Manchester Policy Blogs

Attachment, community and social investment – giving children a future at home and abroad

By Peter Fahy Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Growth and Inclusion Posted: June 15, 2017

The annual Cockcroft Rutherford Lecture is the flagship event for alumni and friends of The University of Manchester. This year’s lecture (which can be viewed in full, here) was delivered by Sir Peter Fahy, former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. The theme of his lecture was the importance of the best start in life […]

How can a human development approach inform debates on Greater Manchester’s future?

By Jill Rubery Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Growth and Inclusion, Urban Posted: June 14, 2017

On June 14th the University of Manchester is publishing a Human Development Report for Greater Manchester. Here, Jill Rubery lays out why the report is important and some of its key findings. Human development means putting people at the centre. This means putting social goals into investment decisions, developing a longer term approach and focusing […]

Brexit and Social Mobility: England’s Left Behind Communities

By Marianne Sensier and Fiona Devine Filed Under: All posts, Brexit, British Politics, Growth and Inclusion Posted: June 12, 2017

Since the Brexit vote in the EU referendum of 23rd June 2016 the political turmoil that followed has been unprecedented with a change of Prime Minister and cabinet, a leadership challenge in the Labour party and Theresa May calling a General Election. Social mobility is high on the political agenda with Theresa May’s first speech […]

General Election 2017: Making the astonishing explicable

By Francesca Gains Filed Under: All posts, Brexit, British Politics Posted: June 9, 2017

Francesca Gains, Professor of Public Policy and Head of Politics at The University of Manchester gives her view on why the UK has a hung parliament and how this signals a return to two party politics. The 2017 general election has astonished all, possibly even the courageous pollsters (Survation) who called it correctly yesterday. The two […]

What do the general election manifestos mean for higher education?

By Sylvie Lomer Filed Under: All posts, British Politics Posted: June 7, 2017

As people up and down the country prepare to return to the polls for Thursday’s general election, Dr Sylvie Lomer reviews the manifestos and what they mean for higher education policy. The Conservatives want to create institutes of technology and review funding and access to tertiary education Labour would abolish tuition fees, reintroduce maintenance grants […]

Keeping the faith in nuclear power

By Juan Matthews Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment Posted: June 7, 2017

Professor Juan Matthews, from The University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute, examines how committed the UK political parties are to nuclear power. The last six months have been worrying for the nuclear power industry and with the election coming up on 8 June he asks what does the industry need from the new government? The […]

Prevention was always better than cure. Now, it’s the best way to save the NHS.

By Martin Yuille Filed Under: All posts, Health and Social Care Posted: June 6, 2017

Martin Yuille, Reader in Biobanking/Co-Director of CIGMR at The University of Manchester argues that it’s time for health policy change course and take prevention seriously. The NHS Titanic is lurching toward an iceberg of three big killers: type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and cancer. There are two key components of disease prevention: assessing risk of […]

Do we need to ban zero-hours contracts?

By Douglas Bamford Filed Under: All posts, British Politics Posted: June 6, 2017

The existence and regulation of zero-hours contracts has become a much debated policy area over recent years as the number of people on such contracts has dramatically increased. Here, Dr Douglas Bamford considers the policies put forwards in some of the general election manifestos to tackle zero-hours contracts and argues for a more nuanced, balanced […]

The hidden emergency in England’s NHS ambulance service

By Leo Mccann Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Health and Social Care Posted: June 5, 2017

The recent terrorist attack in Manchester brought widespread praise for the response by the emergency services, not just from the public but from leaders of all political parties. But there are serious problems and failings within the NHS’s ambulance service, says The University of Manchester’s Professor Leo McCann, and we need deep-rooted policy change to […]

Putting an accent on things: The need to clarify speech expectations for British teachers

By Alex Baratta Filed Under: British Politics Posted: June 2, 2017

Dr Alex Baratta writes on the complexities of language, accents, and pronunciation in the classroom. Dr Baratta argues for the standardisation of some elements of pronunciation in teacher training as the best way to balance educational outcomes in learned ‘phonics’ with the protection and celebration of diversity through experience of a variety of accents. Currently, language […]