Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data
The Second World War still looms large in Britain’s popular culture, in comedies and in documentaries about the Nazis. Germany has moved on; with most Britons now too young to remember, we need to do the same.
First published on Beacon.
Continue reading “70 years after D-Day, we need to stop mentioning the war”
My latest two articles on Beacon have a theme: things torn apart by Margaret Thatcher.
The first is Britain itself, and obviously that has not happened – yet. But if Scotland votes for independence in September, Mrs Thatcher’s decision to test the poll tax in Scotland first will have played a part. Continue reading “Britain and Greater Manchester – both torn apart by Margaret Thatcher?”
George Osborne’s fifth Budget has largely been analysed in terms of the chancellor’s changes to pensions and savings, as well as the usual tweaks to taxes. In my weekly article for Beacon, I have done something different. Using figures from the UK Budget and president Barack Obama’s recently-published US budget, I have compared spending per person on five areas: military spending, healthcare, pensions and benefits (or social security), international work (Department of State in the US, the FCO and DfID in the UK) and interest payments.
As the former head of the armed forces Richard Dannatt argues that Russia’s invasion of Crimea shows why Britain should start recruiting soldiers, rather than shrinking the army, my figures on military spending show that the United States plans spends £1,062 on military spending, per person, in its next fiscal year (2015). That’s nearly twice than the £586 planned by George Osborne for Britain.
This section is republished below. The full article is here; you can read it free as part of Beacon’s 14-day free trial.
Continue reading “How does the UK Budget compare to the US on military spending?”
Building something new in Britain always meets resistance. That even applies to organisations which put their cities on the map, such as the University of Oxford, its new library buildings and student accommodation.
First published on Beacon. Continue reading “Baniots: build absolutely nothing in Oxford… try Swindon”
The National Health Service combines local heritage, British fair play and free, good-quality healthcare with the employment of more than one million people in England alone. That gives the NHS enormous popularity – and also makes it very difficult to reform.
Originally published on Beacon.
Continue reading “Why Britain might love its socialised healthcare to death”