The QT

Monday 21 October 2024
21/10/2024

Civilised society

Levelling up is โ€˜not working as promisedโ€™

The UK parliament has heard findings that levelling up โ€” arguably the Conservativesโ€™ flagship policy agenda โ€” is beset by critical delays. In a report published on March 15, the public accounts committee, parliamentโ€™s expenditure watchdog, has said that, as of September 2023, local authorities had spent only ยฃ1.24 billion of the ยฃ10.47 billion the …

We need a functioning, lively media

Recently the BBC slashed its budget for local radio. Yet again. When it comes to cuts, regional broadcasters have become an easy target.  Britainโ€™s regional media is in a sickly state. Decades of low investment mean many people donโ€™t see its value. A vicious cycle has been created. The more cuts there are the less …

Tory Looney Tunes no longer amuse me

The plight of the Conservative Party increasingly resembles that of the hapless cartoon character Wile E. Coyote. Just like him, the Tories keep devising cunning new plans to arrest the remorseless progress of Road Runner Keir Starmer. But we all know the Acme anvil they have just suspended from a rocket-powered kite is about 10 …

Are broadcasting rules fit-for-purpose?

The UKโ€™s media regulator has found GB News guilty of breaching the UKโ€™s ‘due impartiality’ code in five separate programmes. This brings the total violations for the news channel to 12 in the last 18 months, with eight investigations underway. Despite repeated infringements, Ofcom has not sanctioned the channel or threatened to revoke its broadcast …

Levelling Up: the case for the prosecution

Almost 10 years ago the then Chancellor coined the term ‘Northern Powerhouse’. When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister and replaced it with ‘Levelling Up’ many here asked โ€” isnโ€™t that a downgrade?  After all, the 2010 Coalition Government had not got off to an auspicious start. We lost our regional development agency, One North East, …

Freedom To Be: A solo traveller in winter

I donโ€™t see myself as a particularly adventurous traveller. Iโ€™ve only ever been to European countries (and North America), didnโ€™t have a gap year and am not one of the one in eight British people who has apparently seriously contemplated living abroad.  However, I do see travel as representing freedom in a way โ€” the …

A reprieve, not a solution: The Household Support Fund

โ€œHaving listened to representations I have decided now is not the time to abolish the Household Support Fundโ€ฆ we will therefore continue it at current levels for another six months,โ€ proclaimed the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, in his budget statement. Cue relief from those making such representations โ€” 90 Parliamentarians from across the political divide, local …

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