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17 Mar 06
PETER HETHERINGTON | In the corner of England where I live, the fragile economy rests on a knife-edge.
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10 Mar 06
PHILIP JOHNSTON | It is almost 20 years since Margaret Thatcher, on the morning of her third election victory in 1987, stood on the staircase of Central Office in London and said: ‘We must do...
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3 Mar 06
PETER WILBY | When I edited the New Statesman, I was rung by a former Labour minister who wished, he said, to write an article on the future of democracy.
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24 Feb 06
TONY TRAVERS | The postcode lottery has become one of the most important concerns of British public policy.
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17 Feb 06
PETER RIDDELL | Every conversation with a minister, senior civil servant or special adviser now turns inevitably - and usually quickly - to the question of what type of prime minister Gordon Brown...
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10 Feb 06
VICTORIA MACDONALD | In court this week, Ann Marie Rogers was fighting her primary care trust’s refusal to fund the breast cancer drug, Herceptin.
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3 Feb 06
DAVID LIPSEY | Tony Blair works on the principle that no policy is worth introducing unless it causes a Labour row.
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27 Jan 06
ALAN LEAMAN | Just occasionally in politics, all is not as it seems.
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20 Jan 06
PETER WILBY | About six years ago, at the end of a long dinner in Edinburgh, I discussed patriotism with Gordon Brown (this being the nearest thing to light-hearted chat that you can get with the...
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13 Jan 06
JACKIE ASHLEY | I have the dubious honour of being the first journalist to be told of the current ‘respect’ initiative.
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6 Jan 06
DAVID LIPSEY | Dodgy hip? Hope you didn’t tuck into the turkey too enthusiastically, else the National Health Service might not fix it for you.
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16 Dec 05
DAVID MEILTON | If you still think of good old Santa as an old fuddy-duddy dressed like a lumpy pillar-box with a tatty beard, prepare yourself for a shock.
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9 Dec 05
PETER HETHERINGTON | Here’s a seasonal teaser to throw into the annual round of Trivial Pursuit, or the other festive games that can enliven an otherwise monotonous family get-together.
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2 Dec 05
PETER RIDDELL | Tony Blair is not the only senior politician concerned about his legacy. Gordon Brown is too.
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24 Nov 05
PETER WILBY | I think I have begun to grasp what New Labour means by localism.
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18 Nov 05
ROBERT SHRIMSLEY | It is Enterprise Week. Don’t tell me your heart didn’t beat just a little faster on Monday morning knowing that fact.
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11 Nov 05
PHILIP JOHNSTON | It is ‘black hole’ time again.
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4 Nov 05
MELISSA BENN | It’s been called a dog’s breakfast, a return to Tory policies, a reinvention of the wheel.
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28 Oct 05
VICTORIA MACDONALD | As Professor Sir Liam Donaldson launched his book on the history of chief medical officers this week, he must have been reflecting on how difficult the job has become.
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21 Oct 05
DAVID LIPSEY | Are the health service reforms sinking into chaos?
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14 Oct 05
NIALL DICKSON | The NHS in England has embarked on the most radical and far-reaching reform programme in its history.
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7 Oct 05
PETER RIDDELL | Tighten your belts. Anyone working in the public sector should realise that the days of plenty — well, at least, not of starvation — are going to end in a couple of years.
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30 Sep 05
ALAN LEAMAN | Three weeks by the seaside with Britain’s politicians is enough to convince any dispassionate observer that our political parties are all in a sorry state.
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23 Sep 05
PETER WILBY | To my surprise, I felt a pang of sympathy for President George Bush over Hurricane Katrina.
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16 Sep 05
ROBERT SHRIMSLEY | Some time soon, Gordon Brown will start meeting with trade union leaders to secure their support for his leadership bid.