News & Insight

3 December 2013

Thirty years ago a third of the population lived in council or housing association homes, now it is barely one in six. For the first time this year the English Housing Survey showed that there were more people living in...

2 December 2013

Britain’s lack of investment is the critical battleground in deciding our economic future. We need a determined investment strategy anchored in private-public partnership. Notwithstanding the present recovery, Britain is seeing on-going erosion of its economic strengths, capabilities and competitiveness.  One-time manufacturing and mercantile...

29 November 2013

This week, two telling statistics highlighted the state of the immigration debate in the UK and its impact on international students. First, “net migration” was reported by the ONS as rising from 167,000 in June 2012 to 182,000 in June this...

29 November 2013

Picture the scene. A 50-year-old man arrives at a job centre. He lost his job in heavy industry some years ago and has spent his life since living on government benefits. The economy moved on past his skills, and there...

28 November 2013

This Wednesday, German politics produced a big buzz. The final draft of the coalition treaty between the Union parties (CDU and CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) was signed. The 170 pages contain much ‘styrofoam language’, designed to cushion the mentalities...

28 November 2013

As Alex Salmond launched the white paper this week, he proclaimed that it was a “mission statement and a prospectus for the kind of country we should be and which this government believes we can be.” Now, I am a self-confessed...