The Clue is in the Question
21 February 2013There may have been valid reasons for jurors to put apparently absurd questions to the judge in a trial involcving public figures.
2013
Thoughts on Fat Taxes
19 February 2013Yesterday the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) published Measuring Up: The Medical Profession’s Prescription for the Nation’s Obesity Crisis, its contribution to the on-going debate about obesity as a public health problem. The report noted that a quarter of the current adult population is obese and that current figures foretell serious problems with the… [Read More]
How Vince Cable and David Lidington inflate the EU’s benefits
18 February 2013For the past three weeks, Vince Cable (Business Secretary, Liberal Democrats) has been telling anyone who will listen that Cameron’s referendum pledge is a threat to the British economy. More specifically, he claims: “[A]Just under half of UK’s exports of goods and services are sold into the Single Market; [B]3.5 million British workers have jobs… [Read More]
EU budget deal agreed
15 February 2013After 24 gruelling hours of negotiating last Friday, EU leaders finally agreed on a budget for 2014-2020. The collapse of talks last November raised concerns about whether an agreement could be reached, with some nation states favouring an increase in spending and others, like the UK, demanding that the austerity measures imposed by national governments… [Read More]
Invoking the Twenty-Seventh Amendment
14 February 2013Emulating a 1992 amendment to the U.S. constitution could improve public acceptance of MPs salaries.
‘Healthcare UK’ – the NHS goes international
12 February 2013The idea of expanding the health service’s reach globally in the hope of raising the profile of the UK health sector and generating additional income to fund NHS services at home has been around for a few years now – the ‘NHS Global’ branch of the Department of Health was launched in March 2010 in… [Read More]
Clegg should stay on ‘the ciggies’
That sounds like rather bad advice. After all, cigarettes kill. Moreover, as Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has a duty to act as a role model to the country, or at least not to act the total hypocrite as his government upholds the indoor smoking ban and pushes forward an attack on packaging. In Sunday’s… [Read More]
Schengen dispute continues
8 February 2013As an agreement on the EU budget for 2014-2020 finally takes shape, the on-going dispute about the Schengen Convention remains unresolved. At a Council meeting on June 7th 2012, the European Union’s home affairs ministers unanimously decided to establish a new Schengen Evaluation Mechanism in response to concerns about border security, which became particularly acute… [Read More]
When it’s in order to ask someone’s sexuality
7 February 2013On Tuesday 5th February, the Commons voted substantially in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. There had been some consultation. Published alongside their 2010 manifesto, the Conservative “Contract for Equalities” promised: “We will also consider the case for changing the law to allow civil partnerships to be called and… [Read More]
NHS standards: what the Francis report means
6 February 2013The long-awaited Francis Report into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was released this morning, analysing what went wrong and what we can perhaps do to prevent similar lapses in future (you can read it here). Here is a brief summary of what went on and of my tentative response to the report.… [Read More]