When Gordon Brown claimed that ‘the global arms race has been succeeded by the global skills race’ he was absolutely right. After generations of neglect of our skill base by successive governments the realisation that exploitation of intellectual capital can only be achieved through a highly skilled workforce has now dawned. Lord Leitch’s analysis in 2005 of the nation’s skills needs issued a dire warning about just how far the UK was falling behind her global competitors in terms of economic productivity.

If there is one aspect of the Leitch agenda destined for success, and rightly so, it is the recognition that apprenticeships are key to improving the intermediate skills base of the nation. Though it is somewhat ironic that a system of vocational training, dating back to Babylonian Code of Hammurabi should after decades of neglect be hailed as the key the UK’s future productivity!

The politics of the skills agenda in Westminster is dominated by quick headlines, lack of research and a great deal of ignorance. The political attitude to management remains at best sceptical and at worst destructive – with endless criticism of ‘management’ as somehow a cost on business. This is particularly true in the public sector where the link between good management and the efficient and effective delivery of front line services is hardly made.

When Norman St-John Stevas MP set up the current Select Committee system in 1979 with the approval of the then PM Baroness Thatcher, the principle that government policy should be open to vigorous public scrutiny was firmly established. The system has served parliament and the public well – though it is ironic that, at a time when public clamour for even greater scrutiny of parliament and especially MP’s is at an all time high, the government itself has become more difficult to challenge.

"THE king is dead long live the king!"
Well, so it seems, as an eventful parliamentary year came to an end. Tony Blair may well have dominated the media and Westminster for a decade but a mere four weeks following his departure it is as if he never existed.

A whirlwind 28 days by new premier Brown has left even his most ardent critics gasping for breath as he puts into place a raft of measures aimed at distancing himself from his predecessor.

Or has he created some illusion like a magician whose hands move so quickly you simply cannot follow the trick?

The 150th anniversary of Darwin’s book ‘The origin of the Species’, has reignited the debate over the theory of evolution through natural selection in a way that would have surprised Darwin himself. Despite the huge and impressive leaps in scientific knowledge over the past century and a half which provide compelling evidence that the planet earth and all the species on it have developed over a period of 4,000 to 5,000 million years– the sceptical belief that mankind was ‘created’ by a immortal being or ‘designed’ by superior intelligence remains a potent force in our society.

The 6th and final Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was always going to be controversial as Vice Chancellors prepared their constituencies for outcomes which traditionally determined academic ‘bragging rights’ and future funding. The 2008 exercise was a little more tense than before with £1.5 billion in research funding on offer and the suggestion that it would be distributed more widely – rewarding research excellence where ever it was found at the expense of traditionally research intensive universities.