Category Archives: Top500

The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered benefits to climate change through a reduction in greenhouse gases from reduced air travel. At the other extreme, for those taking trips, many for compassionate and compelling reasons, returning home has created distress through exorbitantly priced flights. During the pandemic inflated fares have been experienced, up to 20 times theContinue reading “Tackling both climate change and hardship resulting from the extremes in airfares”

Adopt the military idea of having an organisation of volunteer reservists who are experienced NHS workers, including the retired who are still active and want to do something, but perhaps below the level of their previous commitment. This would go way beyond St John Ambulance and would have people like me (a retired GP) whoContinue reading “Start a multidisciplinary NHS reservist organisation”

Offer another mode of examination that can be taken at any moment during a students period of study. How, using a viva system, whereby the student is interviewed by a panel of examiners through a secure online system. The examiners explore the extent of a students understanding using verbal communication rather than written evidence. AtContinue reading “National School exams being cancelled during a pandemic”

The rise of populism and the feeling that some people have benefited from the pandemic has prompted a crisis in our democracy and the feeling that whichever party is in power ‘We, the People’ are being largely ignored particularly when it comes to the day-to-day worries that concern us all. The solution is to reformContinue reading “The Rise of Populism and why the man in the street feels government doesn’t care.”

Equalising paternity benefits with maternity – and upping them both – seems like a good place to start to encourage culture of equality at work & home, whereby fathers’ role in their children’s lives is equal to the mothers’ from the start, employers too would have to ‘acknowledge’ this as basic and therefore begin toContinue reading “Paternity benefits.”

Friendship Apartments. Purpose built apartments for one or two people, featuring an open plan living, dining and cooking space leading onto a generous balcony, with a single en-suite bedroom. Meeting areas on all floors, with communal gardens including rentable vegetable plots. The top floor is open to all residents to come together to socialise andContinue reading “Friendship Apartments”

Even before the pandemic, that attainment gap was described by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as ‘ stubbornly large’ (https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/education-england) The Government has recognised the impact of the pandemic through its Catch up programme ( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-education-recovery-package-for-children-and-young-people) This programme, which includes individual tutoring, focuses on the academic loss that children have experienced. Important as academic catch upContinue reading “We are just beginning to appreciate fully the impact of the pandemic on the education of disadvantaged children. For children with special educational needs, limited knowledge of English, English as an additional language, social, emotional and mental health needs and for those in receipt of Pupil Premium, the disruption of their school lives has had the effect of widening the already wide attainment gap between them and their more privileged peers.”

Power v Responsibility When, many years ago, I studied the British Constitution at A level, I was told that, government is responsible for protecting its citizens and promoting their general welfare by providing public services. An elected government worked for the people. That concept has long gone and governments now see themselves primarily as institutionsContinue reading “Encouraging national and local government to acknowledge the value of bottom-up management”

As economist Frederic Mishkin noted after the global financial crisis, the macroeconomy is highly non-linear and exhibits kurtosis – an increased probability of tail risks occurring – at certain points in time. COVID-19 has confirmed that the societal distribution of risk is also non-linear. Vulnerability to individual financial damage as a result of an economicContinue reading “A Department for Crisis Resiliency”

Summary: A two-part policy to improve the safety of professional rugby players and the safety of rugby playing pupils in schools. The first proposal, inspired by Paralympic team sports, is to create weight categories for rugby players with associated points for each category, with only a certain number of points allowed on the pitch atContinue reading “A Rule Conversion to Level the Rugby Playing Field”