News & Insight

15 July 2014

It seems the furore over Chris Grayling’s decision to ban books being sent to prisoners has attracted more public attention than his plans to privatise 70 per cent of the probation service. As one civil servant at a recent roundtable...

11 July 2014

Air pollution kills 29,000 people every year in the UK, according to Public Health England. So clean air ought to be a political priority. But it isn’t. Fortunately, those nasty Brussels bureaucrats are trying to protect public health. In December 2013...

11 July 2014

Some people say we’re losing our sense of community spirit. That’s just not true. Across the country there are 20 million people that volunteer in their local areas. In the last few days I’ve met people running grassroots sports clubs,...

10 July 2014

A week is a long time in politics, they say - so six months is clearly an absolute aeon. Six months have now elapsed since Britain suffered the wettest winter ever that saw 7800 homes flooded and thousands more evacuated from...

9 July 2014

Britain needs a new party to stand up for the interests of working people. In 1900, the Labour party was created to ensure a fair deal for workers. But modern Labour has moved away from workers with their credo of...

7 July 2014

The UK reached a significant macroeconomic anniversary at the end of last year: the country's consecutive deficit on the current account turned 30 years old. Once was the time when ‘balance of payments’ issues of this kind mattered politically. But...