Calderstones is a 223 bed hospital specialising in care for those with learning disabilities and is the only one remaining with this specialisation in the UK. Its closure has just been announced for next June. This decision follows the BBC’s 2011 Panorama investigation into Winterbourne View, which uncovered extraordinary levels of patient abuse. Its closure… [Read More]
David Cameron’s intervention yesterday into the arguments surrounding Britain leaving the EU has prompted a discussion on which trading model would be the best fit. As Eurosceptics continue to flesh out the different options, it is important to remember that these are just models and not structures that would be applied directly to the UK.… [Read More]
In its advice to Government Public Health England (PHE) argued for a tax on sugar. It claimed, rather limply, that this might be effective “in the short term”. Given that taxes are rarely reduced or abolished, if the best evidence is only of short-term effect then fiscal measures are unlikely to be the best course… [Read More]
I wrote last week that, following the Stronger In launch and appointment of Lord Rose as leader, the EU In campaign ran a serious risk of coming across as elitist, blinkered, focussed almost entirely on business economics. This worryingly implied important issues would be ignored: voters could find the river of trade statistics and investment… [Read More]
The Care Quality Commission’s ‘State of Health Care and Adult Social Care’ report has compounded the woes made apparent in last week’s announcement that NHS trusts have accumulated £1 billion of deficit in the first three months of this year. The independent health and social care regulator’s report has identified inadequate safety practices in three… [Read More]
As of this week, the EU ‘In’ and ‘Out’ campaigns have all launched in Britain, kick-starting the EU debate amongst the British public ahead of the referendum. Prime Minister David Cameron has not come down on either side; this is perhaps because he is straddling the two, hoping that the growing threat of Brexit might… [Read More]
The major EU remain and leave campaigns are now running. Last week saw the launch of Vote Leave, the pro-exit organisation that unites Business for Britain, Labour for Britain and Conservatives for Britain. This follows Leave.EU, the campaign funded by major Ukip donor Arron Banks. On Monday the cross-party pro-EU campaign began with the announcement… [Read More]
Home Secretary Theresa May and Mayor of London Boris Johnson both addressed freedom of movement at the Conservative Party Conference this week, albeit it in very distinct tones and from different angles. May underlined the lack of economic advantage that EU immigration brings the UK, while Johnson discussed British concerns over immigration within the framework… [Read More]
There seems to be no constituency rising as rapidly up the Westminster politicians’ priority list now. Today it was the prime minister wringing his hands about the plight of the frustrated first-time buyer and ‘Generation Rent’. The widespread distribution of housing wealth among the mass of the population that had been achieved by the end of… [Read More]
There has been much dissatisfaction among junior doctors since they became aware of the main proposals for their new contracts. Most of the outrage is provoked by what the contract deems to be ‘normal working hours’, the hours doctors work without receiving overtime payments. These will be extended from the current 7am to 7pm to… [Read More]