Author Archives: Daniel Singleton

This summer, I was faced with the tragic news that a friend had died, suddenly and unexpectedly. It would be fair to say the cause of death was a combination of depression, isolation, and a crushing of dreams. My grief was such that, in the […]

Quietly, beyond the reach of scurrilous headlines, a review of the way forward for the NHS is underway. Quietly – maybe too quietly – this goes on, away from the partisan shouting around Brexit and the various fights going on within the Labour and Conservative parties. Maybe there is a political consensus – a place of sensible consideration: that we have an important asset in our health service, but it cannot continue into the next 70 years as it has done with its first 70 years.

Who would have thought that, at its birth 70 years ago, the NHS would still be standing today? That’s quite some achievement – and back in 1948, life expectancy was only 66 for men and 71 for women; 70 years later, it’s 77 for men […]

There are local elections taking place this week and, with the comings and goings at the Home Office, politics at home is very much the focus of the news media – but what does it have to do with those of us on the frontline […]

Ten years on from the banking crisis and the start of austerity, cuts are still biting and the effects of real term reductions in spending are felt by most of us. Yet, we also know that the misuse of resources too has a huge effect […]

At dinner last week with a number of friends from Eastern Europe, our conversation moved from the nerve agent attack in Salisbury to what patriotism meant to us and who felt they belonged and wanted to stay in the UK.  My dinner companions were all […]

The Government has released its long-awaited integration strategy, developed methodically behind the scenes with the close involvement of civil society organisations – including providers of community-based English programmes like Creative English. As Eric Pickles, former Secretary of State for Communities, said when the 2010 coalition […]

Don’t pay the NHS an extra £350million a week, but well done to Simon Stevens who may have single-handedly moved the Brexit debate on from political machinations, to life after Brexit and what we want it to be. The NHS will always need more cash, […]

Teachers all over the country are trying to find ways to add the government’s ‘British values’ to their lessons. The British values are: democracy the rule of law individual liberty mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those […]

I’m fed up with commentary and opinion masquerading as fact and news! This happens when those who are supposedly ‘reporters or correspondents’ have become pundits, yet there has been no indication of the change in their role. That’s not to say I don’t engage with […]