Policy@Manchester Articles

Targets? More targets! Even less change and more continuity in the performance regime in Whitehall

By Dave Richards, Colin Talbot and Ewan Munro Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted: August 24, 2015

Dave Richards, Colin Talbot and Ewan Munro explore target setting in Government. “Everyone has to think of their responsibilities with regard to the dreadful events that happened at the Staffordshire hospital, including the fact that part of the problem was people following a very top-down, target-led agenda which led to patient care being put on […]

Disillusioned and disenfranchised – devolution in Manchester must rekindle local communities

By Lois Brown Filed Under: All posts, Devo Posted: August 20, 2015

Lois Brown is a year 11 student at Priestnall High School in Stockport. She has just undertaken work experience at IPPR North and has written from her perspective about the challenges facing devolution to the region. Simply devolving to local government is not enough to overcome apathy with politics in Manchester – it needs to […]

Managing new nuclear – What’s new?

By Stephen Wearne Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Science and Technology Posted: August 19, 2015

Stephen Wearne explores lessons to be learnt from the similarities and the differences between the start of the nuclear power era in the 1950’s and now. The structure of utilities, suppliers and contractors for engineering and constructing new nuclear power stations in the UK today is very different to the structure at the start of […]

Mind the (nuclear skills) gap

By Andrew Gale and Nawal Prinja Filed Under: All posts Posted: August 18, 2015

Many workers in the nuclear industry are poised to retire – just as a major new nuclear building programme gets underway. Professor Andrew Gale and Professor Nawal Prinja consider the implications. The nuclear industry is facing a severe skills and technology management shortfall. Five new stations – Oldbury, Sizewell, Moorside, Wylfa and Hinkley – are […]

The End of the Parties?

By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts, Featured, Westminster Watch Posted: August 13, 2015

Colin Talbot asks if we have reached a tipping point where ‘first past the post’ finally fails to hold together the two big coalitions that have dominated British politics for nearly a century ? Could we be seeing the end of the Conservative and Labour Parties? The Tories are having a great summer: an unexpected […]

Welcome to citizenship?

By Bridget Byrne Filed Under: Ethnicity, Featured Posted: August 13, 2015

Drawing on research for her book Making Citizens, Bridget Byrne explores how citizenship ceremonies often hear claims that the UK is a welcoming place, in contrast to new citizens’ actual experiences. Citizenship ceremonies have been taking place in the UK for over a decade. They are very common – taking place, often weekly, in cities […]

Are patients interested in pharmaceutical research?

By Suzanne Parsons and Bella Starling Filed Under: Featured, Science and Technology Posted: August 12, 2015

It is important to involve patients and the public in pharmaceutical medicines research and development. Suzanne Parsons and Bella Starling examine who is interested, who is not and why. Involving patients and the public as active partners in their healthcare and in healthcare research has become an increasingly important policy issue in the last two […]

Greece: the Paradox of power

By Dimitris Papadimitriou and Kevin Featherstone Filed Under: All posts, Europe, Featured Posted: August 11, 2015

Why doesn’t Greece reform? Dimitris Papadimitriou and Kevin Featherstone on why the Greek political system has contributed to the mess the country finds itself in. Over the past few years the inability of successive Greek governments to deliver on the demands of international creditors has been a key feature of Greece’s bailout drama. Frustrated observers […]

Kids Company: a classic tale of start-up failure and the problems of the ‘strong leader’?

By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts Posted: August 6, 2015

The sudden collapse of the high-profile (though rather small) Kids Company charity has been getting lots of headlines. Colin Talbot looks at what has gone wrong. A quick look at its history and its published accounts suggests this is a pretty classic example of an entrepreneurial and charismatic ‘Leader’ coming up with a good idea […]

How radical are the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals?

By Carl Death Filed Under: All posts Posted: August 6, 2015

In September this year the United Nations will formally adopt a set of targets for global development to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Carl Death examines the proposals to assess their potential. The post-2015 goals – which will be called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – are likely to define the global development landscape for […]