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The moment when Jamie Oliver showed us what actually went in to our children’s school dinners – the infamous Turkey Twizzler – persuaded a nation that we owed our young people better. At a time when childhood obesity is becoming one of our…
Michael Gove’s childish nonsense in calling his critics “Ideologues happy with failure” has forced me back into the blogosphere. A useful rule of thumb in politics is that the more a politician feels they are under pressure the shriller…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 Yesterday we introduced the "Fib List" - our attempt to keep tabs on coalition untruths. You can contribute your own suggestions to the Fib List here. Today we bring you the latest installment... 6) The…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 I'm losing count of the number of conversations I've had over the last month or so where someone has bemoaned the government justifying a policy using what are, at best, half truths. Mark and I thought we…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 Perhaps because the Liberal Democrats are now skirting single digits in the opinion polls, and have members jumping ship left, right and centre, their latest tactic is now to pretend that government cuts…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 Whatever his other failings, no one can fault Michael Gove's desire to be radical. The Financial Times reports that the government is planning to introduce a Single Funding Formula for school, potentially…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 A bit of light relief in these dark days is always welcome. Councils are now waiting to find out just how bad our final settlement from government is. The predictions are dire with councils in poorer areas…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 The pupil premium will become one of the main battlegrounds in education policy over the next few years. The core principle of the pupil premium is clearly right: that children from disadvantaged homes…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 The pupil premium was supposed to the Liberal Democrat's great victory in the coalition negotiations. Questions have dogged Michael Gove and the Lib Dems about how, given the government will cut the…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 As the row rages about the Tories' broken promises on child benefit, a much larger betrayal of a pre-election promise is in the offing. Before the election Labour said there would be cuts to Sure Start…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 There was astonishment in local government circles when last week David Cameron urged local councils not to take the "easy option" and cut the voluntary sector. The simple reply from many quarters was…
By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 The coalition had a difficult week over the summer after the Institute for Fiscal Studies research found the emergency budget's changes to tax and benefits hit the poorest hardest. George Osborne and Nick…
