Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

It is in the best interest of pupils, parents and teachers for unnecessary bureaucracy and testing to play no part in education

JUST when you thought the Conservative Party could not get any more hardline against Europe, William Hague has announced that Kenneth Clarke will be expected to vote “No” in any future referendum on a European Union treaty. Overlooked in the Damian McBride furore, the Shadow Foreign Secretary used an Easter weekend interview in the Daily Telegraph to warn the Shadow Business Secretary that he must toe the Hague line on Europe and vote against ratifying new EU treaties. Hague also says the Tories will call for a retrospective referendum to reject Europe if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified later this year.

IT HAS been a difficult 12 months for the Metropolitan Police but the past few weeks – with the G20 demonstrations and the resignation of anti-terror chief Bob Quick – have added new and challenging twists.

AND there I was thinking the worst was over. As Neil Kinnock would have put it in his pomp, it is difficult to exaggerate how completely, totally and utterly Derek Draper and Damian McBride have let down the Labour Party.

DIPLOMACY is often described as the art of the possible. Economics is frequently about trade-offs between costs and benefits. The summit of leaders of the G20) countries tried to straddle these two painful realities, with only limited success. While the direction of the reforms is positive, there can be little doubt that the summit declaration has fallen woefully short of expectations in certain key areas.

It is essential to campaign against the London Mayor’s misguided proposal to site an airport in the Thames Estuary

THE economic recession has dominated the news agenda for the past six months. Billions have been spent to bail out the banks, job losses have soared and there is no end in sight. The most alarming development for journalists has been the attempt by some to shoot the messenger. The question of media hype arose when BBC business editor Robert Peston appeared before the Treasury Select Committee and was accused of causing the run on Northern Rock by breaking the story that the bank was in crisis.