Reform Media Summary

28 April 2008

Economy

Further coverage of Reform's report on social mobility last week. Gary Duncan devotes his Times column today to what he calls an “important” report. Trevor Phillips used one of the findings of the report in a Sunday Times op-ed on the poor opportunities faced by white working-class boys: “The cost to the economy of low educational attainment – and low social mobility – is £32 billion per year, or £1,300 to the average family, according to Reform, the independent think tank. Its report spoke of the ‘why bother’ generation – people who feel shut out from the system. If people feel shut out, they will try to find someone easy to blame: the outsider, the immigrant ” (Times, p.35; Sunday Times, p.19; report available at www.reform.co.uk).

Rupert Darwall, Reform’s Consultant Director, reviews Blair Unbound in the Wall Street Journal and finds: “In the absence of thorough-going public-sector reform, Mr Blair's premiership must be counted as a missed opportunity.” He continues: “Blairism was politics for the good times that it neither created nor helped much to extend. The ‘third way’ left Britain with a tax burden approaching Germany's, faltering productivity growth and a structural deficit” (Wall Street Journal).

The FT reports the Conservative party will today further signal corporate tax concessions to counter fresh polls showing the opposition party has failed to win the confidence of business. UBM becomes latest company to shift its tax base from UK to Ireland (FT, p.2; Times, p.39; Independent, p.36; Mail, p.67).

Writing in the Guardian, Larry Elliott suggests that the Monetary Policy Committee may not be acting quickly enough to avert the threat of a recession. He says: “There is a far bigger risk of the economy grinding to a halt than there is of inflation as measured by the consumer price index hitting 4 per cent” (Guardian, p.28).

The property research company Hometrack claims that the average residential property is now worth £173,100 (£1,500 less than a year ago). Industry analysts say the reduction is “highly symbolic” because it is the first time since the credit crisis began that any property index has shown house prices falling on an annual basis (Telegraph, p.1; Mail, p.12; Guardian, p.24; Express, p.26).

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP, warns that Europe could be hit by recession this year followed by the US next year, due to differing approaches taken towards the treat of an economic slowdown. Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that the British economy is growing at its slowest rate for three years (Independent, Saturday, p.50; FT Weekend, p.5).

Health

Royal College of Nursing survey: 88 per cent believe amount of paperwork has increased in last five years (Guardian, p.2; Express, p.4, p.12 [leader]; Sunday Times, p.11; Telegraph, p.14; Mail, p.24; Times, p.22; Sun, p.2).

According to Professor Richard James, of Nottingham University’s Institute of Infections, Immunity and Inflammation, ten times as many elderly patients are killed by the hospital superbug C. difficile in the UK than in any other country (Independent on Sunday, p.2; Telegraph, p.10).

Doctors have described a new gene therapy technique as a “huge advance” after treatment allowed a man with a rare form of blindness to navigate a maze (Guardian, p.10; Express, p.22; Telegraph, p.1, p.5; Mail, p.13; Independent, p.2, p.2 [Len Seymour]; Sun, p.19).

Dr Ian Gibson, Chairman of an all-party parliamentary group on cancer, has warned the Government that cancer sufferers are at an increased risk from websites selling unproven cures (Guardian, p.1; Telegraph, p.10; Mail, p.20).

A survey finds that the number of pregnant women with diabetes has more than doubled over the last six years, a trend that it is feared will lead to rising levels of miscarriage and stillbirth (Guardian, p.10).

Fewer than one in 1,000 women give birth at home in some part’s of the country according to a survey in Saturday’s Telegraph (Telegraph, Saturday, p.6).

Education

Eton and St Paul's are to boycott exam league tables this year, claiming the data is “nonsensical” (Sunday Telegraph, p.1; Telegraph, p.6).

Winchester is to require parents of pupils to spend £1,400 towards bursaries for poorer pupils, in the light of recent changes in charitable law (Sunday Times, p.7; Telegraph, p.6).

Institute of Education authors: new diplomas may crowd out existing, effective vocational qualifications (Times, p.4).

