**Government  ** A tax on unhealthy food could prevent more than 3,200 deaths every year in the UK, experts said yesterday. A quarter of the population is obese and 216,000 people die each year from cardiovascular disease. The foods that…

**Government  ** England's secondary curriculum is being overhauled to give teachers more flexibility in the classroom whilst focusing on the basics, ministers say. A quarter of the school day is to be freed up so that teachers can focus…

He is officially back.  Jack Straw that is.  He has come up with an ingenious solution to prison overcrowding problem too.  Instead of building our way out of the problem - i.e. building more prison space - we should just not send so many…

Lord Jones of Birmingham (try not to laugh) made his maiden speech in the House of Lords today, on the subject of the Energy White Paper. In a largely unremarkable spiel, most of which simply restated government position, the only comments…

Yesterday I reported how the government had spent billions on trying to get kids to do some sport with the incredible result of making absolutely no difference what so ever. Today, it has come to light that another one of the government's…

Government Gordon Brown has put a major expansion of house building at the heart of his legislative programme for the next session of Parliament. The prime minister told MPs that more people would be helped onto the housing ladder. Other…

Government Whitehall departments are still introducing regulations without proper analysis of their cost and likely benefits, according to the National Audit Office. The public spending watchdog also says that officials are failing to…

"-The reality on the ground is that there is a gloomy mood. There has been an awful lot of change in a short period. Staff feel overwhelmed by it.”- New Health Secretary Alan Johnson Arthur Fonzarelli last week announcing the “once in a…

The government has spent an extra £3 billion of investment through the lottery and millions more from the taxpayer in an attempt to tackle obesity and encourage kids to take up sport since 1994.  The result?  Absolutely nothing.  There has…

Here's a story that will make you wish you could go private.  Take a deep breath. 500 patients a week are given the wrong treatment by the NHS.  That is almost 25,000 occasions last year, leading to deaths, serious injury and long-term harm…

The public accounts committee has criticised the government for seriously underestimating the cost of the London 2012 Olympics.  They have said that better management of the construction project is required if the cost is not to spiral…

I love it when a story like this comes along. Partly because it really upsets all the enviro-scaremongerers who seem happier to hear that the world is doomed rather than hear some balance to the debate. It turns out that cows and sheep and…