Archive for May, 2009
Another Fine Mess the Government Has Got Us All Into
Posted by David Conway in Civil Liberty, Economics, Education on 12/05/2009
For some years now, it has been the declared ambition of the present government to increase the participation rate of young people at university to 50 per cent. Whether it was a wise ambition is questionable, seeing how incapable of achievement it has always been without seriously diluting A-level and final honours standards. However, because of it, young people have been staying on at school in unprecedented numbers with a view to securing a university place. Now, suddenly, just when they have been doing exactly what the government has long been encouraging them to, it has cruelly pulled the rug from under their feet by capping university places.
When Outsiders are Called in
Posted by Laura Brereton in Health, Uncategorized on 11/05/2009
Health sector employment of external management consultants has been making headlines lately. The HSJ reports DH board member anger over the appointment of McKinsey and Company to advise a panel of experts on how to measure GP quality, and today, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced it has obtained, through use of the Freedom of Information Act, figures on the amount the NHS in England spent on such consultants in the past year: a reported £350 million. If the comments following related news articles are anything to go by, the reaction among patients and NHS employees alike is one of alarm. Read the rest of this entry »
Needs attention
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 08/05/2009
Two depressing findings came out about schools this week. The first is that the number of children on free school meals has risen since last year. The second is that one in five children are now on the special educational needs (SEN) register.
Homeless health care: not so universal
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 08/05/2009
The NHS is supposed to be a universal healthcare system. There is one group however – one of the most vulnerable in society – who get a particularly raw deal: the homeless. The NHS funds services, not individuals. With no fixed abode, the homeless far too often fall through the net. As a discussion hosted by Civitas a couple of weeks ago showed, the homeless get caught in a catch-22 situation where, to quote Charles Fraser, CEO of St Mungo’s, ‘homeless people avoid health services and health services avoid them’.
Read the rest of this entry »
EU-Tube
Posted by Claire Daley in European Union on 06/05/2009
YouTube (the online video forum owned by Google) and Euronews (an international news channel) have collaborated to launch ‘Questions for Europe’, a new online forum to encourage debate ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
Another Equally as Lamentable an Educational Loss
Posted by David Conway in Education on 05/05/2009
This week sees the fiftieth anniversary of C.P.Snow’s famous ‘two cultures’ lecture. To mark the occasion, but even more importantly to draw attention to how even more poorly science is now being taught in the country’s schools, Civitas this week publishes an anthology edited by its deputy director Robert Whelan, entitled From Two Cultures to No Culture: C.P.Snow’s “Two Cultures” lecture 50 years on. An edited version of Robert’s introduction appears in today’s Daily Telegraph.