Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues
By Dave Richards and Martin Smith Filed Under: All posts Posted:
In 2005, the political journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote a critique of the Conservative Party, The Strange Death of Tory England. Here Dave Richards and Martin Smith explore this failed prophesy and examine the implications of GE2015 on the main parties. When Wheatcroft wrote his book the Conservative Party was yet to come to terms with […]
By Lawrence Benson Filed Under: All posts, Devo Posted:
SS DevoManc has now set sail after a six weeks stopover in port during the general election. Dr Lawrence Benson tries to plot its course. Let’s recap on DevoManc. It’s about the devolution of power and resources from Westminster to the city region of Greater Manchester (GM), including for health and social care. This marks […]
By Diane Coyle Filed Under: All posts Posted:
As official Government figures show that the UK economy deflated in April, for the first time since the 1960’s, Diane Coyle looks at whether we should be worried. There was much excitement about the news that the UK’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined by 0.1% in the 12 months to April. A negative figure for […]
By Carole Talbot Filed Under: All posts, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Can ‘outsider’ universities break the Oxbridge stranglehold on the Civil Service? Carole Talbot explores… It’s well understood that Whitehall Civil Servants go to Oxford and Cambridge Universities more often than elsewhere. And, many of the linkages into these universities are based on civil servants having attended one of the Oxbridge Colleges themselves and that the […]
By Dr Joanne Tippett Filed Under: All posts, Featured Posted:
The recent general election has seen calls for parity of mental health within the health care system, and this will require innovative approaches to involving people with mental health issues and their carers in service delivery says Joanne Tippett, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. A participant with dementia in a recent event hosted […]
This week Bank of England chief Mark Carney – and the University of Manchester’s own Ken Clark – highlighted the problem with productivity that our economy faces. Here Chris Bones offers some solutions. Whilst the coalition government delivered employment and growth it did far less well on productivity. The Bank of England reports that UK […]
By Simon Lovell and David Robertson Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Science and Technology Posted:
The Ebola outbreak has loosened its grip on West Africa, as shown by Liberia being declared free of the disease a couple of days ago. This is cause for relief, but not complacency, explain Simon Lovell and David Robertson. The 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus arose from a single case in Guinea, probably transmitted […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts, Westminster Watch Posted:
As the polls open and ballots begin to be cast across the country as GE2015 gets underway, Colin Talbot looks at one possible scenario should the predictions of a hung Parliament prove accurate. It could easily be 5 weeks before we have a settled Government. It might not be, the polls might be wrong or […]
By Mel Ainscow and Alan Dyson Filed Under: All posts, Featured Posted:
New proposals for the reform of the English education system are outlined in a report written by Mel Ainscow CBE and Alan Dyson, Professors of Education and co-directors of the Centre for Equity in Education at The University of Manchester, and their colleagues Sue Goldrick and Dr Kirstin Kerr. The English school system is in […]
By Lawrence Benson Filed Under: All posts, Devo Posted:
Laurence Benson routinely uses the lateral thinking techniques of the original thinker Edward deBono to review new and old policy for public services. As a teaching focused academic at Manchester Business School here Laurence runs the recent devomanc policy through deBono’s Six Thinking Hats technique. Each hat has a different colour to represent a different […]