Author Archives: Simon Parker

Simon Parker

The Independent View: This is the right time to drive forward integrated health and care

By Simon Parker | Mon 21st July 2014 - 4:00 pm

nhs sign lrgThe NHS is becoming too big to fail. Like a more benign version of the banks, it has become such a vital part of our national life, with such a slick lobbying machine and such a powerful public profile that it has become hard to challenge. So when the system starts to creak, everyone from MPs to doctors immediately shouts for more money. The problem is that more money may not solve the problem, but simply allow the NHS to subsist in a state of perma-crisis.

The only way out …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 13 Comments
Simon Parker

The Independent View: Why it’s time for Nick Clegg to really end child detention

By Simon Parker | Tue 4th October 2011 - 3:50 pm

Among the Liberal Democrat policy gains that Nick Clegg attributed to the coalition government in his party conference speech last month was the ending of child detention. The same claim was made in the Liberal Democrat ‘List of Achievements’ and in a speech at the National Liberal Club summing up the party’s record one year into the coalition government.

The only problem with this claim is that it is not true. Child detention has not ended in the United Kingdom.

According to the Migration Observatory, more than 400 children were detained by the UK Border Agency in 2010. Certainly …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged and | 11 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jack
    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
  • Geoff Reid
    Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
  • Hywel
    Important point there Paul. For all the angst about 'lack of cut through' that has pretty much been the case for most of the time the LIb Dems existed except f...
  • Roland
    @Gwyn, I agree with David Raw about relative urgency. However, even in the list of political reforms, I would put changes to voting way below the changes that n...
  • Roland
    The key aspects of the Student loans system that needs to be guaranteed are: 1. Maximum percentage student loan repayment deduction from earnings subject to PA...