Everything has a value – even life. That’s why the last government created Nice – the National Institute for Clinical Excellence – to decide not whether drugs work, but whether they are worth the cost. So why is this government launching a fund to override Nice?
(more…)

It can’t only be for the peerage. Why would any businessman put himself forward to help a political party or government?
(more…)

You can take Russia out of the Soviet Union but its ban on wheat exports shows that you can’t take the Soviets out of Russia. They may look like capitalists when it suits, but Moscow quickly reverts to the planned economy.
(more…)

Who should run the Royal Navy? Admirals or accountants? With a replacement for the Trident nuclear deterrent costing £20bn, recruiting a few bean-counters to the poop deck makes sense, but maybe an illusionist is what is really required?
(more…)

The easiest money to spend is always other peoples’. Prime minister David Cameron has thus decided to raid private bank accounts to fund his Big Society concept of volunteering.
(more…)

Despite all the previous reforms, no one could claim the National Health Service is not in need of another change to get it right. But surely doctors are the last people to whom we should be handing the NHS finances? Don’t expect anyone to benefit except the GPs themselves.
(more…)

So now that we eventually have a result for the 2010 general election, who won? Perhaps it is not the Tories and Liberals who are forming a government, but the Labour party, which emerges with its principles intact and the chance to regroup under a new leader.
(more…)

Politics may not be a game, but any businessman familiar with game theory can analyse the impasse that has followed the 2010 UK general election. With the votes counted we ought to be discussing policies but the post-poll debate is still about politics.
(more…)

If you want to know what Britain will look like after the election, look at Greece now. Or if that seems too far away, look at Ireland. The politicians must now introduce the austerity measures that they were too scared to mention during their campaigning.
(more…)

General elections are like annual general meetings: there’s no point voting if the outcome is irrelevant or obvious and every reason to vote if you want change.
(more…)