Does workfare work? George Osborne announced a ‘work for benefits’ scheme. ‘Workfare’ schemes have been attacked by the left. Do they work? Wisconsin Works The introduction of the scheme, which obliges benefits claimants to accept community work placements, was followed by an 80 per cent reduction in welfare caseloads between 1990 and 2000. Washington state’s
Oborne’s ideas of ethics Sir: Your edition of 28 September included a 1,500-word demand from the journalist Peter Oborne to the effect that the Times, the newspaper that I work for, should sack its columnist Danny Finkelstein. The reason given by Oborne for this view is that Finkelstein is too parti pris and close to
Every opposition leader sometimes needs to act as a saboteur. Ed Miliband showed his wrecking skills this week, picking a fight with the Daily Mail about an article it had published saying that his Marxist father ‘hated Britain’. The row overshadowed the Conservative party conference and sparked a debate which informed those who did not
Home Shares in Royal Mail are to be sold by the middle of this month, before postmen can go on strike; the company is valued at between £2.6 billion and £3.3 billion. The Church Commissioners, an investment arm of the Church of England, became part owners of the resurrected Williams and Glyn’s bank which will
Dear Lord Rothermere, Yesterday I spoke at a memorial event held at Guy’s Hospital in London for my uncle, Professor Harry Keen, a distinguished doctor who died earlier this year. It was an event in a room on the 29th floor of Guy’s Hospital which was attended only by family members, close friends and colleagues.
listen to ‘Cameron: ‘Together we will build that land of opportunity’’ on Audioboo
listen to ‘Boris: ‘It’s time to cut the yellow Lib Dem albatross from around our necks’’ on Audioboo
listen to ‘George Osborne’s speech to the Conservative conference’ on Audioboo At every Party Conference since the election, as we have gathered, the question for us, the question for me, the question for our country, has been: ‘is your economic plan working?’. They’re not asking that question now. The deficit down by a third. Exports
‘Thank you for letting us read Poppy the Woodland Rabbit. Unfortnately, it’s not really our sort of thing’
‘The goldfish wants feeding, dear..’
‘I feel so empty now the children have left.’
‘When you said you were “doing a nude”, I thought you wanted me to take my clothes off.’
‘He was everything I was looking for in a man — which set alarm bells ringing straight away.’
The outlaw Ned Kelly no longer got lost in the outback now that he had a satnav
‘How absolutely hideous — it’ll go perfectly with those shoes I never wear.’
‘It’s the latest beauty treatment — combined aromatherapy and full-body wax.’
