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 [...]
On Wednesday 27 February 2013, the issue of lowering the voting age to 16 was debated in the House of Lords. Here is the text of my speech: My lords, I support votes at 16. It was Aristotle who said: “We are what we repeatedly do.” This is of course why education is so important [...]
On Tuesday 26 February 2013, there was a short debate about HS2 in the House of Lords. The transcript of the whole debate can be found here and I have reproduced my speech below. My Lords, the benefit/cost ratio for HS2 is strong, and stronger still once the high-speed lines extend north from Birmingham to Manchester, [...]
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 [...]
Roy Jenkins, who died 10 years ago on 5 January, remains a formidable inspiration. As a social reformer, and in his relentless campaign to build a “one nation” social democracy, he is a radical model for today’s left. Jenkins changed the face of Britain with the liberal reforms of his two stints as home secretary [...]
This afternoon I am speaking for Labour on the so called Growth and Infrastructure Bill. Here is the gist: The government seems to be re-defining the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Given the outright attack on localism in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, DCLG may as well be re-named the Department against Communities [...]
This article originally appeared in the January 2013 edition of Prospect magazine In 2009, the Gates Foundation gave out $1.8bn in grants to improve health in developing countries. If it were a state, it would be the world’s 10th largest international aid donor. Its operations certainly resemble a state, complete with an eight acre headquarters [...]