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE argues in the Guardian on Saturday that “there is a real danger that the growth in faith schools today will be blamed in 30 years’ time for the social disharmony then. It is not too late to reverse that trend” (Guardian, Saturday, p.33).

Saturday’s Times reported that Independent schools are withdrawing weaker pupils from GCSE and A-level examinations to inflate their league table positions (Times, Saturday, p.37).

Official figures reveal that one in ten pupils a year are suspended from their secondary schools due to bad behaviour (Mirror, Saturday, p.14).

Research from Bristol University shows that boys at primary schools perform “significantly” better in English tests if they are taught in classes with fewer girls (Observer, p.4; Mail, p.24).

The Times Educational Supplement and the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations conducted a poll which found that nearly a third of parents said that the teachers’ strike action had lowered their view of teachers (TES, p.1).

According to leading headteachers, independent schools are cheating league tables by stopping pupils from taking exams unless they are confident of getting top grades (TES, p.3).

Home Affairs

Figures released in Parliamentary Questions reveal a 14 per cent increase in murder and manslaughter since 1997 (Express, p.27; Sun, p.2).

Writing in the Guardian Marcel Berlins criticises the current state of the criminal justice system, as doing too little to support to prisoners suffering from drug addictions, illiteracy or mental health problems (Guardian, p.13).

The number of prisoners in England and Wales reached an all-time high on Friday (FT, Weekend, p.2).

The Assistant General Secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association warns “we have no-go areas in certain prisons because prisoners have got complete control” (Mirror, Saturday, p.10).

Politics

Further difficulties for the Prime Minister in the form of comments by Lord Levy and Peter Mandelson, on his leadership and the Government's direction. Tim Hames offers three ways forward for Labour (Guardian, p.4; Express, p.6, p.7; Observer, p.1; Independent on Sunday, p.8-9; Telegraph, p.1, p.9; Mail, p.2, p.6-7, p.14 [leader]; Mirror, p.8, p.10 [leader]; Times, p.4, p.19 [Tim Hanes]; Independent, p.6, p.29 [Bruce Anderson]; Sun, p.8 [Trevor Kavanagh]; Guardian, p.31 [Jackie Ashley]).

ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph: Labour 29 per cent (down two), Conservatives 39 (down three), Liberal Democrats 20 (up two) (Sunday Telegraph, p.1).

ICM poll of 145 marginal seats finds a nine point swing from Labour to Conservative, meaning a sixty seat majority for the Conservatives (News of the World, p.8; FT, p.2; Independent, p.28 [leader])

Times lead story: Joseph Rowntree Trust report finds that the electoral system is open to large-scale fraud (Times, p.1, p.6, p.16 [leader]; Guardian, p.12, p.32 [leader]; Mail, p.31).

David Cameron has reportedly set a minimum target of winning 40 per cent of the vote in this week’s local elections. Professor Colin Rallings, an elections expert, writes in a commentary that the Conservatives must “make significant gains in the local elections to give credibility to their strong showing in the opinion polls” (Telegraph, p.8, p.8 [Prof Colin Rallings], p.22 [Janet Daley], p.23 [leader]; Mirror, p.6; Times, p.7 [Peter Riddell]).

Further coverage of the London mayoral elections. A survey by Ipsos Mori puts Ken Livingstone on 53 per cent in the race for London Mayor, six points ahead of Boris Johnson on 47 per cent. The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph both declared for Boris Johnson. In an interview with the Observer, Ken Livingstone offered to give Boris Johnson a job in his administration (Guardian, Saturday, p.14, p.32 [leader]; Independent, Saturday, p.4; Observer, p.13; FT, p.4; Sunday Times, p.16; Sunday Telegraph, p.20).

A leader in the FT at the weekend argues that Labour “is exhausted and bereft of ideas” (FT, weekend, p.12).

In an interview with Saturday’s Telegraph Tessa Jowell, the Minister for London and the Olympics, said: “There is a risk you give up on government. Any divided party is likely to lose an election” (Guardian, Saturday, p.14; Telegraph, Saturday, p.1, p.12).

Gordon Brown writes for the Sunday Mirror urging people to vote Labour in this Thursday’s elections (Sunday Mirror, p.2).