Podcasts about National Audit Office

With pollution out of control, infrastructure at breaking point and water companies prioritising the pumping of pounds – many pounds – to shareholders, our water industry has dissolved into a murky mess. Our seas and rivers are a disgrace, the National Audit Office has warned some areas could run out of water by 2034, and Britain's biggest water company is begging for a Government bailout, after years of loading up with debt to help it pay out juicy dividends. In this Quiet Riot special, our producer Kenny Campbell takes a deep dive into the issues and possible solutions to the water crisis with Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, whose Private Member's Bill on the subject will be debated this week. It's a topic that vexes our listeners – we know, because it's listeners who suggested we look into the scandalous state of affairs the water industry finds itself in. How did we get into this dreadful situation? What can we do about it? How did Labour MP Clive Lewis find himself buttonholed by Richard Tice only to find the Reform MP was in agreement about the state of water companies? And how are Trumpian politics linked to what is going on in the industry? If you swim, paddle or drink water, then this is a must-listen episode. SHOW LINKS Visit the Clive Lewis Action Network for more details on the work he is doing on Britain's broken water industry – and please drop your MP a letter this week, urging them to attend the imminent debate on Clive's bill. The Rivers Trust has an interactive map of sewage spills in England here – it's pretty up-to-date and utterly shocking. The trust also has links for those seeking Scottish and Welsh data. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** ALEX ANDREOU'S PODYSSEY can be found here: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alex-andreous-podyssey/id1798575126 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2x7cD3HjkOyOKTF4YT5Goy?si=e7a86b762431451f AMAZON MUSIC: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/8c996062-ef8d-42e4-9d80-5b407cb6e2e2/alex-andreou's-podyssey OVERCAST: https://overcast.fm/+ABN4Gd7AP9Q POCKET CASTS: https://pca.st/podcast/9e98d690-d812-013d-ea22-0affdfd67dbd YouTube Music: Coming Soon Or you can add it to any app, using the RSS feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/podyssey SUBSCRIBE OR FOLLOW NOW Our bookshop selling many of the books we have featured can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot. Kick your X habit, finally, by using one of three Quiet Riot Bluesky Starter Packs. With one click, it will hook you up with, among many good accounts, Alex, Naomi and Kenny. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with SandStone Global.Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Britain Corrupt (Part 2) The Black Spy Podcast, Season 18, Episode 0009 This week's Black Spy Podcast asks the question: Is Britain, and indeed the West, corrupt? During part two of this fascinating discussion, Carlton King and Dr. Rachel Taylor suggest that what is all important is the definition and perception of what corruption is. The Black Spy Podcast team argue that corruption involves the abuse of power for personal gain, encompassing both overt acts, such as bribery, and more subtle forms, such as cronyism or undue influence. So, although there are, in Britain and in many Western nations, robust legal frameworks, independent judiciaries, and a semblance of a free media, supposedly contributing to transparency and accountability, it can not be taken for granted that these measures work. Hence, although the UK has bodies like the the National Audit Office and parliamentary committees tasked with scrutinizing public spending and governance questions, the issue remains live.   Western countries often rank relatively high on indices like Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, reflecting lower levels of perceived corruption compared to many other regions. But is this correct? Criticisms of corruption in the West often center on systemic issues rather than overt illegality. Examples of this include lobbying, where wealthy individuals or corporations wield disproportionate influence over policy-making and opportunities for enrichment. This raises ethical concerns, even if it adheres to legal frameworks. The "revolving door" between politics and private industry is another area of lack of scrutiny, as it can blur lines between public service and private interests. Furthermore, scandals such as the 2009 UK parliamentary expenses controversy or financial misconduct exposed during the 2008 economic crisis demonstrate these vulnerabilities. Similarly, some argue that offshore tax havens linked to Western jurisdictions enable global financial corruption. Hence, in conclusion, while Britain and the West exhibit relatively low levels of overt corruption, systemic practices and scandals often come to light that suggest that the region is not immune to its own ethical and accountability challenges.   Moreover, the Black Spy Podcast team note that perceptions of corruption often depend on the accepted societal norms, expectations, and evolving definitions of those compiling corruption indices. If you want to continue learning whilst being entertained, please don't forget to subscribe to the Black Spy Podcast for free, so you'll never miss another interesting and in-depth discussion. To contact Firgas Esack of the DAPS Agency go to Linked In To contact Carlton King by utilising any of the following: To donate - Patreon.com/TheBlackSpyPodcast Email: carltonking2003@gmail.com Facebook: The Black Spy Podcast Facebook: Carlton King Author Twitter@Carlton_King Instagram@carltonkingauthor   To read Carlton's Autobiography: “Black Ops – The incredible true story of a (Black) British secret agent” Click the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/BO1MTV2GDF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_WNZ5MT89T9C14CB53651 Carlton is available for speaking events. For this purpose use the contact details above.

