Outraged by his local council's decision to close half the libraries in Oxfordshire, the author of the Dark materials trilogy delivers a broadside against market fundamentalism, the cuts and the 'Big Society' that goes with them.
Osborne claimed in his June budget that the Coalition's economic strategy would be fair and progressive. Yet the brunt of their attack on the deficit will be borne by the poor, while business has been shown some astonishing largesse.
Referendums on Europe have been proposed as a way to defend British parliamentary sovereignty from the encroachment of Brussels. But this is confusing parliamentary and popular sovereignty. Why are the British political classes obsessed with the sovereignty of parliament, why has the idea become s
Conservative Party Chair Sayeeda Warsi spoke out against Islamophobia and has met with a barrage of criticism from the right and a clear voice of support from a fellow Conservative Peter Oborne. There should be more like him.
Secret tax files passed by a Swiss banker to Wikileaks have further highlighted the corruption of UK governance and our financial institutions. Stuart Weir reflects on how we can tackle tax avoidance and the use of tax havens, and asks what part, if any, Labour will play.
What a fascinating end to a watershed week for Britain, a week shaped by the continued Blairite dominance of British politics. Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the health service opened the week; Blair’s evidence to the Chilcot inquiry and the resignation of Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s Head of Commu
Blair, Coulson, Cameron: what is going wrong with British government? The BBC knows how to report it but seems unable to understand it.
Long before the latest savage cuts, the UK’s failure to prioritise children was an international disgrace. At yesterday’s Westminster Education Forum, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former Children’s Commissioner, urged children’s advocates to shape up and work together to challenge the government.
Listening to and watching Cameron pitching the government’s misguided plans for the NHS in the speech and media interviews on Monday, I was struck by the sheer gall of the man, as well as his ‘class arrogance’, or perhaps it should be his ‘class ignorance’. Actually it is both.
