News & Insight

Who wants to be popular?

17 October 2013

Populism – characterised by an appeal to the masses against elite institutions – has found fertile ground recently. The frenzied subprime lending of banks illuminated just how reckless, and in some cases just how corrupt some of the most powerful...

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Contested development

16 October 2013

At the Labour Party conference in September Ed Miliband spoke about the dangers of a race to the bottom – of falling real wages and problems inherent in the unfair distribution of the benefits of growth. And if a rising...

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2030 Vision

16 October 2013

When the global financial crisis came, as Chairman of the House of Commons Treasury committee, I witnessed the power of public spending to mitigate economic calamity. In the decade I led the committee’s work, I also saw the difference spending...

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What's the point of a reshuffle?

15 October 2013

When a reshuffle is in the air, everybody can sense it. Ministers and their shadows pop up on the television a lot more, make far more interventions. The press is full of endless speculations. Who’s in? Who’s out? Who’s up?...

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The rise of the far right in Europe

15 October 2013

This week, National Front candidate Laurent Lopez won a hotly-contested local council by-election in the southern town of Brignoles, France. Analysts have said that the Front National win in Brignoles, whose mayor belongs to the Communist party, could be a...

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A challenge for the Care Bill to cover housing

15 October 2013

With the Care Bill currently being debated in Parliament, all the problems of our ageing society are highlighted once again. Local authorities are running out of money to meet social care costs. The NHS is struggling to cope with the...

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