civitas united kingdom london (10 Ergebnisse)

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Trust in the European Union has been in steep decline since the eurocrisis, and the 2014 European Parliament elections saw many MEPs sent to Brussels to represent parties opposed to the federalist agenda, and in some cases to the EU itself. Euroscepticism has gone from being a political position that was treated with contempt by both the media and the political establishments to being a vital topic for debate. Critics of Brussels expansionism, from different points on the political compass, have asked whether the political and economic benefits that Britain derives from membership of the EU are sufficient to outweigh the costs. The Conservative Party is committed to an in/out referendum in 2017, should they win the general election in 2015. Opinion polls show fluctuating levels of support for Brexit, but, as David Conway argues in With Friends Like These - , it is scarcely reasonable to expect people to make up their minds on this important issue without setting before them the alternatives to EU membership. Other European nations that are not members of the EU, as well as developed nations outside Europe, have found ways to trade profitably with EU countries. Britain should aim to replicate the trading status of these nations, in what Conway describes as the Norway, Swiss, Turkey and World Trade Organisation options. A fifth possible option has been canvassed by MEP David Campbell Bannerman under the name of 'EEA Lite'. Conway favours this and argues that EEA Lite's terms can be achieved by making its acceptance a condition of Britain's agreement to a new treaty that he predicts the EU will soon be forced to seek in order to resolve the eurocrisis. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. As the size and scope of government grows, so do the resources allocated to public services. But how are decisions taken when departments are sharing out very large pots of money? How do we know that allocations are fair or reasonable? In Failing to Figure Mervyn Stone examines the process and finds it lacking in transparency, and even common sense. Government departments put the calculations relating to their policies out to contract, usually to universities, and the bids are assessed by committees that are described as 'independent', but which largely consist of public sector employees directly involved with the outcome. The whole process is shrouded in secrecy: the public may not know who has been asked to tender, which proposals have been turned down or why the winning tender was accepted. Mervyn Stone argues that this level of secrecy is undesirable, particularly when billions of pounds of public money are involved. He offers examples of failures in public policy relating to the National Health Service, police forces and local authorities, and shows how these failures emerge from a dysfunctional machinery of government that implicates ministers, civil servants and their contracted advisers, consultants and experts. Professor Stone also argues that the process is compromising the integrity of the universities that participate. To stay in business, universities have to compete for lucrative government contracts. Loyalty to their institution can tempt academics to remain knowingly silent on contestable issues they could help to resolve. In place of the present system, he recommends wider consultation, more openness and the publication of the reasons for accepting the winning tender. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. David Cameron has promised that, if re-elected in the 2015 general election, he will renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU before putting it to a referendum in 2017. However, so far there has been little indication of what sort of deal he hopes to strike. In this timely and wide-ranging study of the UK's position in Europe, Conservative MP Brian Binley and academic Dr Lee Rotherham appraise the options for reform and begin to set out the course of action the Prime Minister must get to grips with - and quickly. Much closer analysis must be undertaken of the pros and cons of British membership of the EU, they argue, and David Cameron must establish his red lines before embarking on negotiation. Ranging across the gamut of EU competences - from free movement of labour rules to the Common Agricultural Policy, from social and employment legislation to the threat to the City - Binley and Rotherham unpack the arguments and show where policy-making can and must be returned to the Westminster parliament. They weigh the merits of some of the leading proposals for disentanglement and sketch out their own vision of a relationship between the UK and the EU which benefits Britain, by maintaining trade ties while keeping interference from Brussels to a minimum. The Prime Minister himself has noted: 'The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy.' Binley and Rotherham here make an essential contribution to such new thinking as they seek to ensure that Britain is not held back by timid considerations of its role in the world. They demonstrate that only fundamental reform will do; minor tinkering might just be enough to win a referendum in 2017, but it will only be counter-productive for all involved over the long term. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Each day seems to bring fresh warnings of the pressures bearing down on the NHS. As resources fail to keep track of demand, the principle of universal healthcare is under threat as never before. Excessive waiting times, the rationing of new drugs, ambulances queuing up outside A&E, staff shortages, the list goes on. What has brought the NHS to the precarious position it now finds itself in? And what might be done to ensure in future that care goes to those who need it, when they need it?This collection of essays by a cross-section of leading commentators explores the background to the present crisis and, more importantly, gets to grips with some of the ideas that need to be considered for reform. Contributors with a wide variety of political perspectives range from a former Health Secretary to working NHS doctors to academics and journalists. Each makes a unique input into the debate about how we must evolve our thinking if universal healthcare is to function effectively in the years ahead.The conversation is wide-ranging and often provocative. For some, reforms need only be made within the NHS in its current form. But, for others, guaranteeing free and equal access to services for the entire population requires looking beyond the existing structures of care. Most agree, however, that any serious effort to ease the burden on health services must start with the individual - long before they come to call on the NHS. Averting the demise of universal healthcare does not just end with the health of the nation: it begins with it too. