Author: Miles Donavan

“Gutter press for the gullible.” In yet another sensationalist front page, the Daily Mail published an ‘exclusive’ alleging that ‘corrupt immigration advisers’ are charging up to £22,000 per person to help underqualified foreign workers secure UK skilled worker visas. The paper claims this amounts to a cash-for-visas scam that could be ‘worse than the small boats crisis.’ ‘Visas scam that makes mockery of PM’s pledge on migration. Exposed by the Mail – fixers who take cash to help unskilled workers fiddle the system,’ read the headline. The Mail’s story plays straight into a narrative that blames migrants for systemic problems.…

Instead of national exams, teachers in Finland assess students on an individual basis using their own grading systems. As year 11 students across the UK wrap up another demanding round of GCSEs, their peers in Finland, a country consistently ranked as having the best education system in the world, experience a very different end to their academic year. In Finland, the school system operates without the intense pressure and high stakes testing that have long been hallmarks of the British educational experience. Yet, Finnish students consistently achieve some of the highest academic results internationally. According to the Programme for International…

“If you set people up to succeed, they will succeed. We are saying to the government, let us here in Greater Manchester rethink the entire benefits system and turn it from a negative deficit model that’s trying to see the worst in people into an empowering system that builds people up rather than knocks them down.” A campaign in Greater Manchester to transform the social security system so that it works for everyone, is gathering momentum and is backed by the region’s mayor, Andy Burnham. The campaign aims to ensure that every household has the financial means to live with…

These ideas are no longer confined to obscure books or fringe tech summits, they’re entering mainstream politics. Nigel Farage’s recent announcement to make Britain a “global crypto powerhouse” might sound like a typical macho Farage campaign stunt, but it’s part of a much bigger, increasingly influential transatlantic movement to radically reshape the relationship between technology, finance and the state. And one we need to watch. Whatever governments can do, tech can do better, or so claims Balaji Srinivasan, Silicon Valley venture capitalist and serial tech entrepreneur. In 2023, speaking at a conference in Amsterdam, Srinivasan laid out his vision for…

‘More than a decade of central government-imposed austerity on local councils looks set to continue.’ By Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy The spending review was perhaps this Labour government’s biggest moment so far. A chance to see its true colours, when despite parlous public finances, government priorities could shine through. If that’s the case, local democracy appears not to be among them. More than a decade of central government-imposed austerity on local councils looks set to continue. Ministers argue the government is focused on delivering change in the areas voters most care about – principally the NHS, where day-to-day…

The Tory leader will use a speech today to call for an end to the windfall tax and to lift the ban on new oil and gas licences After receiving donations from oil investors and climate sceptics, Kemi Badenoch will use a speech at Scottish Conservative Party conference today to side with oil and gas companies.  Badenoch will call for the end of the windfall tax on profits that gas and oil companies generate and to lift the ban on new gas and oil licences.  The Tory leader is expected to say that “renewing our party and our country means…

‘I believe that the scale of such unauthorised data transfers across local government is a cyber-security disaster waiting to happen’ The Tories have said that the information watchdog should open an investigation into Reform UK’s data grab at councils. In May, Reform sent a letter to Kent County Council requesting “full and prompt” access to council-held documents, reports, and records related to finance, procurement, audit, and contract data.  The Tories have claimed that Reform has demanded information about the identities of whistleblowers and the names and addresses of people who receive meals on wheels.  They have added that there is…

Levelling up is indeed vital, but it should not result in the levelling down of London Dawn Butler is the Labour Party MP for Brent East Yesterday’s Spending Review was a long time coming. After years of chaos and economic instability under the Tories, the Chancellor has set out a long-term vision for how our country can grow, prosper and deliver on its potential over the next three years. Growth is at the heart of the Chancellor’s plan, and I welcome the investment in our NHS. This is in sharp contrast to the shopping list of unfunded commitments we saw from the previous government. As…

“It’s not whether Reform will end up in the comedy club – they are the comedy club,” Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf endured a bruising night on BBC Question Time, after an audience member laid into far-right party as ‘The Comedy Club’, and told him it was only a matter of time before he fell out with Nigel Farage again. Presenter Fiona Bruce turned to the audience on a discussion about Reform, with one audience member calling out Farage’s party for what they are. He said: “It’s not whether Reform will end up in the comedy club – they are the…

The NHS did receive more funding, but it had nothing to do with leaving the EU Kemi Badenoch has embarrassed herself again, this time claiming that the Tories delivered the £350 million extra per week for the NHS, as laid out on Vote Leave’s Brexit red bus and repeatedly promised by Boris Johnson.  On Sky News, the Tory leader called NHS funding a “conundrum”. She said: I remember coming into Parliament as a brand new MP, and we were talking about how we’re giving the biggest amount we’ve ever given to the NHS, record funding. “We’ve been doing this again…