Priced out of the playground: Tory Wandsworth to charge kids to play
Conservative-controlled Wandsworth council is planning to charge children £2.50 each to use Battersea Park adventure playground at weekends, reports Shamik Das.
Public Services
NHS plans are Cameron’s failure as much as Lansley’s
Dominic Browne looks at David Cameron’s denials on the NHS, selective quoting, and his Freemason enthusiast political ally.
Disabled people’s fight to save support “lifeline”
Dominic Browne reports on the fightback by disabled campaigners to save key benefit payments which provide disabled people with a “lifeline”.
CSJ: 50,000 families will have the rug “pulled from under them”
The Centre for Social Justice attack the Tories on family breakdown. Dominic Browne looks at their concerns and why you can’t trust the Tories on the family.
The rich should not be allowed to buy their way into the best universities
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, warns against David Willetts’s plans to allow the rich to buy their way into the best universities.
How ‘liberating the NHS’ may damage medical training
Surgical trainee, Dave Riding, looks at the effects of Lansley’s health bill and the idea of any willing provider on training and clinical excellence in the NHS
Clegg’s ‘NHS rebellion’ is playfighting if no change on competition
Dominic Browne looks at the key compromises Clegg has to achieve on the health bill before he can anything to boast about.
Willetts must learn from America’s mistakes over for-profit universities
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt discusses the worrying record of for-profit universities and the even more worrying prospect of David Willetts’ helping them expand in the UK.
EMA replacement could breach equality law according to government
James Mills reports on the potential for discrimination in the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) replacement, that could force the government into another u-turn into the issue.
Cameron fails to retract claim regulator will be able to cut fees
David Cameron failed to answer Ed Miliband’s questions on tuition fees and the fair access regulator at Prime Minister’s Questions today, reports Shamik Das.