Bond markets ignore Starmer briefings and Westminster gossip November 12, 2025 Bond markets shrugged at Keir Starmer’s team’s attacks against Cabinet ministers and Westminster gossip suggesting a leadership contest was emerging after investors were dragged into briefing wars. On Tuesday night, a briefing war erupted in Westminster as Keir Starmer’s allies told journalists that there would be a rout in the bond markets if the Prime [...]
NHS must stop prioritising staff convenience over public health November 12, 2025 Falling productivity, striking doctors and a refusal to embrace new technology: the NHS is not run for 'us' at all, writes Paul Ormerod.
Productivity crisis deepens as public sector continues to stutter November 3, 2025 Public sector productivity has dropped at its fastest rate in nearly three years, according to fresh official figures that lay bare the government’s multi-year struggle to revive the efficiency of the country’s creaking public services. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed total productivity at state-owned bodies fell by 0.7 per cent year [...]
UK drug prices necessary to stop feud with companies, says science minister September 25, 2025 The price the NHS pays for medicines will need to rise to end the feud with pharmaceutical companies and stop the exodus of investment in the UK, science minister Patrick Vallance has said. Lord Vallance told the Financial Times that “all options” were on the table in terms of UK drug pricing, after several large [...]
AI to help slash NHS hospital discharge delays, officials say August 16, 2025 Technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds which are occupied by people fit to be sent home, officials have announced. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete the documents needed to discharge patients, potentially saving hours of delays. The move will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork [...]
Lionesses make us proud to be English – perhaps for the last time July 28, 2025 The Lionesses’ inspiring Euros victory will be a moment of joy in a summer threatening to descend into civil unrest, tensions over immigration, public sector strikes and political fragmentation that will damage social cohesion, says Alys Denby I watched the Euros final in a converted industrial estate in south east London – and the biggest [...]
Physician associates union takes government to court over planned role changes July 27, 2025 A union will take the Government to court over its decision to implement recommended changes to the roles of physician associates (PAs) within the NHS, the United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs) has said. It follows findings by a Government-ordered report that PAs have been used as substitutes for doctors despite having significantly less training. The [...]
Five day doctors’ strikes begin as Wes Streeting-BMA talks break down July 25, 2025 Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – led by the British Medical Association (BMA) began a five-day strike on Friday morning, set to last until 7am on Wednesday. Health secretary Wes Streeting said on Thursday evening that strike action should have been a “last resort”, and “we did not need to be in [...]
Doctors strike: Streeting floats student loan write-off in BMA meeting July 18, 2025 Wes Streeting could offer to write off student loan debt for doctors to persuade the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off a planned strike. The idea came up in an extended meeting between the health secretary and the medical union, just a week out from a five day walkout which could involve as many [...]
Doctors’ strikes prove militant BMA is prepared to put patients’ lives at risk July 16, 2025 Resident doctors are endangering their patients’ lives with immoral strikes based on distorted calculations. The British public must finally see their militant union for what it really is, says Alys Denby “Resident doctors” as we must now call them (‘junior’ being a term fit for barristers but far too demeaning for these life savers) will [...]