30 h. ago UK government’s deal with Google ‘dangerously naive’, say campaigners

Company to provide free technology and ‘upskill’ civil servants but concerns raised over UK data being held on US serversGoogle has agreed a sweeping deal with the UK government to provide free technology to the public sector from the NHS to local councils– a move campaigners have called “dangerously naive”.The US company will be asked to “upskill” tens of thousands of civil servants in technology, including in using artificial intelligence, as part of an agreement which will not require the government to pay. It is considered in Whitehall to be giving Google “a foot in the door” as the digitisation of public services accelerates. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Catastrophic failures led to the 'generational slaughter' of the elderly and vulnerable as Covid 'spread like wildfire' through care homes, inquiry hears

A civil servant said the government's approach to care homes resulted in a 'generational slaughter' or the elderly and vulnerable. The Covid-19 Inquiry in London began its sixth module today.

Events

1 week ago Civil servants begin industrial action over work from home ban and closures of London offices

Civil servants working for Angela Rayner start industrial action over moving of Government offices away from capital and lack of flexible working

Society

1 week ago Civil servants start industrial action over return to office mandate

Members of Public and Commercial Services Union are also protesting against the closure of six work locationsCivil servants will begin indefinite industrial action on Monday in protest against office closures and moves to make them work from the office.Public sector workers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in offices, including in the capital, will take action short of a strike from Monday. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Angela Rayner's civil servants protest over working from home ban and London office closures

Officials in the deputy prime minister’s department will launch their ‘work to rule’ protest on Monday

Society

1 week ago Angela Rayner's civil servants launch 'work to rule' protest after being told they cannot WFH

Staff at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, will begin the industrial action next week.

Events

2 w. ago The world wants China’s rare earth elements – what is life like in the city that produces them?

More than 80% of China’s rare earth reserves are located in Baotou, an industrial hub of 2.7 million people that abuts the Gobi desertCentral Baotou, an industrial hub of 2.7 million people that abuts the Gobi desert in north China, feels just like any other second-tier Chinese city. Large shopping malls featuring western chains including Starbucks and KFC stand alongside street after street of busy local restaurants, where people sit outside and children play late into the evening, enjoying the relative relief of the cooler temperatures that arrive after dark in Inner Mongolia’s baking summer.But a short drive into the city’s suburbs reveal another typical, less hospitable, Chinese scene. Factories crowd the city’s edges, with chimneys belching white plumes of smoke. As well as steel and silicon plants, Baotou is home to China’s monopoly on rare earths, the metallic elements that are used in oil refining equipment and car batteries and that have become a major sticking point in the...

Politics

2 w. ago Parenting is not just for pronatalists: the progressive case for raising kids

Child rearing in our current world is a stubborn act of hope. If the left doesn’t see it that way, conservatives fill the voidA few months ago, I was at a playground just a couple of blocks from our home in Washington DC, when a mom I barely knew turned to me mid-conversation and said: “I think I might be the deep state.”It was mid-March. Doge was tearing through the city, dismantling federal agencies at dizzying speed. Donald Trump, re-elected on a promise to “shatter the deep state”, had fired thousands of longtime civil servants in his first weeks back in office. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Top civil servant told to ‘get on it’ after Supreme Court ruling on gender

Michelle Thomson MSP challenged permanent secretary Joe Griffin on the issue at Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Events

2 w. ago ANDREW NEIL: No future UK government has a hope of making things better if it can't reform our incompetent Left

Former Tory Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, this week revealed he had to overrule civil servants who wanted to suppress newspaper revelations about grooming gangs in Rotherham.

Politics

3 w. ago Xi Jinping austerity drive has Chinese civil servants dining in groups of three

The move has been linked to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for boosting austerity among civil servants

Politics

3 w. ago China bans civil servants from dining in groups in Xi’s new austerity drive

The move has been linked to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for boosting austerity among civil servants

Politics

4 w. ago China approves world’s biggest amphibious plane for mass production

AG600 Kunlong was developed as part of drive to modernise Chinese military

Politics

4 w. ago Milestones of Belonging: From asylum seeker to civil servant in Scotland

Too often, the public conversation about refugees is dominated by fear or numbers

Events

last month Civil servants told to QUIT if they disagree with Labour's stance on Gaza

The Foreign Office's two most senior officials, Sir Oliver Robbins and Nick Dyer, responded to a letter by 300 staff raising concerns about Israel 's conduct.

Politics