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Childcare reform could raise costs further after Clegg's attack on ratios

Len Shackleton

7 June 2013

1 comment

It is depressing to see education minister Liz Truss’s proposals to relax childcare ratios – which would have allowed nursery staff look after more children – vetoed by Nick Clegg...

Contradictory UK childcare policy won’t halt rising costs for parents

Len Shackleton

10 May 2013

comments

It may sound incredible given the current political debate, but the UK government now spends more as a percentage of GDP on childcare than all European countries except Denmark. Yet the...

Clegg's policy to take money from pensions to pay for mortgages is madness

Philip Booth

26 September 2012

comments

It is difficult to think of a policy that is as ill-conceived on so many levels as the coalition's announcement on Sunday to encourage parents to guarantee their children's mortgages....

There's no case for a wealth tax

Philip Booth

31 August 2012

2 comments

Once again, we hear calls for a wealth tax not just from Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes, but also from Tim Montgomerie. These calls cannot go unchallenged. A wealth tax is a pernicious tax because...

Clegg is half right on universal old-age benefits

Kristian Niemietz

8 December 2011

2 comments

In very cautious terms, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has questioned the current set of universal benefits for the elderly. This is a major deviation from what has thus far been the coalition...

Private school model 'improves equity'

James Croft

26 September 2011

1 comment

In yet another setback to the implementation of the British Conservatives party's free school policy, the leader of their Liberal Democrat coalition partners, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg,...

The LibDems should back enterprise, not soak the rich

Mark Littlewood

19 September 2011

comments

The Liberal Democrat leadership is in danger of committing a cardinal sin at their party conference in Birmingham. They are addressing their messages to delegates in the conference hall, rather...

Bank share give-away flawed

Philip Booth

23 June 2011

4 comments

Mechanisms to ensure the political acceptability of privatisations should not be rejected automatically, simply because they are inefficient and raise less money for the taxpayer. Political...

Time for a rethink on tuition fees policy

Len Shackleton

11 May 2011

2 comments

David Willetts has added to the confusion surrounding university fees with a proposal to allow higher education institutions to admit extra home (UK and EU) students if they pay ‘full’...

'Who you know' and 'what you know' - what does Nick Clegg know?

Philip Booth

5 April 2011

1 comment

Today, Nick Clegg decided to declare war on nepotism. He wants to 'stop a lot of the informal advantages which are helping certain people to hoard opportunities at the exclusion of others...

‘Economics in One Lesson’ should be in Nick Clegg's red box

Philip Booth

7 February 2011

1 comment

The three main themes of Nick Clegg's speech on Friday were as follows: 1. We should have investment-led growth and not debt-led growth. 2. We should have growth balanced around the regions...

Politicians should keep their noses out of bankers' bonuses

Philip Booth

11 January 2011

5 comments

Nick Clegg today said that he understood bonus anger. I think that any sane person also understands bonus anger. It is therefore incumbent upon politicians to explain patiently, and with sensitivity...

Lib-Dem socialism is poisoning the coalition’s agenda

Richard Wellings

21 September 2010

7 comments

Those of us who hope the Liberal Democrats will reject socialism and embrace true liberalism have many reasons to be disappointed by this year’s party conference. Nick Clegg, for example,...

Voting for democracy – lambs to the slaughter

Terry Arthur

23 July 2010

8 comments

Next May there is to be a referendum, at the behest of Nick Clegg, on whether or not the UK should change the first-past-the-post system to the Alternative Vote (AV) system. Under AV, voters must...

Pension age should be raised more rapidly

Anthony Bouselli

1 July 2010

8 comments

" The Emergency Budget included a proposal to raise the state pension age for males from 65 to 66 by 2016. This increases the retirement age significantly earlier than the original...

Life isn’t fair but it can be free

Philip Booth

28 April 2010

2 comments

. It is rather difficult to redistribute that burden because marginal rates are so high right across the board it is difficult to see that they can be increased for any group. Some of the Lib Dems...

Nick Clegg: this week’s mephedrone?

John Meadowcroft

22 April 2010

9 comments

Political commentators are currently expending much energy trying to explain (what we might call) the Nick Clegg phenomenon – including one contribution to this blog already. Policy analysis...

We’re now as unpopular as you

Peter King

20 April 2010

12 comments

George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, in their recent book Animal Spirits, argued that economists tend to focus on what is seen as a departure from the accepted model or norm rather than focusing on...

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