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Features - July 2010

  • Back to workWith unemployment heading for 3 million and a soaring welfare budget to cut, the coalition is tightening up eligibility conditions for claimants. But we've been here before, warns Dan Finn 15 July 2010
  • labourpainsGETTY Labour painsCoalition ministers believe that private sector employment growth can counteract the huge loss of public jobs expected imminently. The Office for Budget Responsibility concurs, but are they being too optimistic, asks Ian Brinkley 29 July 2010
  • The axeman comethThe Budget revealed for the first time the scale of the austerity ahead - and it amounts to the longest and deepest period of public spending cuts since the Second World War. Rowena Crawford and Gemma Tetlow explain 01 July 2010
  • WhitehallBOWLING The inside trackAhead of the Spending Review, government departments face the tough task of making deep savings while protecting frontline services. Steve Freer offers ministers some timely advice 01 July 2010
  • The balance sheet Things really did get better under New Labour. But now we need a new settlement for progressive politics and public service reform, say Lisa Harker and Carey Oppenheim 07 July 2010
  • councilhousingBOWLING For whose benefit?Cutting Housing Benefit will not only affect those families that rely on it, but could widen the poverty gap and affect the recovery, says Campbell Robb 21 July 2010
  • ChrishamSAMKESTEVEN Systems manThis week's all-change health white paper might make for flashy headlines. But the new head of the King's Fund has doubts about the detail. Chris Ham talks to David Williams 15 July 2010
  • Outside inThe government's tough austerity measures could create a potential bonanza for outsourcing firms as the public sector looks to cut costs in education, health, local government and police services. But this will also bring serious risks and challenges, as Alison Moore discovers 29 July 2010
  • Paying the priceWe are told that private sector workers faced widespread pay freezes last year and now it's the turn of pampered public servants to feel the pain. But much of this argument is based on urban myths, while new salary curbs threaten fairness and equal pay, warns Alastair Hatchett 01 July 2010