Reshuffles often contain a surprise or two but there is one prediction that can be made with great confidence. Rishi Sunak will not be demoted to health secretary. It was reported in the Sunday Times that Boris Johnson had suggested “maybe it’s time we looked at Rishi as the next secretary of state for health”. The Prime Minister was apparently irritated that a letter to him
The future of A-levels, and indeed of examinations full stop, in England has been thrown into doubt following this year's bumper crop of A and A grades, which has seen close to half of all A-level students awarded an A or A . Because exams had to be cancelled for a second successive year, this year's grades have been devised on the basis of assessments made by schools and
As expected, A-level grades hit record highs this year. Almost 45 per cent of young people got an A or A, up from 25 per cent two years ago. At private schools more than 70 per cent achieved these grades. This was the inevitable result of the government imposing a system that forced schools to decide pupils' grades, but without setting any proper parameters for doing so. As
Last week, I interviewed Bill Browder, a campaigner against Vladimir Putin’s regime, about his career, the death of his lawyer in a Russian prison and how he is holding the state to account. I then closed my laptop, went into the next room, plopped down on the rocking chair, picked up a copy of the book Mog and read my wriggly two-year-old her bedtime story. Somewhere between
The dual impact of Covid-19 and Brexit means that the UK faces deeper economic scarring than any other country, according to forecasts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In its latest economic outlook, the OECD suggests that overall global growth will continue to accelerate as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out and fiscal stimulus programmes