Special Supplements

Latest Supplements

New Society: Regulation

The government attempts to prevent anti-competitive practices – operations that are against the public interest. Competition policy is one of the pillars of the internal market and competition law and regulation should protect competition by controlling the operation of firms that may have monopoly power in their own industry, as this may lead to consumers being exploited. Markets work best when there is a healthy rivalry between companies and they compete to serve active and informed customers who want and are able to reward good performers and withhold reward from those who don’t measure up. .

Law should make monopoly and oligopoly impossible, and should encourage new market entry, wider choice, lower prices and higher quality. Regulation is designed to deal with the problem of market failure – where markets fail to reach an optimal allocation of resources. However, as Phillip Blond points out, many interventions by regulators have had perverse consequences, including market concentration, with a shrinking number of competitors, further increasing the possibility of a monopolist or semi-monopolist control of the market. This means that the market becomes further and further removed from free and genuine competition.

How can we create the competition policy and regulation – with a proper accountability structure – that the UK needs for growth, innovation and the widening of ownership and prosperity? With UK communications regulation under the spotlight in 2012, there is a chance to review the entire media regulation framework.

30 January 2012

Life Sciences

The UK pharmaceutical industry is a major part of the life sciences sector. It employs over 72,000 people, invests considerably in research and development, and contributes £7bn a year to the economy. It also has access to a strong academic base that offers extensive expertise in translational medicine and database studies, while the NHS offers data and research opportunities unmatched anywhere else in the world thanks to its national database of patient records.

With so many benefits and opportunities, it would appear that little can hinder the UK’s position as a world leader in this field. However, globally the life sciences industry is changing. The financial crisis has hindered funding opportunities – just as it has in other sectors, and investments and workforces are being consolidated. At the same time, the market place is becoming increasingly competitive.

What impact is this likely to have on the UK pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors? What is needed to ensure a position of leadership and that they remain attractive to investors, companies and academia? To address all these questions and more, New Statesman, in partnership with Pfizer, has brought some of the leading voices together.

16 January 2012

New Society: Public Services

After much delay and anticipation, the government’s Open Public Services white paper, published in July 2011, sets out how it intends to improve and modernise our public services. By “putting choice and control in the hands of individuals and neighbourhoods”, it believes it can make public services more responsive to people’s needs. It is applying five key principles: increased choice; decentralising power to the “lowest appropriate level”; diversity – public services should be open to a range of providers; fair access to services; accountability – our public services should be accountable to service users and taxpayers. .

It all sounds like something we might be able to sign up to. However, choice requires that people are informed in a way that they understand and can use to bring about positive benefits for themselves. Choice needs to be genuine rather than simply a variety of providers offering the same services. And if we are having diversity, will all choices be available to all people in all areas? Will people be able to buy in services from their neighbouring local authority if what they want isn’t offered in their area?

Charities will be given more opportunities to bid for government money. Trustees and charity managers will have to make some careful decisions. However, are charities ready to deliver the types of public services that government wants and the public needs? While many are already having success, others will not have the skills, experience or capital to do the job at the scale that is being asked of them.

09 January 2012

National Health

The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 will bring on something of a revolution in the NHS – the biggest change since it was established in 1948 – and these developments will all take place in a landscape of enormous financial challenge. The NHS needs to deliver unprecedented productivity gains over the next few years. Many of the changes, such as enhancing the role of local authorities in the health system, giving health-care providers greater autonomy, and radically reforming commissioning to further involve GPs, have the potential to improve care for patients and to enhance the performance of the NHS. .

However, the Bill will also introduce a step change in implementing market-based principles in the health system, with the aim of improving diversity of supply, promoting competition, and increasing choice for patients. While the NHS needs to change, if the scale of change is too big, and the speed too fast, its performance during the transition could be affected unfavourably, disadvantaging patients instead of improving their care and their life chances.

Contributors to this supplement consider how increasing competition in the NHS will affect us. We look at the relationship between citizens and the state and whether the original NHS values can be refounded within this new, broader agenda. How much choice will we actially have and how much influence over our health care? What if, collectively, we make poor choices? Services that are competing against each other will also be required to work together and integrate. How will that work and who will advise us and regulate all of this?

12 December 2011

Smart Energy

Modern society is facing a dilemma. Demand for energy is increasing but traditional generation resources are diminishing. A rising number of homes and businesses are producing their own solar and wind power, while decentralised energy storage technologies need to be integrated. And on top of all of this, greenhouse gas emissions need to be dramatically reduced over the next few decades.

How to address these challenges is something many energy, IT and government experts have been investing considerable time and, yes, energy in, and some of the new technologies and business models that are emerging as a result are discussed within these pages.

