Selection in secondary education is back. The government’s new policy aims to promote consumer choice, and justifies this on grounds of fairness and merit. But who gets to decide what's fair, and who merits a good education?
The British education system reflects long-standing social division. A recent Social Market Foundation paper proposes reforms combining variations of previous attempts with radical marketisation of state education. Is a better functioning market the way to improve access to good schools, or will i
From banking to bad taste, the usual suspect when things go wrong is the culture of an organisation or group. Investigating and fixing cultures has become our main hope of salvation. But this is a convenient distraction from questions of moral responsibility, consequences, and of how people can ta
Should we make banks better, or just make them redundant? Peer-to-peer currency schemes like bitcoin.org offer the possibility of networked money without banks. Should democrats embrace the possibilities?
The Governor of the Bank of England is making increasingly controversial and political statements about the way banking business is conducted. As he prepares to take responsibility for regulating banks, this is significant. And whilst he is not yet directly addressing the public, he has the reputa
The search for purposes in institutions is meaningless. A body only becomes an institution when people start acting in ways other than those set down in their rule book or mission statement. We must be wary of the impulse to build institutions, and be prepared to recognise the importance of habits
The higher education debate has failed to take account of the conservative perspective. The loud dispute over the reforms and their ability to support universities in their 'proper function' has drowned out the conservative argument that such criteria - of success, power and utility - should not b
Many economics commentators continue to prescribe policy based on accounting necessity. We should stop worrying about the bookkeeping and get to grips with the real value of different parts of our economy.
Every online dating candidate is visible, in unsparing detail, to every other. The chances of finding the right person now look very high, and the risks of making a mistake vanishingly low. Where once we might have met some hundreds of potential partners during our life, now we can meet millions.
As the UK's new Coalition government launches its 'Big Society' programme, surely the emphasis should be on institutions even if these are not part of the state.
The UK government's decision to re-base pensions won't work, and even if it does, will be counter-productive. It's evidence of the inability of governments to think beyond the corporate view of economics and consider the economy as a whole.
Forget Capello, the ball, and the referee. The real culprit has got away with it again.
