2 w. ago Dundee University report must be ‘watershed moment’, Tories say

A report by Professor Pamela Gillies found failings of management at the university.

Politics

2 w. ago Oasis masterclass announced by Glasgow college ahead of reunion tour

Glasgow Clyde College said its Oasis class would help introduce the Manchester outfit to a new generation of gig-goers.

Politics

2 w. ago Reeves braced for OBR forecasts to blow £20bn hole in tax and spending plans

Downgrades by Treasury watchdog could force chancellor to raise taxes or cut spending at budget to meet fiscal rulesRachel Reeves is braced for revised forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to blow a £20bn hole in her tax and spending plans before the autumn budget.Even without changing the totals the chancellor set out in her spending review on Wednesday, a weaker forecast from the the Treasury’s independent watchdog could force her to find significantly more money at the budget to meet her “non-negotiable” fiscal rules. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves seized her moment – whatever the future brings, Labour’s economic course is now set | Martin Kettle

The chancellor is no mere technocrat: her spending review revealed a visceral commitment to social and economic mobilityThe consensus has long been that the 2025 spending review would be a defining moment for Keir Starmer’s government. For once, the consensus proved spot-on. The government’s main priorities were set out on Wednesday in a blizzard of Commons announcements from Rachel Reeves, some economically substantive, others more for show. The upshot is that the shape of the British state, as Labour intends it, is now decided until the eve of the next election.There are further crossroads still to come, some of them major, as the years covered by the review unroll. Taxes are likely to rise, probably as soon as the autumn budget, to pay for Reeves’s big ticket boosts on Wednesday for defence, health and housing. Council tax could rise too, with possibly dramatic results. The review’s emphasis on capital spending means current spending could be squeezed again, perhaps heralding pay...

Economics

3 w. ago The Ritz, review: Trust me, this is London's best restaurant. Of course it won the National Restaurant awards

Amost everything offers a convincer that Michelin is getting this place wrong, says David Ellis. One star? Triple it, pronto

Events

3 w. ago Voices: The spending review will reveal how far the government has been blown off course

In her last-man-standing battle with the Treasury, Yvette Cooper has shone a light on how Starmer’s administration is now quietly tacking to the left, says Sean O’Grady

Politics

4 w. ago Scottish college reviews courses after £1.3m budget cut as ‘stark consequences’ warned

Fife College’s principal has warned of the stark consequences of a review of its courses and operating model as a result of a major budget cut.

Events

last month Why is defence such a hard sell? The same reason Starmer is struggling in the polls | Martin Kettle

Decades of failures have left liberal democratic governments unable to command public confidence when it really mattersDefence reviews and foreign policy resets seem to turn up almost as often as the Sussexes’ lifestyle brand relaunches these days. Labour’s strategic defence review this week comes less than two years after the Conservatives’ hardly less detailed defence white paper in July 2023, which in turn was a “refresh” of Boris Johnson’s ambitious integrated review of defence and foreign policy of March 2021. By this measure, it must be doubtful if, come the 2030s, analysts will look back on Keir Starmer and John Healey’s review and say it broke the mould.The Labour government was entitled to try to put its own stamp on defence policy, of course, and its review team of George Robertson, Richard Barrons and Fiona Hill did a good, reasonably independent job. Yet this 2020s pattern of repeated strategic adaptation and refocus feels like the new normal now. It is also true that gr...

Politics