Archive of articles from 2011

Labour: Govt must not duck out of necessary banking reforms

Chris Leslie, Labour's shadow treasury minister, urges the government not to duck out of banking reforms.

Robin Hood Tax campaign: Govt should ignore bank lobbyists and push on with banking reform

David Hillman, spokesperson for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, urges government to ignore bank lobbyists and push ahead with reform.

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Europe Economics: Amazing that serious banking reforms have not yet been introduced

Andrew Lilico, from financial consultancy Europe Economics, says it is amazing serious banking reforms are yet to be introduced.

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CBI: Rushing into banking reform could stagnate economy

John Cridland, CBI director general, warns against rushing into banking reform due to economic risks on the Today programme.

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Vince Cable: Banks are being disingenuous over reform

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat business secretary, accuses banks of being disingenuous over reform.

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Comment: Funding gap leaves UK riddled by apartheid

Edward Higginbottom is treasurer of the Campaign for an English Parliament.

It's time to stop leaving the English at the bottom of the funding pile.

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Timeline: Scottish devolution

The relationship between Scotland and the UK has changed almost beyond recognition since Scotland's first parliamentary election 1997. This is how it happened.

NHF: Housing market is dysfunctional and the preserve of the wealthy

David Orr, NHF chief executive, brands housing market dysfunctional and the preserve of the wealthy.

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Shelter: Govt must find way to encourage housing construction

Campbell Robb, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, urges government to look at ways to get construction going.

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Grant Shapps: No housing crisis - we can get Britain building again

Grant Shapps, housing minister, promises to "get Britain building again" via the release of public land and investment in affordable homes.

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Comment: Opportunities and pitfalls for all three party leaders

Dr Matthew Ashton is a politics lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.

Cameron, Clegg and Miliband are at the mercy of forces outside their control.

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The week in politics: Britain toys with optimism

Images of a job well done have introduced some confusing optimism to British hearts.

Nation feels unusual after latest military adventure seems to turn out OK.

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The political week on Twitter

The week's best political tweets in one handy location.

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Comment: In defence of throwing pies at politicians

'Our problem is not that people throw pies, it's that they don’t throw pies at enough people.'

It's not big and it's not clever, but throwing pies at the powerful is a valuable form of national therapy.

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Comment: Children's heart surgery under threat

Dr Duncan Macrae, director of children's services, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and president of the Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society.

One in every 133 children is affected by congenital heart disease. Royal Brompton's children's heart surgery unit is threatened with closure under national plans for this specialist service, unless an upcoming judicial review can save it.

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Food and Drink Federation: Food and drink industry in UK ahead of the game on obesity

Terry Jones, Food and Drink Federation's director of communications, defends the record of the UK food industry in tackling obesity problems.

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Public health minister: No plans to impose a 'fat tax' to reduce obesity

Anne Milton, public health minister, rejects idea of a 'fat tax' to reduce obesity.

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Obesity researcher: Obesity could be as serious a risk as smoking

Professor Klim McPherson , Oxford University expert and one of the lead researchers, compares obesity to smoking in a BBC interview.

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NUT: Government have direction wrong over education system

Christine Blower, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, criticises direction of government.

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Schools minister: Fall in pupils studying languages at GCSE worrying

Nick Gibb, schools minister, says it is worrying that the number of pupils taking languages is falling.

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NASUWT: Government is betraying young people

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, criticises "betrayal" of young people.

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Joint Council for Qualifications: Girl/boy GCSE divide worrying

Jim Sinclair, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, lauds success of GCSE students but points to "worrying trend" of difference in performance between girls and boys.

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