Government   Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown offered former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown the Cabinet post of Northern Ireland secretary, the BBC has learned. Lord Ashdown said the offer was made on Wednesday - after Lib Dem Leader Sir…

"Go to work on an egg" - a slogan that was run well before my time, yet I am very familiar with it such is its impact on the social conscience. And good advice too, in my book - if I had the patience to boil an egg every morning in between…

The Tories are pledging to create an independent NHS board that will take the day-to-day running of the health service out of the hands of ministers. Brilliant! Who came up with that idea? As regular readers of Picking Losers will know (and…

The Department for Education and Skills are interfering again.  This time they are handing out one size fits all advice on how to teach our young children.  They have produced a whopping 208 page document telling professional teachers how…

**Government  ** £65 million will be made available to the Pathfinders that were launched today by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton as part of the City Strategy, which gives local areas more power to tackle worklessness…

Government One of London's most deprived boroughs has turned down a £2m offer from Goldman Sachs to build and run a state school. The US investment bank's failure to persuade council officials in Tower Hamlets to let it set up a city…

That's it, I've had enough. You want to be moderate. You want to excuse the imbecility as the words and actions of an extremist minority. You fear that you may come to regret any sweeping statements of condemnation in response to the latest…

Government The increased use of external consultants by government is costing the taxpayer nearly £2bn a year and is failing to ensure value for money, according to the public accounts committee. In a report published today, the PAC…

Government  Gordon Brown has delivered a wide-ranging speech on crime in which he promised a "radical review" of the government's anti-drugs strategy. The chancellor and prime minister-in-waiting also outlined plans for an extension of…

In less than two weeks the English smoking ban will come in to force.  Anyone who lights up in an enclosed public space will likely to be jumped on by a health and safety "officer" and fined £50.  I am a little torn by this policy - on the…

Last weeks poll was about the HIPs fiasco - should the government admit they have messed up, cut and run and scrap HIPs; or having taken it this far, should they steam ahead?  57% of you were in favour of scrapping the whole shambles (a…

Government One in four NHS trusts is failing the latest government targets on cleanliness and tackling superbug infections, figures published today reveal. Fewer hospitals and NHS trusts than last year can demonstrate that they are…