Secretary of State for Education, Conservative Michael Gove, has downgraded the value of nearly all 14-16 vocational qualifications at a stroke.  I felt angry when I heard this.  However, it did little to reduce my respect for Mr Gove; I had very little anyway after ‘free’ schools, and his arrogant disregard of the role of

In the free and fluid exchange of opinions and ideas is there some basis of measurement that makes one man's more valuable than another's? Heading to CPAC this week I am looking forward to speaking with, and listening to, some of the best minds in the conservative movement. As the United States heads into the heart of the 2012 election cycle with a somewhat flawed Republican candidate (r...

Ski-slope on snow-free Danish island continues to receive EU funds

Joaquín Almunia, EU competition commissioner, plans to change the ground rules for state aid to cut irrelevant cases, target resources and free up manpower

Southampton Labour MPs John Denham and Alan Whitehead are today urging eligible constituents to take advantage of the Government's flagship energy help scheme Warm Front, to make their homes warmer and cut their energy bills. The Warm Front scheme - which offers heating and insulation improvements to households living on low incomes – is expected to see up to £30 million worth of ...

Tomorrow the Tories will try to push through their new Welfare Reform Bill.  Read the story about welfare reform in our new Soundings free-to-download ebook Welfare reform - the dread of things to come Welfare Reform The dread of things to come Edited by Jonathan Rutherford and Sally Davison © Soundings 2012 The contributions to this short ebook have been written in t...

Tomorrow the Welfare Reform Bill returns to the House of Commons. To mark the occasion Soundings journal publishes an ebook ‘Welfare Reform The dread of things to come’. Free download at ]. Contributors: Peter Beresford, Declan Gaffney, Kaliyah Franklin, Steve Griffiths, Sue Marsh, Jonathan Rutherford. Contributors bear witness, employ argument and offer statistical evidence

Competition to see who can come up with a better caption to the picture below than the one already attached. The winning prize is a pair of free tickets to last year’s FA Cup Final  

As regular readers here know, immigration is an issue that even people who are libertarians - or who say they are (often an important caveat) - disagree about. The nub of the issue can be expressed thus: immigration+welfare state+weak indigenous culture = social discord. Or: immigration+free market capitalism+strong sense of civil society = strong, dynamic country. Over at the CATO think tank in W...

Simon Hughes MP writes at Comment is Free, following the publication of the latest UCAS figures. He acknowledges the top-line 8% decline in applications and the mass protest that followed the original decision, but points out that applications from students in deprived areas have barely declined at all: …a more objective analysis of the data