able to cover the medical care that people want or require – the government should instead work towards creating an equitable framework for top-up fees. This would allow access to new drugs and treatments to all, rather than just the wealthy as is the case currently.

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IPPR’s latest report, ‘Those Who Can’, accurately highlights many of the new pressures that are now impacting on teachers, including a greater demand for skilled school leavers in the economy, changes in family structure and even artificial pressures generated by political agendas. The funny thing is their solution for dealing with these pressures is not the common sense approach: to set teachers free from these bureaucratic and political demands so that they can deal with the genuine needs of children. Quite the opposite!

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Launching the buck on biofuel targets across the Atlantic, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson’s article in the Guardian last week stated “European biofuel production is having only a minimal effect on global prices”. (Roughly translated as: “It wasn’t me sir!”) But he warned “large-scale biofuel production, especially in the US, may be one of the factors pushing up global food prices as it diverts resources from food production.” (Roughly translated as: “It was him!”)

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Another May, another Mayor mercifully less prone than some to praising preachers of hate, and now, to add further icing to the cake of all who long for this country to return to the days when it was a tolerant, peaceful and civilised place in which to live, another moderate Muslim organisation to join the recently launched Quilliam Foundation in tackling the pockets of extremism and intolerance that remain among Britain’s Muslim community.

continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.