Reform Media Summary

22 February 2008

In today’s Media Summary, an article in the New York Times on co-payment quotes Doctors for Reform Steering Committee members Paul Charlson and Karol Sikora, Populus / Times poll: half of public support nationalisation of Northern Rock, and Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling regain their lead in on economic competence and further speculation over the future of Michael Martin as Speaker.

Health

An article in the New York Times on co-payment quotes Doctors for Reform Steering Committee members Paul Charlson and Karol Sikora. Dr Paul Charlson, a GP, says: “Of course it’s going on in the NHS all the time, but a lot of it is hidden – it’s not explicit.” Karol Sikora, Professor of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College, said: “You have a population that is informed and consumerist about how it behaves about health care information, and an NHS that can no longer afford to pay for everything for everybody” (New York Times online).

J Sainsbury signs six-month trial to open out-of-hours GP services at a store in Greater Manchester. The local Primary Care Trust is funding the pilot (Times, p.51).

A report by the British Medical Association concludes that the Government must regulate, not liberalise availability and price of alcohol. The BMA has called for much tougher measures to curb the sale of cheap alcohol (Times, p.33; FT, p.4; Telegraph, p.8, p.27 [leader]; Mirror, p.8 [leader], p.17; Sun, p.2; Independent, p.12, p.34 [leader]; Guardian, p.14, p.15; Express, p.19; Mail, p.12, p.14 [leader]).

Health campaigners, yesterday warned the Government that school pupils are becoming obese because they are not getting enough exercise due to the increasing pressure to do well in exams and tests (Independent, p.7; Guardian, p.12; Mail, p.40; Telegraph, p.1; Times, p.22).

Economy

Populus / Times poll: half of public support nationalisation of Northern Rock, and Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling regain their lead in on economic competence. The Office of Fair Trading is to conduct annual reviews on Northern Rock to ensure that its new status as a publicly owned body does not give it an edge over rivals (Times, p.2, p.2 [Peter Riddell]; Independent, p.16; Guardian, p.2, p.30; Express, p.2, Mail, p.28; FT, p.2; Telegraph, p.10; Sun, p.2).

The UK could experience its most “significant and sustained” slowdown in a decade as the economy adjusts from consumer-led growth to a greater reliance on investment and exports, Andrew Sentence, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, said yesterday (FT, p.4).

The European Commission yesterday sharply raised its estimate for Eurozone inflation this year (FT, p.5).

Education

QCA analysis of three A-level subjects: English is harder than history, and both are harder than media studies (Times, p.35; TES, p.3; Independent, p.8; Guardian, p.3; Mail, p.30).

The new £5 million National Skills Academy for Financial Services in East London will aim to provide 600 people aged 16 and upwards with a range of courses teaching them financial skills equipping them for highly paid jobs within the finance industry (Independent, p.23).

An article in the Guardian reports on the continuing levels of educational inequality, stating that: “Roughly 7 per cent of children are educated at private schools, but these pupils take up 45 per cent of Oxbridge places and a disproportionate amount at other top universities” (Guardian, p.35).

The Times Educational Supplement, reports that a number of schools that possess high-quality teaching and provide a rounded educational experience are not being recognised by Ofsted inspectors unless they have good exam results (TES, p.1).

The Government’s £89 million Fast Track initiative, which was launched in 2001 to identify talented young teachers, is to be scrapped after it was revealed that it cost around £43,000 per participant and has resulted in only 176 people being recruited to senior teaching positions (TES, p.5)

Home Affairs

The Guardian reports that an inquiry into the allegations that Scotland Yard bugged Sadiq Khan, Labour MP, has ruled that the protocols, in the Wilson Doctrine, were not violated (Guardian, p.9; Mail, p.29).

Politics

Further speculation over the future of Michael Martin as Speaker (Times, p.11).

Lord MacLennan, a senior Whitehall figure, yesterday said former ministers and civil servants who breach the rules when they take jobs in the private sector should face criminal action (FT, p.2).

Martin Wolf says Gordon Brown “has tried to do the right thing, for the wrong motives, at the wrong time, in the wrong way” (FT, p.13).