Civitas Blog

The next European Parliament elections will take place in June 2009.

Direct elections for the European Parliament were introduced in 1979 in an attempt to increase the European Union’s democratic credentials - after all it is difficult for an appointed authority to lecture the developing world about the moral superiority and practical advantages of democracy (the European Commission and Council should take note). However at the last European Parliament election in 2004 turnout was only 45.6% across the EU, down from 49.51% in 1999 and 62% in 1979. In the UK only 38.9% of people voted. Raising voter turnout is crucial because the 2009 EP election will provide the only chance for EU electorates to have any say at all in the EU for the next 5 years.

For a child to do well in school, more is needed than just intelligence. Successful study also demands strong will-power. Children need to be able to resist the perennial temptation that they all will invariably face from time to time to escape the rigours demanded by serious study for the sake of the short-term immediate gratification they can obtain through play, which includes their playing around in the classroom.

This Tuesday, a forum at Civitas heard the ideas of Bartley J. Madden, an independent researcher in the US. His big idea is a dual-track system that aims to speed up the time from trial to licensing for new medicines. Topical, given the recommendation of Mike Richards' review on top-up payments this week to consider how PCTs can be better supported to make decisions on funding off-label drugs, Madden argued that drugs that have passed Phase I safety tests should be subject to two regimes...

According to a report from the Common’s Committee of Public Accounts, moves to improve education amongst prisoners are failing dismally. The Times Education Supplement reports today that the committee of MPs have branded the body set up to reform prison education, the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLSS), as ‘having failed in almost every respect’.

At the forefront of global affairs last week was the election of the next US President, Barack Obama. As the leader of the ‘free world’ the US President wields such significant power that it undoubtedly impacts on Europe, acknowledged in a Gallup poll which found that two-thirds of Europeans believe that any action an American president makes will also affect their country. Clearly Europe has no say in the selection of this powerful position, although some may say it has been granted the preferred candidate. According to EUObserver, had Europeans had the chance to vote in this election they would have voted for Mr Obama by an overwhelming majority of four to one. However, is Europe prepared for any demands that may come from closer EU-US relations? Asks Claire Mullarkey.

Does anyone know, really know, how best the relentless rise of gang culture might be reversed that has come to afflict so many of Britain's cities? Many of their run-down neighbourhoods bear today greater resemblance to the most depraved sections of south central Los Angeles than they do to the comparatively peaceful leafy suburbs that are often just streets away from them.

Anyone in need of insight into the scale of the problem and the urgency of the need for its resolution should read a truly frightening piece that appeared in last Friday's Times. It was about the gun-bearing drug-running gangs of youths that afflict certain parts of Sheffield where, until recently, many in authority refused to admit publicly that there was such a problem.

It’s illuminating reading the DH’s two most powerful policy documents under New Labour, The NHS Plan (2000) and Lord Darzi’s recent review of the NHS, High Quality Care for All (2008). The latter is certainly more refined and less concerned with quantity, not making attempts to dictate the need for x more staff, equipment, buildings etc. Instead, it sets quality of care as the 'irrevocable' first. But are they actually that different?

Last week the European Union voted to scrap its much ridiculed regulations controlling the size and shape of fruit and vegetables sold within the EU.

A French appeal court has just overruled the decision by a lower French court taken in April of this year to annul a two-year old marriage on the grounds the bride had lied beforehand to her husband as to being a virgin.

Apparently, the bride confessed to her lie on their wedding night after blood failed to appear on the sheets of the bed in which they had consummated their marriage following the ceremony. In seeking an annulment, the husband claimed that he would not have married his wife had he known beforehand that she was not a virgin.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) has lofty aims. In linking up to a third of general practice income to achievement against a series of quality indicators, it hoped to deliver significant increases in quality to patients. Has it succeeded?

This week saw the release of Ofsted’s Annual Report – and a book from Civitas, Inspecting the Inspectorate, which cast some doubt over Ofsted’s authority to judge the quality of the nation's schools.

A new report by the National Intelligence Council has given a damning “estimation” of the EU in 2025, including an assertion that the “Europe will not step up to the plate and take the lead.” (P4).

In the American report, which predicts the geopolitical landscape in 2025, the EU does not feature prominently. However where it does appear (most noticeably in the section entitled ‘Europe: Losing Clout in 2025’ p.32) the report is less than favourable about the EU’s prognosis, “We believe Europe by 2025 will have made slow progress toward achieving the vision of current leaders and elites.”

John Loughborough School is a mixed comprehensive school situated in the London borough of Haringey. Originally established there as an independent school in the early 1980s, after a brief period as a grant-maintained school, it gained voluntary-aided status in 1998.

The school was established by the Seventh Day Adventist church with which it remains affiliated. It was founded to provide a high-quality Christian education for local children of African and Caribbean background. The school is comparatively small, having a roll of approximately 300 children.

Watching the news last night, a friend asked why people are saying tax cuts at the present time may be a bad, not a good, idea. The point is this. In the long-run huge budget deficits matter, and they matter a lot. While I’m all for tax cuts in the grand scheme of things, deficit-funded tax cuts are not the way forward. They will only increase the budget deficit and multiply the problems we have.

The Nursing & Midwifery Council has been all over the news the last couple of days with its advice that nurses should no longer use terms such as ‘love’ when communicating with the elderly. Seems harmless enough, but is it really a good place to be if we need government or official bodies to tell us how best to behave?

The transition from primary to secondary school can be very difficult for pupils – yet surprisingly it’s an issue which doesn’t tend to be granted much attention.