Category Archives: Top500

The pandemic has deepened the sense of constitutional crisis gripping the UK. Strained relations between UK and devolved leaders have visibly deteriorated at a time when the public turned to their representatives for effective action. The institutions facilitating intergovernmental relations have been found wanting – both before and during COVID-19. The existing Joint Ministerial CommitteeContinue reading “Pandemic shockwaves have deepened faultlines in the UK’s devolution settlement”

Although no one issue takes superiority over another, the mental health crisis which has been formed on underfunded institutions has allowed for a new disease- on top of Covid-19- to flood our streets. Covid has illuminated the flaws in the public sectors ultimately leading to increased stress and concern in every citizen. The NHS areContinue reading “The reset of underfunded public institutions”

COVID 19 has highlighted and exacerbated the country’s increasing and long standing problem of litter pollution. With people confined to their homes, the limited time allowed outside has shown the value of our natural world and how polluted and damaged it has become. Few open spaces in populated areas are untouched by discarded plastic orContinue reading “Caring for our Environment is Everyone’s Responsibility”

Research by Crisis (2015) puts the individual cost of homelessness in the UK for 12 months at £20,128 while successful intervention costs £1,426. Evidence shows that individuals who experience homelessness for three months or longer cost on average £4,298 per person to NHS service, £2,099 per person for mental health services and £11,991 per personContinue reading “Homelessness is the key challenge. It is far cheaper to prevent homelessness or get individuals securely accommodated as quickly as possible.”

Lock down due to Covid-19 pandemic brought huge challenges for many schools, teachers, pupils and their parents. Home-schooling become for some an enormous task and it gradually showed inequality in many ways. With the first lockdown nobody was prepared to switch to home-schooling from day to day. Suddenly there were so many barriers. The majorityContinue reading “Home-schooling challenges”

The pandemic has highlighted a problem which has been growing for a number of years in which an increasing proportion of the public feel alienated from the political system, not feeling represented by any of the main political parties and perceiving the country as run by a political class who they describe as “them”  Continue reading “Alienation from the Political Process”

A Royal Family is a really good institution for the expression of national values but its commitment to avoiding political controversy makes it impossible for it to fulfil its role of addressing difficult constitutional issues.     3047-2

Levelling up was reported to be one of Boris Johnson’s most-used terms during the 2019 election campaign1. The Conservative Party said in its manifesto that it would be “levelling up every part of the UK” and proposed five initiatives: investing in towns, cities, and rural and coastal areas; giving those areas more control of howContinue reading “LEVELLING UP – THE PROBLEM”

Our current inability to cope with a non military National Crisis. No one ministry has the overall brief, to ensure we are prepared for a non military threat to the country, be it from a virus, climate change, asteroid strike, solar flare or other unforeseen disaster. The consequences have become all too obvious, with ourContinue reading “Ministry for National Crisis Security”

A key challenge during the pandemic has been the unprecedented requirement for teachers to provide distance learning (“DL”) across all year groups. This has been achieved by individual teachers using a wide range of material and a variety of delivery platforms. Most schools will have received feedback from parents, trust boards and the local authorityContinue reading “The Necessity of Home Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic Presents a Unique Educational Opportunity.”