However, a successful transformation of our energy sector is dependent on all parties working together: the private sector, government and significantly the public. It is the responsibility of us all to ensure a more sustainable future for people and planet.

05 December 2011

New Society: Cities and regions

The rapacious appetite of the global economy is leading to cities becoming more spatially fragmented, socially divisive and environmentally destructive. Cities and their regions continue to produce, consume and pollute more than ever before, attracting more people to urban jobs and opportunities. A key feature of this globalised world is increased competition between cities for investment and talent. Sometimes this leads to unrealistic aspirations which don’t match their underlying economic performance or potential. While producing goods and services for national and international markets, cities should increase incomes, improve quality of life and provide sustainable development for their citizens.

City leaders have an opportunity to make a difference here, building on the spatial and social capital of their cities, rather than importing generic models that cater to the homogeneity of globalisation.

London is one of the major centres of the world economy and it may seem somewhat unassailable. However, it needs to attend to some deep-seated challenges if its advantage is to be preserved. Businesses and talented people must continue to want to live and work in London and all our big cities need every bit of help they can get. The perception that a city or region is a good place to do business cannot be abstract or a matter of good public relations; good reputations are earned and based in reality. Directly elected mayors, given powers over planning, development and transport, may offer advantages in helping cities outside London to boost growth and create jobs.

28 November 2011

Political Studies Guide 2012

The near collapse of the euro, massive public spending cuts, protests, strikes, the scandals involving the media. Studying politics now is probably more exciting than ever.

As the world changes at rapid pace, people need to be able to understand and analyse developments. Which politicians and policies have the most impact on our lives? What are the strengths and limitations of democracy? How are rules and regulations determined? Whether readers want a policy role within the civil service, to campaign for change through a position at an NGO or have aspirations to be prime minister, a political studies course can set them on the right path.

This guide aims to point students in the right direction. It starts by setting the scene in British politics today, followed by insights into the way the system works and what a career in politics might entail. Finally, we offer a comprehensive listings guide to help prospective students find the right course for them.

21 November 2011

The green tech revolution

The coalition government is committed to investing a significant amount of money in green technologies and jobs between now and 2015. However, it is important to realise that this alone cannot transform Britain into a low-carbon economy. Given that 95 per cent of companies in the UK are small enterprises, it is imperative to engage these organisations in the emerging green economy and foster entrepreneurialism. .

To address this issue, the New Statesman, in partnership with Shell and Demos, held a series of fringe events at the recent party conferences. The discussion, the highlights of which have been written up for the benefit of readers within these pages, focused on what the government can do to help and encourage small and medium-sized green enterprises and the extent to which big businesses have a responsibility to nurture them. There was agreement between many of our panellists that appropriate funding is key to success. Without it, there will be little chance for UK businesses to fine-tune their ideas or take an international leadership role.

This is an issue not only for the banks, which have proved risk averse when it comes to lending to green businesses, but also for government. The Green Investment Bank, for example, is a good idea in principle but fails to address the funding needs of the small businesses that will shape our future.

07 November 2011

Clean Energy Investment

As the world heats up and the effects of climate change become increasingly clear, governments have been given little choice but to introduce policies to reduce carbon emissions. The clean energy sector is to play a key role in this, and as such there has been an increased interest in the companies and technologies that support this industry.

Providing access to clean energy also stimulates economic development in less developed nations, offering those who choose to invest in this area with the potential to achieve more than just financial returns. Yet despite this enthusiasm, clean energy funds have not always performed well. Shaken by fluctuations in the stock market, impacted upon by developments in China and the natural gas industry, and affected by changes in government policy and regulation – sometimes investors may wonder if just the slightest knock will send this sector tumbling.

Does this mean things can only get better? This financial guide does not pretend to have all the answers. It simply aims to make some sense of clean energy investments for the benefit of our readers. As without a crystal ball, investors are, as always, at the mercy of the markets.

31 October 2011

Trade Union Guide 2012

As union members gather in central London for the 143rd annual Trades Union Congress on 12-14 September, there is much talk of strikes and resistance. The threat of industrial action remains the single biggest obstacle to the coalition’s cuts. Despite a steep decline in membership over the past 30 years, unions continue to enjoy unrivalled legitimacy.

In the following pages, we examine whether the trade unions are up to the challenge of taking on the government, and hear from the general-secretaries of seven of the biggest unions.

Can the leaders of Britain’s 7m-strong union movement build a grass-roots coalition, a broad church, that reaches out beyond trade union and Labour Party members to charities, community groups and public-service users? If so, the coalition may be forced to execute the biggest U-turn of them all.

12 September 2011

The Future of Education

The Education Bill currently making its way through parliament promises to create a system that delivers consistently better standards for all children, with a focus on accountability, discipline and the removal of bureaucracy. School inspectors will be instructed to concentrate on four areas: achievement, teaching, leadership and management, and behaviour and safety. In addition, the Secretary of State will be given powers to intervene in schools that are failing while “liberating” outstanding schools and colleges from routine inspection.

