Out Now: ’5 Days in May: The Coalition and Beyond’ To order in hardback at the special price of £7.99 visit www.politicos.co.uk/promotions and enter code 5 DAYS ‘Is a deal still possible?’ Nick Robinson texted me at 3.26 a.m. on election night. ‘Everything looks possible,’ I texted back. One of the great dramas of modern [...]
Frontline gets go ahead to change lives through children’s social work A new organisation, with the specific aim of boosting the image of social work and getting the very best people into the profession, today received the Government’s green light to start recruiting candidates for one of Britain’s toughest jobs from this September. Frontline, which [...]
To buy ‘Education, Education Education’ for the discount price of £7.99, visit www.politicos.co.uk/promotions and type 5 DAYS (all in CAPS) into the box. “David Cameron should make each of his ministers read this book – (remember Keith Joseph’s reading lists?) – because in Chapter 12 Adonis offers some very good tips on how to be a successful reformer. He demonstrates [...]
The strengths of the North East are great people, companies, universities, cities, countryside, public and cultural institutions, natural resources and a great location on the exporting edge of Europe. These are phenomenal assets. There was 10% employment growth in the decade to 2008 – 67,000 jobs, with strong growth in the private as well as [...]
London’s Tube and rail systems are bursting at the seams. Even with current Tube upgrades and the new Crossrail and upgraded Thameslink lines, congestion in central London will be unbearable by the late 2020s without a second Crossrail line. This is why the Mayor must start planning now for Crossrail 2 to go from south-west [...]
This book review appeared in The Times on Monday 29 April 2013. Alan Johnson is the nattiest dresser in Labour politics. When I was his junior minister in the Education Department, I would admire the succession of immaculately well cut lightweight suits, pressed shirts, tasteful cufflinks, faultless Windsor-knotted ties and smart shoes. There was never a [...]
There is a compelling need for more – and better – youth apprenticeships. Long-term youth unemployment is rising as fast as university tuition fees, yet employers are complaining of a lack of skilled labour. This is not a paradox. It is because there is a black hole of no education and no work-related training into [...]
This open letter originally appeared in The Times on 5 February 2013 Dear Justin, You won’t be short of advice now that you have been confirmed as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. My only qualifications for adding to it are that I hold no religious office and have no axe to grind beyond that of [...]
The Leveson report has generated many headlines, but the Richard report on apprenticeships, published around the same time as the inquiry into press regulation, may make a bigger imprint on the UK’s economy and society. Not a moment too soon. It is a modern paradox that mass youth unemployment coexists with employers complaining that they cannot [...]
Published in The Times, 1 Jan 2013 This year is the 50th anniversary of the infamous Beeching axe. Yet among hate figures, Dr Richard Beeching is one of the least deserving. Looking back, even with hindsight, he was mostly right to close down thousands of miles of railway track and hundreds of stations. The problem [...]