The Tories and the media have missed the big story about Cities Unlimited, the Policy Exchange report on regional development policies. (You can download a PDF copy of it from the think tank's website.) As James Graham pointed out this morning, the report's lead author Tim Leunig is a Liberal Democrat. Indeed, during my days on the party's federal policy committee he was something o...

Well done to Nick Clegg for becoming the first major party leader to take on Policy Exchange over its unscrupulous approach to Islam. (hat-tip Sunny Hundal) In a statement carried by the PoliticsHome website on Friday, Clegg criticised the think-tank over for a privately circulated briefing against the Sunday's Global Peace and Unity event in London. The Policy Exchange briefing I have seen seeks ...

The right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange has been forced into a humiliating climbdown over its report, ‘The Hijacking of British Islam’, for making allegations in the report that it now admits were unsubstantiated. In late 2007 Policy Exchange published the report, reported in the right-wing press without any further fact-checking, that around a quarter of Mosques and

Local government employers offer just 0.5% (07/04/09) Local government unions expressed bitter disappointment yesterday at a 0.5% pay offer by the Local Government Employers.The employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have said that the offer, which is for 2009-10, will not be imposed,...

Musical interlude for the wags at Policy Exchange. It seems they accidentally released the whole script of their Edinburgh Fringe show to the media. David Cameron brands the ideas as “insane”, I suppose because he wouldn’t want those type of folk anywhere near his constituency. BBC News Link Life in a Northern Town

Press tarnish Tories with Policy Exchange report One cannot help but think that the national and local press are having a bit of fun at the expense of david Cameron and the Conservative Party over the rather daft Policy Exchange report that recommended that we all head for the greener pastures of Oxfordshire. Purely a case

Just before my session at the Welsh Local Government Association Conference this morning Finance Minister, Andrew Davies joined a panel to talk about local councils working together. The last question to the Minister asked what would happen if local Councils do not work together sufficiently to achieve efficiencies expected by government. Would the Assembly Government initiate another reorganisati...

Most economists attribute Venezuela’s soaring inflation to loose monetary policy, exchange controls, devaluation and anaemic domestic production, dynamics that show no sign of abating. “The government has boxed itself in with a misguided policy mix of rampant spending and price and foreign exchange controls that has resulted in a growing output

Last week’s Local Government Association conference was addressed on its final day by three representatives from Westminster who’d made the journey northwards to Harrogate to face the serried ranks of senior local government councillors and officers. The Lib Dems were represented by Vince Cable MP, given an early morning slot that not everyone got

The Labour Government has launched a new crime mapping website - allowing the public to view figures for all crime in an area. Users of the map are able to compare one police area with another and compare crime rates over different times. The site also gives details of local policing priorities and upcoming local events such as crime prevention meetings and local surgeries. While Labour are commit...