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Something has gone badly awry with social democracy in recent years. Not so long ago, government by centre-left parties seemed almost to be the natural order of affairs in stable and prosperous economies. Today the position is very different, as voters have turned their back on them across much of the west. Where such parties have fared better - as in the UK - this tends to be associated with a shift towards a more radical left-wing platform. What has caused this collapse in support for centrist policies? Here, economist, businessman and lifelong Labour supporter John Mills describes how this has happened - and what might be done to arrest the decline of social democratic politics before it is too late. He traces the centre-left's political difficulties to its poor record of achieving good economic growth while in office, and its ineffective critique of others while in opposition. This stems from its abandonment of Keynesian in the 1970s and its too-eager embrace of monetarist - and then neoliberal - economic prescriptions thereafter. Such policies have failed to deliver in the long run for millions of people who have come to be known as the Left Behind. These voters feel angry and alienated and see no remedy for their ills from the traditional social democratic politicians to which they previously turned. The moderate centre-left now faces a potentially existential threat as it slips further behind at the ballot box. Unless it can offer and fulfil a new and compelling story of economic growth and widely-shared prosperity, it risks oblivion over the coming decades. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Good. Covid-19 has forced the UK into an economic crisis, generating the deep recession with which we are now faced. To bounce back, this book argues, we need a fundamental rethink about the economic policies that have caused us to deindustrialise and to allow the massive imbalances - from which the UK economy currently suffers - to accumulate. Above all, this means reassessing the role of the exchange rate as a crucial but almost totally neglected policy tool. John Mills, the entrepreneur and economist, shows in this book why, in the face of all the available evidence, the economic policies the UK has pursued over a long period have hugely disadvantaged the regions across the UK. The result of this economic orthodoxy has left us with a reliance on the service sector and an economy deeply unbalanced, unable to pay its way in the world, with too much borrowing - and with mounting regional, inter-generational and socio-economic inequality. This book provides some constructive and positive solutions to reverse the process of deindustrialisation and, by implication, make the UK's exchange rate more competitive. The UK will need to make it profitable to site new manufacturing facilities, and this can only be done with a competitive exchange rate that is tailored towards the needs of manufacturing rather than services. Only by shifting our economy towards exports, domestic production, and investment-led growth can the UK bounce back from coronavirus impacts and achieve genuine economic growth. "There is nothing new about Britain's economic problems: we consume too much and produce too little; the balance of payments is in chronic deficit; regional imbalances are wide and growing. In his new book, John Mills sets out why these problems need to be tackled with urgency and how to do it." Larry Elliot , The Guardian "This is an excellent book. John Mills provides a compelling case for the vital role that a competitive exchange rate can play in boosting the UK's economic prospects and living standards. It is an absorbing and easy read, containing some powerful economic messages." Dr Gerard Lyons , leading UK economist "The challenges facing the economy cannot be exaggerated. The coronavirus pandemic and the Government's policy responses, however justifiable, have hammered output. Unemployment could double by the end of the year and public sector borrowing has exploded. At this crucial time, we need a wideranging and open-minded debate on policy and John Mills' latest book The Elephant in the Room is an excellent contribution to such a debate. Read it and heed it." Ruth Lea CBE , Arbuthnot Banking Group "The pandemic and its aftermath are certain to lay bare and to show in even starker relief the fault lines that have afflicted the British economy for more than a generation, and that have left us in such a parlous state. John Mills identifies the endemic policy mistakes that have led us to this sorry state and sets out the steps we must take to achieve a better and more acceptable outcome. The time for action is now." Bryan Gould , former Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury "The coronavirus crisis has only served to increase the importance of the key economic issues that have concerned John Mills for so long. He is one of our most radical economic thinkers. Now, more than ever, economists and policy-makers need to give his ideas serious attention." Roger Bootle , Chairman, Capital Economics "It defies common sense that a Trading Nation should completely ignore the importance of the rate of exchange at which it trades - yet we have. Is it then not surprising that our economy has become unbalanced and our international indebtedness ever growing. John Mills' timely solution should be compulsory reading by every politician." Lord Vinson , former businessman and winner of the Queen's Award for Industry. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. The UK receives tens of thousands of asylum applications ever year. Usually less than half are found to be valid, even at the end of lengthy appeal processes, and yet only a minority of those subsequently leave the country. As a result there is a mounting backlog of illegal immigrants waiting to be removed. Most never will be. David Wood, Theresa May's former Director General of Immigration Enforcement at the Home Office, here sets out the challenge of maintaining Britain's border controls and shows how the system largely fails to deal with those who are here illegally. One of the central difficulties revolves around the asylum system, and the scope for its abuse by those who are not refugees but submit applications as a last-ditch bid to avoid deportation. This risks overwhelming resources and lengthening the time it takes to process the claims of genuine asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution and war. It also helps undermine voters' trust in the system and fuels anger that the rules are not enforced properly. `It is essential that the UK's asylum system is nothing but supportive of those who are genuinely fleeing persecution,' Wood writes. `But where asylum processes are being used as a way of facilitating economic migration it is essential to be able to quickly and efficiently distinguish between the two, in order to ensure those entitled to help receive it quickly, and to ensure that UK citizens do not lose faith and support for a system that is rife with abuse. `It ought to be possible to do better in enforcing immigration rules than we have been doing, and that must start with a better understanding of the challenges we face.'. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. The recent campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq came at a heavy cost to Britain's military capabilities. However, rather than replenish the forces with the equipment they needed, spending reviews in the last parliament saw defence expenditure so drastically reduced that the equipment used up in the campaigns cannot be replaced. These cuts have left all three services with large deficiencies in key areas. There is now considerable doubt among military experts that Britain will be able to maintain its NATO commitment of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, and this is at a time when new challenges and mounting uncertainty in the world are likely to require our armed forces to be used at short notice, and in circumstances which demand a more agile and adaptable military.These issues have not received the attention they deserve. There is even less acknowledgment of what is at stake in downscaling Britain's defence production capabilities and capacity. Key defence industrial programmes can take decades to mature and R&D requires a much greater investment if it is to produce benefits.Without immediate action to reverse this situation, the UK will lose even more of its important technological capacity and know-how that cannot easily be recovered. Defence Acquisition for the Twenty-first Century lays out a completely new case for the UK to adopt a radically different acquisition strategy; one which is much more cost-effective and would allow for the adaptability, agility and flexibility essential to modern militaries. The book sets out the challenges ahead for defence acquisition and proposes novel changes to the structure and culture of MoD and Whitehall generally to help the UK to meet those challenges. Among other suggestions, it makes the case for maintaining Britain's industrial capacity to manufacture equipment when it is needed, rather than focusing on maintaining the standing capacity of the forces; it proposes establishing a system of long-term investment for defence with financial arrangements that extend beyond the life-cycle of a parliament; it recommends exploiting the huge pool of talent available in smaller enterprises rather than relying solely on increasingly inflexible and unsustainable prime contractors.In a series of supporting essays, the book also discusses the wide range of issues which shape the environment for defence acquisition, including Britain's strategic posture; the rise of managerial culture and loss of technical skills in Whitehall; and the introduction of unproven structures of management, such as government-owned/contractor-operated organisations. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. The population of the United Kingdom is growing at a rate of more than 500,000 a year, equivalent to a new town of about 10,000 people being created every week. On current projections , by 2039 there will be nearly 10 million more people living here - enough to populate Greater Manchester three times over. What are the implications of this for the country, and are we prepared for the challenge? In this new pamphlet, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts takes stock of the scale of this change for the UK, sets it in historical and international context and considers the challenges that it will present. Not only will the UK need 4 million more homes, and the space in which to build them, it will need new hospitals, schools, roads, jobs and leisure facilities. While it is impossible to be precise about future population growth, these challenges are unlikely to melt away over the next quarter of a century. Even if the UK sought to change course after Brexit with a more restrictive immigration policy, it would be many years until a consequent reduction in population worked its way through. So it is important to ensure that the government is properly planning to meet these challenges now. As the UK frames a new relationship with the EU and the world, now is also the time to consider the pros and cons of the demographic course the country has been on in recent years and whether that needs to change. As Lord Hodgson sets out, there are economic arguments concerning population growth, but there are also considerations around quality of life and social cohesion. `The people of this country are entitled to have laid out before them the range of challenges and opportunities that demographic change will cause. Given the apparent scale of that demographic change and the long-term impact of any policy decisions such a debate should begin sooner rather than later.' - Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Since 1953, education spending in Britain has increased by nine times in real terms but levels of numeracy and literacy among school leavers have hardly changed. Today, Britain is the only country in the developed world where literacy and numeracy levels amongst 16-24-year-olds are no higher than amongst 55-65-year-olds. In this historical analysis, Robert Peal argues that this abject record in educating our children cannot be detached from a movement which took hold in British state schools from the 1960s onwards and has been called, with deep inappropriateness, 'progressive education'. This movement is based upon a romantic view of the child. It believes that children are both innately good and natural learners, who should be freed from the guidance and direct instruction of the teacher. Teacher training, local authorities and schools inspectors all signed up to this idealistic, but damaging, belief. Relevance, freedom, active learning, skills and self-esteem became the unquestionable pillars of this education orthodoxy. Rigour, hard work, knowledge, discipline and competition were deemed pejorative terms. Half-a-century on from its arrival, progressive education is under attack on multiple fronts. Empirical data is laying bare its lack of success and cognitive science is demonstrating its fundamental misconception about how children learn. At long last, government reforms are freeing schools to break away from the thoughtworld of the education establishment. Progressive education has plunged British schools into a decades-long crisis, leaving generations of pupils illiterate and under-educated. If Britain is to have a world-class education system in the twenty-first century, abandoning the burden of bad ideas it has inherited from the twentieth is the surest route to success. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.