Frank Field
Frank Field interview: Labour needs to do something dramatic to win back its lost working class voters
There’s one government adviser who still feels Steve Hilton’s absence very keenly indeed. ‘He was always thinking ahead, how do we set the debate rather than endlessly react to it,… Continue reading
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In defence of the CofE’s House of Laity
Even friends of an Established church like myself – though I’m a Catholic – should think twice about the wisdom of the idea after the naked political interference in the… Continue reading
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Uncontrolled immigration
So the 2011 census results for England and Wales are out. And sure enough it turns out that the last decade has seen the largest population increase in any decade… Continue reading
24 CommentsTraducing Canute Watch: Frank Field
Interviewed by the Times, Frank Field fails the Canute Test: Mr Field said that it was not good enough for the Government to say there was enough money in the… Continue reading
6 CommentsFrank Field’s report highlights the coalitions within the coalition
Frank Field’s review of child poverty policy covers a daunting expanse of ground. From breast-feeding to the little society ("the younger sister of the Big Society"), it’s stuffed with more… Continue reading
16 CommentsIDS the victor?
There are still conflicting reports, but Michael Crick and The Times intimate that a deal has been struck: IDS has beaten the recalcitrant Treasury over his £9bn universal benefit reform,… Continue reading
17 CommentsField caught between reality and fantasy
Frank Field’s been thinking. He will make his report on poverty next week and he hints at its contents in an extensive interview with the Times (£). He is convinced… Continue reading
23 CommentsSpending cuts must start with welfare
The new and independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that interest payments on public debt are set to rise to £67 billion a year by 2014-15. The hole in the… Continue reading
25 CommentsField gets to work
The Times leads with the story that Frank Field, the government’s independent poverty advisor, is recommending that child benefit be stopped at age 13, arguing that: ‘at that age mothers… Continue reading
22 CommentsThe war on poverty opens a second front
I detest the use of the word ‘Czar’. Everything has a Czar – potato regulation, multi-story car parks and Twitter being my favourite three. But the war on poverty needs… Continue reading
32 CommentsWhat to do with all that knowledge on welfare
Is Frank Field back? The Labour MP has spent much of his life talking about the poor. Judging by reports today, he might be offered a job chairing a commission… Continue reading
28 CommentsFrank Field would complete the Tories’ welfare reform jigsaw
So now the coalition stretches as far as Labour, with the news that Frank Field is being lined up as an anti-poverty advisor for the government. In itself, this is… Continue reading
26 CommentsMany BNP voters’ concerns are legitimate and should be recognised as such
Frank Field was characteristically forthright on the Today programme this morning. “I don’t believe, given the strains (on the economy), we will be able to maintain an open door policy… Continue reading
71 CommentsCameron takes a brave line on family policy
David Cameron’s speech today at the launch of Demos’s Character Inquiry was both brave and significant. His message was that it is parenting, not material wealth, that plays the most… Continue reading
28 CommentsSocial breakdown by numbers
At the Demos event on character this morning, Frank Field came out with a quite remarkable statistic: that for the last year for which there are records, two years ago,… Continue reading
22 CommentsThe trailer for Nick Griffin’s Question Time performance
Is Nick Griffin’s interview with the Times a sneak preview of what we can expect from him on Question Time tonight? I rather suspect so. His aim in it is… Continue reading
41 CommentsA few honest men
Right, wrong, or somewhere in between? I imagine that a few people who were fervently behind the Legg letters started having second thoughts when Frank Field announced his opposition to… Continue reading
20 CommentsThe Generation Game
The rhododendron flowers are out, so it must be time for the big beasts of the Labour Party to stir again. Charles Clarke has said that he’s ashamed to be a… Continue reading
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