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Features - March 2010

  • Wrestling with paySupporters of national pay bargaining say it ensures fair and equal wages across the UK. But critics are squaring up, arguing that it distorts the labour market and fails to recognise cost of living differences. Alison Moore reports 11 March 2010
  • Health warningThe government and Opposition both claim the NHS will be safe in their hands. But just how protected will health budgets really be as the spending squeeze tightens? Tash Shifrin reports on threats of cuts and closures across England 04 March 2010
  • The fiscal trapPlans to give Scotland additional tax powers contain a fatal flaw. A built-in perverse incentive means that the Holyrood government would be less inclined to adopt a fiscal stimulus and could, instead, be forced to raise its income tax rate. Jim Cuthbert and Margaret Cuthbert explain 11 March 2010
  • Facing the factsThe UK's deficit needs to be addressed and neither main party has a credible plan. Ahead of this month's Budget, Tony Dolphin says it would be dangerous to implement more cuts now but there is an urgent need for long-term action 11 March 2010
  • Beyond the BudgetHas Alistair Darling's Budget done enough to rein in public spending? Economists, as ever, are divided. In this first of three features on the changing UK economy, Roger Latham and Malcolm Prowle explain what the next few years might hold for public service managers 25 March 2010
  • Seeds of ChangeEvidence from the Total Place pilots shows that the government's big new idea for funding local services will need nurturing in Whitehall. Chris Leslie and Nigel Keohane explain why it means change from the ground up 18 March 2010
  • Further problems The government is offering commitments on skills training for young people at the same time as making wholesale changes to the structure of further education funding. Can this be done at a time of severe cuts, asks Stephen Court 25 March 2010
  • Whitehall HQ of the Scottish office Out of step?Is the Whitehall post of Scottish secretary an anachronism in today's devolved UK? Yes, say the SNP and the LibDems; no, insist Labour and the Tories. As the row heats up, latest incumbent Jim Murphy tells David Scott what he thinks 11 March 2010
  • Full speed ahead? The high-speed rail white paper confirmed that – despite the recession – the massive government investment programme is being given the green light. Christian Wolmar reports 18 March 2010