The Birmingham Brief - intelligent thought on policy issues.
- Description
- On 1 October 2012 Georgia, a small post-Soviet state on the Black Sea coast with a population of 4.6 million people, conducted its 8th Parliamentary elections since 1990. The pre-election campaign was closely watched by the West and the number of international observers monitoring the elections was allegedly the country's largest-ever.
- Date:
- Tuesday 4th December 2012
- Categories:
- Social Sciences
- Description
- In his speech to the Labour party conference this week, Ed Miliband invoked the spirit of the former Conservative leader, Benjamin Disraeli, when he set out his vision for Britain to be 'one nation: a country where prosperity is shared'. So where are the 'one-nation Tories' and where do Conservatives more generally stand on this issue?
- Date:
- Friday 5th October 2012
- Categories:
- Social Sciences
- Description
- Michael Gove's recent statement on the status of GCSEs and the introduction of a new qualification – the English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBC) – have been greeted as another momentous change, but what do the reforms really mean and who is likely to win (and lose) as a result?
- Date:
- Friday 28th September 2012
- Categories:
- Corporate Services, Social Sciences
- Description
- Since the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, health services in the UK have been funded primarily through general taxation and delivered free at the point of access to individuals. However, recent decades have witnessed an expansion in the global market for health services. This has been manifest in various ways, including an unprecedented increase in the volume of patients willing to traverse national borders for the purposes of receiving medical care.
- Date:
- Friday 10th February 2012
- Categories:
- Research, Social Sciences