Read Melissa Benn’s latest comment piece in today’s Independent. and on a similar theme, read her latest blog on the Public Finance website.
Archive for the Public finance articles Category
Goldie and Toby’s laugh-in
Posted in Public finance articles, Uncategorized on February 16, 2010 by melissabennRead all about it…
Posted in Guardian article, Public finance articles, Reviews on January 30, 2010 by melissabennBelow, three links to Melissa’s latest journalism:
* Opinion piece in this week’s Public Finance on why neither party can win the class war.
* An in depth interview in The Guardian today with Mary Foley, an extraordinary woman, who has forgiven her daughter’s killer.
* A review in this week’s New Statesman on Kate Figes’s latest book on modern coupledom.
Save our local everything!
Posted in Public finance articles on July 23, 2009 by melissabennRead Melissa Benn’s first post on the new Public Finance website:
If a tired Labour government, 12 years in, struggles to develop a credible vision to sell to the voters, the Conservatives seem to have hit on a rich and popular idea that I am sure we will hear more of as the election edges near, an idea I shall crudely summarise as ‘Save our local everything!’
For the rest of the post click here
Playing catch up
Posted in News, Public finance articles on July 4, 2009 by melissabennIt might be too early to call, but the rather bold education white paper, published this week, looks like giving Labour a surprise lead in the political battle over public service reform.
Only a week ago, the idea of a fresh vision from Labour on any policy area was being belittled by a largely cynical commentariat, who have got into the habit of seeing everything Brown does as the last gasp of a desperate beast.
At the same time, an increasingly jumpy Opposition had got the bit between its teeth on arguably unrealisable pledges to increase spending, particularly on popular issues such as social housing and schools.
Read the rest of Melissa’s latest Public Finance piece on the government’s Education White Paper here.
A win win solution
Posted in Public finance articles on May 1, 2009 by melissabennIt was not the stuff of banner headlines. Potentially dodgy economic dossiers took that particular crown. But Alistair Darling’s Budget day announcement of 50,000 new traineeships in social care for unemployed young people — part of a package aimed at creating a quarter of a million jobs — was a substantive footnote to the economic stories. (Read the rest of the article here.)
Giving something back
Posted in Public finance articles on February 18, 2009 by melissabennRead my latest Public Finance opinion piece
The tone was positively Churchillian: ‘Britain can beat this… just like we’ve beaten everything else this world has thrown at us. We’ll win by pulling together, not by facing the storm alone.’
But such stirring language came not from beleaguered national leaders at a world summit but from a bog-standard government press release issued earlier this week. It quoted the rather colourful Liam Byrne, Cabinet Office minister, on the pledge to give £42.5m to help charities weather the effects of the recession….. ( Read the rest of the article here……………http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/opinion_details.cfm?News_id=59751
