FEATURED PUBLICATION
Patently Absurd
Despite world-class universities and a strong science base, Britain produces fewer patents per person than most major economies. More concerning still, innovation in Britain is declining at the same time as it is accelerating in other global markets.
Read more
Social work or Crime Prevention? A better future for probation
In the last decade the Probation Service has had a rough ride. It has been changing fast and is now being called upon to change even faster, and to cast itself off from its current base of training and values derived from the social work.
Public Spending: A twenty-year plan for reform
Public spending must be reduced if the economy is to prosper; and the economy must prosper greatly so that taxes can also be cut.
Local Limits: Cutting the costs of good councils
Local government today appears no longer to be the great political and ideological battlefield it was in the 1980s. To those who run it – elected members and officials 0 to political commentators, and even to ministers, discussion is couched in terms of ‘consolidation; on the basis of where we now are and of the managerial direction for the future.
Liberate the Tube! Radical proposals to revitalise the London Underground
London now faces a transport problem more intense than any city in Britain, and possibly harder to solve than in any city in the world.
Less than meets the eye: The modest impact of CAP reform
Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1992 represented a significant change in the structure of European Agricultural support. Contrary to common opinion, however the level of support has not changed and the protectionist system of variable levies has not been abolished.
How to be British
I have called this talk ‘ How to be British’. I have done so, perhaps, with a slightly satirical intent, for the conservative mind is rightly suspicious of books and pamphlets whose titles begin with the phrase ‘How to…’,
Charging for Roads: A better way to ease congestion
Early next year the Department of transport will begin field trials of electronic equipment with a view to charging tolls on Britain’s motorways. If the equipment works, the plan is to apply the system nationwide by the end of the country.
Vanishing Words: Spoken English, the GCSE and the National Curriculum
Should Spoken English contribute to candidates overall marks in public examinations 0 as it will in GCSE English from this summer? There are good reasons to think not.
Out of sight out of mind: the dangerous neglect of Britain’s ‘invisibles’
Britain’s invisible earnings are so condemned to obscurity by the very name they go by. Yet they are the hidden crown jewels of the economy.
The Goldsmith Fallacy: Why open trade and the Gatt are best
Sir James goldsmith proposes to severely restrict or eliminate international trade and to do away with the GATT.
The challenge for Europe
On 23 August, 1987, several thousand people gathered in the three Baltic States occupied by the Soviet Union, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to protest against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.
Opting for Freedom: A Stronger policy for grant-maintained schools
Today, out of 24,503 schools in England and Wales 829 are Grant-Maintained (GM). That is 3.38 per cent. The dramatic movement to GM status, so confidently expected, has not yet occurred. Why not?
Nursery Choices: the right way to pre-school education
The Expansion of nursery education is on the agenda of all political parties, but it appears to be far from the battleground of politics. Political differences seem to vanish when the subject is raised.
Divorce Dissent: Dangers in Divorce Reform
Late in 1993 the Government published its detailed proposals for reforming the divorce law in the Green Paper Looking to the Future Mediation and the Ground for Divorce.
An Awful Warning: The War in ex-Yugoslavia
As the war in Bosnia slowly approached its bloody and messy end, with a sort of peace in sight at long last the acrimonious debate about the rights and wrongs of the part played by outside powers in the conflict has abated somewhat.
American and Britain: Is the relationship still special?
To speak of a ‘special’ relationship between Britain and the United states is to embark on a delicate task of definition. Recently this description of the Anglo-American relationship has become a subject of controversy and, as in any polemic, its original content obscured and confused.
