Should Britain’s equality laws be expanded? Under government proposals, mandatory pay gap reporting and equal value pay claims will be fully expanded to race and disability, where they are currently only available for gender. Given the primary role that equal value pay claims have played in compromising major British businesses, the bankruptcy of Birmingham City… [Read More]
The rules-based global order which the United Kingdom and other democracies drove to establish after 1945, and which we believed had been permanently assured after 1990, is fast disappearing. The West now faces a truly existential threat from a loose but strengthening alliance of autocracies which the war in Ukraine has exposed. This is an… [Read More]
The value of a knowledge-rich curriculum: An essay collection is a multi-author anthology bringing together a wide range of professionals from teaching, education leadership, policy and academia to discuss the aims, impact and potential of a knowledge-rich curriculum approach in schools. With the goal of engaging school leaders, policymakers, teachers and parents/carers alike, the collection… [Read More]
Classical liberal education is the grounding of a child into a lifelong adventure through ideas and ideals, that they might enter, through the gradual cultivation of wisdom, style and virtue, into the fullness of humanity, ‘the good life’ as we might call it. The tradition through which Western civilisation preserved and enriched its inheritance for… [Read More]
This paper by Joanna Williams discusses what is meant by standards in education, how and why standards have fallen and, crucially, why this matters. In defence of standards also considers the impact of different forms of assessment on educational standards, making the case for traditional exams in establishing high achievement and improving pupil outcomes. Central… [Read More]
In this report, Phil Radford questions why the UK’s approach to trade has such little focus on our fastest‑growing exports and why debate is not better informed on the location of the country’s future growth markets. Could policymakers answer the basic question: ‘What are the UK’s fastest-growing exports?’ Through analysing 25 years’ worth of UK… [Read More]
Many businesses nowadays engage in what has been coined ‘ethical’, or ‘woke’, capitalism. Whilst ethical capitalism has a long history, over recent decades it has largely fallen under the remit of ‘environmental, social and governance’ (ESG) – an umbrella term that refers to a business’ social commitments, environmental footprint, and level of public accountability –… [Read More]
In the wake of the civil disturbances following the Southport tragedy, any mention of the phrase ‘two-tier policing’ has been dismissed. This report questions why progressive political leaders refer to it as the language of far-right thugs, the media cast it as ‘myth’, and a high-profile Select Committee refers to it as an ‘unsubstantiated’ and… [Read More]
Civitas has partnered with the Bessemer Society and the ERA Foundation to contribute to the new UK Industrial Strategy. Our objective is to identify barriers to growth, and suggest practical measures that will boost advanced manufacturing in the UK. Our proposals draw on the business experience of innovators and serial entrepreneurs at the Bessemer Society,… [Read More]
Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the UK economy – out of the roughly 250,000 active manufacturing businesses in the UK, 99% of them are micro and small-to-medium companies. Almost two thirds of these SMEs have ambitions to grow into large businesses over the next decade, which, if realised, could add £83 billion… [Read More]