Notwithstanding the merit or otherwise of the changes the legislation will bring, the implications for head teachers expected to implement it are significant. In such a complex and demanding world, it is not easy to make the best choices.

Among the questions raised are: at what level should education standards be set? What is the best way to reach them? What are the benefits and challenges of collaboration with other schools? What impact will the growing number of academies have on the state system, particularly in a world of increased parental choice? The NS and the National Association of Head Teachers brought together a panel of experts to provide some of the answers.

05 September 2011

Money matters

Financial markets are full of fear and fluctuation at the moment. They have been shaken by successive events such as the Greek debt crisis, the US rating downgrade, civil unrest and uncertainty across North Africa and the Middle East, and escalating commodity prices.

All of these derive from beyond our shores and yet private investors in the UK have to decide how to protect their interests against this background. The challenge they face is to preserve their wealth while avoiding its erosion through adverse market movements, inflation, taxation and costs levied by financial services providers.

It is not easy to make the best choices on where to invest, yet to do nothing is to allow inflation to take its toll. This investment strategy supplement aims to offer readers ideas and principles that they can use to guide their thinking. There is no silver bullet, no one-shot solution that will overcome the forces at play. But at least some of the risks can be contained. And choices made now, while markets are in turmoil, may prove fruitful later when they are more stable.

22 August 2011

Power to the people

The 2050 goal of reducing the UK’s carbon emissions by 80 per cent compared with 1990 levels is a high priority for the country. While some of us say we agree with these climate change goals, in reality, our behaviour is not compatible with them. For various reasons, we are resistant to nuclear power, to wind farms in our backyards, and to lifestyle changes.

However, if we don’t want to see our bills go up, the planet sustain further damage or energy supplies grow insecure, somehow we have to change. Current coalition policy is to let the market decide which pathway provides the best way forwards. But is it really the job of the market to keep the lights on in Britain? What would happen if it chose to sacrifice secure electricity supplies for lower costs? Government does not seem quite sure whether electricity is a commodity or a social service.

The market is in a state of flux; the way that it is financed needs to change. What if the result of this is that targets are not met and we end up with an inadvertent result? Will government hold its nerve or will it step in?/p>

04 July 2011

Energy

The energy sector marketplace is an erratic and brutal one. Future energy prices are highly unpredictable, commodity shortages are likely, and no single technology can deliver all of our energy requirements. Our security, what we can afford and our commitment to reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change require that we have a diverse mix of energy types. This means that those working in the energy marketplace have to make assumptions about future trends and outcomes.

Some types of energy are perceived as “good” (usually renewable energy, such as wind power, hydropower and solar power) and others as “bad” (usually coal, gas and nuclear energy). While there is no other option but to invest in renewable energy (and the sector is expanding), traditional sources of energy cannot be ignored.

The cost of fossil fuels is still comparatively low and the time when low-carbon options will reach parity is some way off. The question no one can answer is how can we offer the best option for the UK at the lowest price to the taxpayer, especially in such difficult economic times?/p>

07 March 2011

Socialising in Modern Britain

It would be a shame to lose sight of what makes Britain’s social life so open, creative and appealing. These days there is so much emphasis on the way that digital technologies have entered our lives it is easy to imagine people no longer interact in “real life”. But the fact is that we have a rich tradition of socialising which has long been the cradle of our music, our art, and our communities.

Sometimes we’re in danger of focusing too much on the negative. And certainly there are negatives to worry about. Which is why it is so vital that regulators and politicians find a way to conserve our precious social heritage while keeping people safe and healthy. The UK’s music industry has led the world for decades now, but without small venues in which newborn talent can begin to flourish, it may falter.

Our society, with its mix of modernity and tradition, as well as its easy diversity, is much admired the world over; we need to better understand and treasure what makes it so rich, before it disappears altogether./p>

21 February 2011

Immunisation

Vaccination and immunisation programmes over the past 60 years have transformed public health – and not just in the developed world. Modern, advanced research and increased understanding of the sub-cellular processes means that we are already able to foresee a wave of new vaccines that will help prevent complex diseases such as cancers as well as communicable infections.

However, with any health care issue, priorities, ethics and risks come to the fore. As science takes immunisation to a new level, will public caution and Treasury concerns combine to push new these developments aside?

This supplement aims to explore how immunisation fits with the priorities and architecture of the new NHS under the coalition government and how national public health issues, such as vaccination, will sit within an agenda that is based on choice and local devolution. Both challenges and the opportunities face health care professionals and those concerned about the future of public health and the role that vaccines could have in combating the perils of modern life.

24 January 2011