Disagreement is still evident over the exact role of competition in healthcare, but a consensus is emerging that the ‘type’ of competition being pursued in the NHS is too narrowly focused and must facilitate greater service integration and clinical leadership. That was the finding of a high-profile seminar organised by Civitas last month, which debated… [Read More]
2008 is European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. I bet you didn’t know that. According to its own dedicated website, the purpose of the year is ‘to encourage all those living in Europe to explore the benefits of our rich cultural heritage and to learn from different cultural traditions’. A flavour of the sort of thing… [Read More]
A new report, published in the latest edition of the Civitas Review, argues NHS performance on efficiency, quality and – most damagingly so far as its ideals are concerned – equity, has flailed badly over the past ten years despite record increases in funding. The problems are systemic. The undeniable talents of doctors, nurses and… [Read More]
But not quite. His latest article on Comment is Free is headlined ‘Making GPs more accessible is just a disguised concession to big business’. Although his ideology is almost unparalleled in its economic illiteracy, it looks on the face as if he might have happened upon something important. He starts off well, pointing out that… [Read More]
More than enough, perhaps, has already been said about the speech given last week by the Minister for Culture Margaret Hodge in which she criticised the Proms and other unnamed iconic cultural events — the Henley Regatta?, Glyndebourne? — for not being sufficiently inclusive. So well does the Culture Minister’s speech epitomise a central flaw… [Read More]
ID cards are being re-branded. The objective remains exactly the same, to create a national database with an associated biometric ID card. The difference is the softly, softly approach to introducing them to keep the scheme associated with the public’s security fears. It will cover first non-EU migrants, then ‘sensitive personnel’ such as baggage handlers,… [Read More]
Parents with children in their final year at primary school will today learn how successful they have been in securing for their children a place this coming September at a secondary school of their choice. Those who have been through this process will know what a trying time it is. continued on the Centre for… [Read More]
The Times today reveals the Conservatives are equally, if not more, committed to throwing yet more money at the NHS than Labour. The Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has boldly so he thinks, and completely foolhardily so many of the public will think, pledged to increase spending on it by £28 billion per year to… [Read More]
The Daily Mail reports that one in eight entries on the police’s growing DNA database is incorrectly inputted, threatening to associate the DNA signature of a criminal with the record of an innocent member of the public. In the future innocent people could be arrested on the basis of an error made by a data… [Read More]
Today’s Times reports that 20,000 Muslim leaders have just issued a declaration condemning terrorism as un-Islamic. Their declaration was made at a conference held yesterday at the Dar Uloom madrassa in Deoband, northern India. It runs: “Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.”… [Read More]