Government   All pregnant women in England will be given the option of a home birth under plans launched by health secretary Patricia Hewitt. Hewitt unveiled Labour's vision for the future of maternity services in England and said that…

Government   Tough new powers giving teachers' clear and unequivocal authority to discipline badly behaved pupils become law this week. Designed to combat disruptive, bullying or offensive behaviour, they give teachers a clear statutory…

Back from a fantastic week's skiing, and I find that we are being bombarded with comment spam, mostly from domains in Russia and Turkey. Having only enabled it a couple of weeks ago, I'm going to have turn off anonymous commenting, to get…

Government   The row over the government's pensions policy deepened yesterday as business leaders dismissed ministers' claims that they had lobbied for Gordon Brown's controversial tax changes in 1997. Documents released under the Freedom…

While I was away, I received a copy of this letter from Bob Durward (chairman of the classical liberal New Party) to David Milliband. Bob has allowed me to reproduce it here. I hope it tickles you as much as it tickles me. To: Rt Hon David…

Government   David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, has secured agreement from the Treasury to double the spending on green farming schemes to improve the landscape and increase the number of rare wild birds. English farmers will be…

**Government  ** The economy and employees needs to be "flexible", Tony Blair is to say in a speech about work. His ideas about "flexi-Britain" include urging employees to adapt quickly to the needs of their bosses to keep the "knowledge…

Government   Home secretary John Reid has finalised plans to break up the Home Office. It was confirmed last night that Mr Reid had passed his proposals to No 10 amid reports that Tony Blair will give the go ahead for the scheme in a…

**Government  ** The Home Office will be split into two separate departments for security and for justice in the next six weeks. The Department for Constitutional Affairs will take control of probation, prisons and prevention of re…

Government   The minimum age for a marriage visa is to be raised from 18 to 21, in a bid to combat forced marriages. Spouses or fiances who want to come to the UK from outside the EU may also have to pass an English test first. People who…

Government   An accounting rule that has plunged more than two dozen hospital trusts into an irrecoverable financial position is to be ditched, Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, is to announce today. Now "absolutely confident" that the…

Government   Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, today launched the Government's search for a partner to deliver a new £1.2m Innovation Exchange - a programme to support the third sector's capacity to innovate. The Innovation…