Metronet, the consortium who are currently cocking up the upgrade of much of the London Underground system, are looking to take £600m of public money to cover their over-running costs.  The extremely complicated PPP contract that was signed…

The department described by outgoing Secretary of State John Reid as "not fit for purpose" is paying out £3.6m in bonuses to its staff. The Home Office, which has recently been split up as it could not cope with the work load, feel one in…

One of the things that America does better than us Europeans is its inclination to give (at least in business) another chance to those who at first don't succeed. Whilst bankruptcy is seen in Europe as evidence that someone is not to be…

The debate over David Willetts' accidentally controversial speech on education continues to rumble on. As Willetts and Cameron have themselves kept the debate alive, through Willetts' appearance on Sunday AM, and David Cameron's…

It is being reported on the BBC that the introduction of the Home Improvement Packs will be delayed. DCLG Secretary, Ruth Kelly, is expected to make an annoucement... more later... UPDATE:  The introduction of HIPs has been put back…

The first high profile casualty of the NHS online recruitment fiasco has hit.  The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, has resigned after he was accused of being too close to the Government on the issue.  Mr Johnson…

The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, resigned suddenly last night over accusations that he was siding with the government in the debacle over training jobs for junior doctors. Mr Johnson said the criticism of him…

Michael Portillo wrote an interesting article in yesterday's Sunday Times. He seems to share a similar ethos to Picking Losers in many ways. I have taken a small extracts from the piece and published them below. Much of the article talks…

Government Only 30% of government technology-based projects and programmes are successful, the official in charge of IT at one of its biggest departments has warned. Joe Harley, chief information officer at the Department for Work and…

Government   A controversial bill exempting MPs and peers from freedom of information laws has moved closer to being passed. Cross-party opponents had hoped to "talk out" the bill by using up all its allocated time in the Commons. But after…

The government can not do IT projects.  Not a revelation to regular readers of Picking Losers, but even civil servants are now accepting the hard facts.  Joe Harley, chief information officer and the official in charge of IT at the…

What makes Gordon Brown think that he can effectively steal? He is set to launch an initiative to raid dormant accounts to raise £300m. OK, the money will be put to what the Lottery commission believe are "good causes", but I still don't…