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Baroness Liz Barker

Baroness Liz Barker writes… The Health and Social Care Bill in the Lords

By Baroness Liz Barker | Mon 17th October 2011 - 2:53 pm

I have spent my entire working life in the field of health and social care. For many years I worked for Age Concern and for all my time in the Lords I have been a member of the Health and Social Care team. I am, and always will be, a passionate supporter of an NHS which is free at the point of need and open to all regardless of their ability to pay.

Although the Health and Social Care Bill only came to the Lords this week I have been working on it for several months along with Liberal Democrat colleagues, including …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 16 Comments
Nick Hollinghurst

Opinion: Brown was deceived by his “friends” – let’s hope the Coalition is more careful!

By Nick Hollinghurst | Sun 2nd January 2011 - 10:55 am

In days of old, when Brown was bold (well, in 1992 anyway) he gave a stirring speech, as Shadow Chancellor, calling for a “powerful alternative to free-market thinking”. He clearly explained why regulations and strong institutions were needed to bring the City under control. Then, five years later he was catapulted into power by the Labour landslide, becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony Blair’s government.

Tony Blair naively developed an undue admiration for what he romantically saw as the swashbuckling and flamboyant world of supposedly successful entrepreneurs, whose company he found flattering.  Gordon, alas, similarly fell for a charm offensive launched by the very people he once …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 14 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: A budget to make us angry

By George Kendall | Thu 24th June 2010 - 2:50 pm

Frankly, this Budget is ghastly. There are some consolations such as progress towards the 10k tax allowance, but overall it’s awful.

I don’t blame Labour for everything. While they made mistakes, they were right to bail out the banks. And it is true that most of the pain is due to the international economic crisis.

But Labour did make this crisis worse. After a few years of financial restraint, they flooded public services with money. They should have increased the spending more gradually, and coupled it with reform to improve productivity. Instead, productivity fell. This isn’t hindsight, the point was made at …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 63 Comments
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