After riding high on an unexpected majority victory in the general election last week, Prime Minister David Cameron must now deal effectively with the uncertainty that looms over the UK’s relationship with the EU. Political uncertainty is bad for business, and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned this week that it would be better for… [Read More]
In the debate about private rents and whether we should re-introduce some form of regulation there is a great deal of anxiety about the impact that such a regime would have on landlords. The starting point tends to be: we wouldn’t want to scare off all the people who are making large and much-needed investments in… [Read More]
The European Commission yesterday published its plan to address the complex issues of asylum seekers dying while attempting to cross the Mediterranean and the distribution of migrants across European countries. In correspondence with tackling this humanitarian crisis, the Agenda on Migration aims to address both the long-term root causes of the migration crisis and to… [Read More]
The most prominent reason why the NHS is today struggling to remain sustainable is the increased numbers of the elderly who are surviving longer with chronic diseases. The popular phrase that ‘the NHS is a victim of its own success’ is truly applicable here. Many of these elderly people are in great need of the… [Read More]
Thanks to last week’s Conservative victory, Britain will have an EU referendum in 2017 or even 2016. The Conservative leadership will probably campaign to stay in on the basis of David Cameron’s renegotiation. If Cameron’s overtures to European leaders are rebuffed though, he may have no choice but to decry Brussels as unreformable and campaign… [Read More]
There is absolutely no doubt that deinstitutionalising mental health care is the right thing to do. From the 1950s onwards, and especially following the development of psychotropic drugs, patients formerly isolated from the rest of society in psychiatric institutions were ever more regularly cared for and treated in the community, either at home with their… [Read More]
The recession beginning in 2008 sparked a debate about the nature of Britain’s economy. But the agreed answer: rebalancing toward production and stronger economic growth outside of the south east, has become strangled by the campaign. The parties have allowed economic debate to become stripped down to government expenditure and a competition in fiscal restraint.… [Read More]
Labour might well form the next government, either with the Liberal Democrats and SNP, or as a minority. This could be a significant setback for those who want radical reform of Britain’s EU membership, or an end to it. Labour’s manifesto does mention reform, but has less precise goals than those of Conservative MPs like Brian… [Read More]
NHS England’s ‘Five Year Forward View’, along with the statements of most other key health stakeholders, including the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the King’s Fund and The Nuffield Trust, agree that a projected a £30 billion annual funding gap for the NHS will exist by the end of the next parliament. There seems little doubt… [Read More]
Eurozone leaders have been given a boost after data published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistic office, shows that the bloc is now out of deflation. Fears of falling prices, particularly oil, leading to a dent in demand and a stall in consumer spending prompted the European Central Bank (ECB) to introduce a quantitative easing program… [Read More]