The government has introduced sweeping change for the NHS. The aims are good but will the focus on outcomes work, and will it spell trouble for patients?

Before we go branding the new budget as deadly, clear evidence of the link between specific cuts and a reduction in overall health must be provided. Only then can the Chancellor distinguish between acceptable welfare cuts, and those which are dangerous.

A coalition between the Old and New factions of the Labour Party need not compromise the politics of either but could give rise to a new Labour party, with the hope and excitement of 1997 strengthened by the realism of today.

One of the many fascinating battles fought in last week’s General Election was that of Oxford West and Abingdon where Evan Harris, the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP, lost to first-time Conservative candidate Nicola Blackwood. The contest begs the question: to what extent did religion and science decide the outcome?

The Conservative’s ‘big idea’ of a ‘big society’ is striking in its failure to recognise the role of the unregulated market in creating much of the poverty, inequality, and social atomisation which they believe characterises Britain’s ‘broken society’.

Speculation about Sarah Palin’s presidential ambitions has been ripe since 2008 but would a Palin run help the Republicans? Gary Moore argues that both would be better off without the other.

Is the debate on NI contributions a harbinger of what’s to come on the campaign and does it risk crowding discussion of other policy areas such as health and education?

(c) rockcohen
The EU today put out a directive that will play havoc with the NHS, as they issued guidelines that require all GPs surgeries to be circular. The bizarre ruling is scheduled to come into …

(C) D.M.
The recent split in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), with party giant Lindsey German and 50 supporters leaving the party, continues a predictable pattern for the Left. Swiftly following the division of Respect into …

I keep hearing this thing about spin. As one blogger put it, “with Cameron, you don’t know where the spin ends and the policies begin.” This is the accusation the Conservatives and their leader stand …

Operation Black Vote
The recent decision by Home Secretary Alan Johnson to tighten the rules on student visas has been long overdue. The system is punctured with loopholes that have been exploited for years by …

“There’s no business like show business”, a famous woman once sung. This week, there was no business because of the snow business.  
“Why me?” a forklift driver, stuck on a snowed in road, cried. ‘Because you’re a …