The final outcome of the Browne Review should please no one. The universities themselves are going to face a far tougher time, tutors can no longer be assured of their value and woe betide anyone wanting to do a ‘socially useless’ humanities degree. This time, government really has gone too far.
The Sunday Times (pay only), we learn via Peter Risdon, has a report about 6th formers having to apply for Criminal Record Bureau checks to attend college courses. Some have been refused on the basis of minor offences (such as shoplifting) committed when they were children. This is another illustration of what Frank Furedi and… [Read More]
Today the government outlined a number of measures to help small and medium sized businesses. Wanting to create an ‘entrepreneurial decade’ David Cameron has asked Lord Young to carry out a ‘brutally’ honest investigation into how small and medium sized businesses can be supported by removing burdensome regulations and opening up public procurement opportunities. Such… [Read More]
Yesterday, Civitas, in conjunction with the Manchester Business School, published this report, looking at the relationship between the size and performance of commissioners in the NHS. It found none, although both the domestic and international trend is towards larger commissioners, covering larger populations: the direct opposite to what is likely to happen under the… [Read More]
This has not been a good week for culture. A pincer movement has been occurring, with rumours that the state of Qatar is looking to buy Christie’s, and the decimation of the Arts Council. While of course unrelated, both have the potential to undermine Britain’s status as a cultural standard-bearer, the former through over-emphasising culture… [Read More]
A UN investigation into Greece’s detention facilities has highlighted severe failings, writes Natalie Hamill. Critics say this situation has arisen because the EU leaves Greece to shoulder the majority of the burden of EU immigration. The UN’s findings have prompted the deployment of the EU’s first ever Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT-s) to assist at… [Read More]
In a written ministerial statement, the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke announced yesterday that the Government has decided to ‘opt-in’ to the European Directive on the Right to Information in Criminal Proceedings. Whilst its central, rights-enhancing tenet may be laudable, the directive represents a worrying creep of European control into domestic criminal procedure, and is the… [Read More]
In his speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today, David Cameron promised government support for ‘those industries where Britain enjoys competitive advantage’ . He also stated that ‘I believe in competition… I believe when new entrants challenge big business, everyone wins’ . This latter point about competition – having faith in the market… [Read More]
In response to the economic crisis, France and Germany are keen to push through changes to the Lisbon Treaty, writes Natalie Hamill. In an effort to develop a ‘more lasting mechanism’ to deal with instability in the Eurozone, Germany and France are promoting plans that would pave the way for a fixed system to respond… [Read More]
The £6 billion council house budget is likely to be one of the major casualties of this week’s spending review. The National Housing Federation has said it is expecting “doomsday” cuts that will severely slow down the construction of affordable housing. But there are a few ways of cutting this budget while saving housing construction,… [Read More]