Category Archives: Top500

Problem 1: low-skilled unemployment. Almost 4 million additional people in the UK’s labour market have been made redundant or furloughed since the end of 2019. Disproportionately young, and poorly educated, these people have tended to be particularly concentrated in hospitality, retail, and support service roles – jobs which may not return post-COVID. Moreover, they wereContinue reading “Resolving the UK’s social crisis while creating jobs for those displaced by COVID19”

The past year has caused millions of young people to discover that without their schools they have learnt nothing new, and that they do not know how to learn effectively alone. Before becoming a head of mathematics at the official British European School, I had discovered that the greatest damage caused to young people‚’s confidenceContinue reading “Participatory learning”

During the COVID crisis, the NHS is facing a “double whammy”, of a huge increase in patients stretching resources, and, as staff fall victim to either the virus themselves, are forced to self isolate, or who just fall victim to the huge increase in stress, and are having to take time off on sick leave,Continue reading “Maintaining adequate NHS Staffing Levels during COVID and other National Emergencies?”

As the old proverb says, “The devil finds work for idle hands”. Whether it is clearing the tonnes of rubbish that litter our railway lines or revitalizing disused or derelict commercial or residential space to plug the housing shortage, the government can incentivise the private sector to re-skill the unemployed and tackle these issues andContinue reading “Reducing the projected 2 million + unemployed in 2021”

The pandemic has driven significant developments in transparency around the trade-offs presented to Governments when seeking to balance the health, economic and social impacts of Covid 19 (Covid/NHS dashboards, more prominent economic data etc). This transparency has been accompanied by what appears to be significantly more (and generally more informed) public debate from a varietyContinue reading “Understanding the Complexity of Government ‚’ ‚’To Govern is to Choose‚’”

Recently retired doctors and nurses hoping to return to NHS work. Currently those hoping to help with administration of the Covid -19 vaccine are facing dispiriting layers of red tape and involving huge amounts of bureaucracy before they can be of help.     113-1

There is a delay in administering the vaccine because of, among other things, a delay in recruiting a voluntary workforce, many of whom are ex-employees of the NHS. This also applied earlier in the acute stage of the illness, and may now be occurring once more as case rise rapidly. This has a huge knock-onContinue reading “Health reserve force”

A critical part of building back is the need to “re-set” our relationship with our food. It is this poor relationship that drives much bad health and health inequalities. While our policy makers argue about sugar taxes and pre watershed advertising of HFSS products, many of our children are never learning the pleasure of unadulteratedContinue reading ““We are what we eat” – German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach in 1848.
In the pandemic we learnt the harsh truth of this as the majority of deaths
involved pre-existing obesity or excess weight.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing inequalities in the healthcare system and brought about new ones. It has shown us that people who are black or from an ethnic minority are more likely to suffer severely and die with COVID-19. It has been reported again and again that they are disproportionately affected. However, this isContinue reading “Inequality in Healthcare”

“We will care for the care workers as they care for us.” This promise, made by the Prime Minister mid-pandemic, when ‘Clap for Carers’ brought the subject so vividly to life, must not be allowed to wither on the political vine, but driven through to successful delivery, as part of a wider national strategy forContinue reading “To transform social care into a respected, well-rewarded profession.”