MALCOLM PROWLE | Our leading bankers told the Treasury committee a usual story this week: unless large bonuses are paid, they will fail to attract or retain talented staff. This raises a number of...
MIKE THATCHER | It might have been trashed by the Tories and lambasted by local government leaders, but the Audit Commission’s new inspection regime could still be here to stay
PETER WILBY | Gordon Brown’s followers claim that the media’s trivialisation of politics writes off good leaders who fail to shine on TV. But politicians do need people skills
TONY TRAVERS l The weather has once again generated ‘Britain in crisis’ headlines, particularly in relation to the suggestion that some councils were running out of salt
Three days before Christmas is a pretty good time to have a bad news day on funding. With most people either at office parties or out doing some final gift shopping, few will hear the sound of belts...
IAN MULHEIRN | As the Conservative Party's mood turns back towards using the tax system to support traditional family structures, it's worth considering what the evidence says about tax and marriage...
CARLO PERROTTA | As schools get back to work following the Christmas break, some pupils are being asked how to turn their minds to how their school building can be improved under Building Schools for...
GEORGE JONES AND JOHN STEWART | A very significant sentence is hidden away in the appendices to last month’s Pre-Budget Report. You could easily miss it, and it seems many have since it has received...
CONOR RYAN | There is no doubt that the apparently under-resourced Labour election team scored an early victory in the election battle yesterday. The party's efforts to destabilise David Cameron's...
ANNA DIXON | Many of the ideas and policy proposals in the Conservative's draft health manifesto are already current government policy although the suggestion is that they want to go further with...
ROD ALDRIDGE | Ofsted released a short report last week about gifted and talented students (those in the top 5%-10% of their school year) in 26 schools. The sample may have been small but the...
DAMIAN DEWHIRST | We all know that public spending is under the greatest pressure in a lifetime, local government spending included. Last week's Pre-Budget Report and November's Queen's Speech give...
KEITH LESLIE | The public sector’s reactive cost cutting is already affecting public service delivery at the frontline and will stifle staff motivation and prove harmful in the long run, pushing...
JIM BROOKS | Last week saw the attempted return to normality for bonuses in the banking world. The arguments were superficially persuasive: that these bonuses were an essential part of successful...
INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES | It is widely known that income inequality has risen substantially over the past thirty years. During the 1980's, in particular, inequality rose dramatically - to levels...
MIKE BIALYJ | The construction industry, like others, needs a skilled workforce to help it to grow and strengthen so that it is able to compete on a global scale. So how has the recession affected...
JAMES CLOSE | As I write, negotiations at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation
RICHARD LAING | As we come to the end of a year of financial turmoil and get ready to embrace a new year of political upheaval, it seems timely to draw some conclusions about public sector spending...
JULIAN MCCRAE | As the dust settles on the Pre-Budget Report, one thing is now clearer – the real tough decisions on how to sort out our fiscal mess are going to wait until after the election. What...
DAVID LIPSEY | Only a minority of the public see combating climate change as a priority – which is why politicians are strong on rhetoric but very short on action
JON SIBSON | Public sector leaders did not learn much about what the future holds for them following the Pre-Budget Report or the Smarter government paper
MIKE THATCHER | Boiler makers and bingo players enjoyed Alistair Darling’s third, and probably last, Pre-Budget Report this week. Bankers and public sector ‘bureaucrats’ were less impressed
