News & Insight

12 November 2012

In recent years the public sector has been attacked by a virulent bug called neophilia, defined in my medical dictionary as a fixation with the new, the trendy, the ‘transformative’. The dictionary adds: neophilia is a disease preceded by acute...

9 November 2012

Since the financial crisis many have questioned the purpose of economics. With so much of the value created during the pre-crash years now seemingly lost it feels meaningful to ask ‘What is economics for?’ Amidst the soul-searching few would disagree...

8 November 2012

Food is a profoundly political issue. In the not too distant past, the lack of food was a pressing concern for social justice campaigners. Indeed the rationing of food was a central issue during the 1951 election in which the...

7 November 2012

We are now close to the final negotiation on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) of the EU for 2014–2020. A summit will be held on the 22nd November in Brussels. As always in European policies, and as always right before...

6 November 2012

Despite their high unemployment rates, ethnic minority young people are far less likely to have a place on an apprenticeship than white young people. Given the need to tackle the unacceptably high unemployment rates of this group, along with the...