Is Britain Corrupt? (Part 1) The Black Spy Podcast, Season 18, Episode 0008 This week's Black Spy Podcast asks the question: Is Britain, and indeed the West, corrupt? During the course of this fascinating discussion, Carlton King and Dr. Rachel Taylor suggests that what is all important is the definition and perception of what corruption is. The Black Spy Podcast team argue that corruption involves the abuse of power for personal gain, encompassing both overt acts, such as bribery, and more subtle forms, such as cronyism or undue influence. So, although there are, in Britain and in many Western nations, robust legal frameworks, independent judiciaries, and a semblance of a free media, supposedly contributing to transparency and accountability, it can not be taken for granted that these measures work. Hence, although the UK has bodies like the the National Audit Office and parliamentary committees tasked with scrutinizing public spending and governance questions, the issue remains live. Western countries often rank relatively high on indices like Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, reflecting lower levels of perceived corruption compared to many other regions. But is this correct? Criticisms of corruption in the West often center on systemic issues rather than overt illegality. Examples of this include lobbying, where wealthy individuals or corporations wield disproportionate influence over policy-making and opportunities for enrichment. This raises ethical concerns, even if it adheres to legal frameworks. The "revolving door" between politics and private industry is another area of lack of scrutiny, as it can blur lines between public service and private interests. Furthermore, scandals such as the 2009 UK parliamentary expenses controversy or financial misconduct exposed during the 2008 economic crisis demonstrate these vulnerabilities. Similarly, some argue that offshore tax havens linked to Western jurisdictions enable global financial corruption. Hence, in conclusion, while Britain and the West exhibit relatively low levels of overt corruption, systemic practices and scandals often come to light that suggest that the region is not immune to its own ethical and accountability challenges. Moreover, the Black Spy Podcast team note that perceptions of corruption often depend on the accepted societal norms, expectations, and evolving definitions of those compiling corruption indices. If you want to continue learning whilst being entertained, please don't forget to subscribe to the Black Spy Podcast for free, so you'll never miss another interesting and in-depth discussion. To contact Firgas Esack of the DAPS Agency go to Linked In To contact Carlton King by utilising any of the following: To donate - Patreon.com/TheBlackSpyPodcast Email: carltonking2003@gmail.com Facebook: The Black Spy Podcast Facebook: Carlton King Author Twitter@Carlton_King Instagram@carltonkingauthor To read Carlton's Autobiography: “Black Ops – The incredible true story of a (Black) British secret agent” Click the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/BO1MTV2GDF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_WNZ5MT89T9C14CB53651 Carlton is available for speaking events. For this purpose use the contact details above.

A Chinese vessel is the centre of attention as authorities investigate two damaged cables in Baltic Sea. It's been described as potential sabotage, but this is rarely proven says Hans Liwång from the Swedish Defence University and KTH. And: Northvolt files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as its CEO Peter Carlsson steps down.Also: Ever wondered why so much of your personal information is out in the open, posted on websites like Ratsit and MrKoll? Change could be on the way to limit this.And: Despite warnings from the Migration Agency, the National Audit Office says they could find no evidence of widespread abuse of study permits among international students from outside the EU.Presenters: Michael Walsh and Dave RussellProducer: Kris Boswell

The Education Brief: Saturday 26 October 2024 - Top stories include: End-of-year maths scores may predict Year 8 English performance more accurately than English scores. Research reveals a gap in maths anxiety between disadvantaged Year 6 pupils and their peers. Unions representing school support staff have accepted a pay rise of at least £1,290. Concerns about inconsistency have been raised about Ofsted's new ungraded inspections. The release of 2024 school performance league tables has been delayed until November or December. The National Audit Office has warned that the SEND system is financially unsustainable. This week's deep dive:  What a national curriculum can and cannot do We'll also tell you what's happening at HEP this week and what we've been watching, listening to, and reading! Watching - https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-connections Listening - https://schoolsweek.co.uk/laura-mcinerney-interviews-nick-gibb/ Reading - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Britain-How-Future-Back/dp/1847928145 AI Tool - https://www.flippity.net/ Music by Slo Pony

In this episode, we investigate the staggering costs associated with the UK's HS2 project, specifically focusing on the cancelled Phase 2 and the implications of its financial management. The video highlights the National Audit Office report revealing almost £100 million spent on closing unused sites and £592 million on unnecessary land acquisitions. Compare this with other international projects to discuss why UK's construction costs, including those of Crossrail, are among the highest in the world. We also question the nation's procurement practices and consider the financial accountability of public projects.

Post election, it's worth taking a look at the National Audit Office's latest report into High Speed 2 and the mess the previous government made of it. With a new Labour government picking up the divine right to rule from Murdochs, Platts and Gerkos of the world, we've been launched headlong into 2010 austerity again - but what does this mean for HS2? Might they pick any of it back up again? Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

This week Ryan, Erikka and Mat discuss everything from SctoWind troubles to the investment needed in the UK's energy transition, can you spot the common theme? Money! Ryan has been looking into the market speculation that Shell is looking to sell up its stake in the two ScotWind leases it secured in 2022. The firm and its partner Scottish Power forked out £154,400,000 for the two floating wind sites that are set to produce a combined 5GW of power during Crown Estate Scotland's leasing round.  CCS investment is a "risk worth taking", said the National Audit Office. Mat has been diving through some of the reports that got held up with this summer's general election. The NAO explained that warned slow progress on the first phase of ‘Track-1' projects means the government will struggle to achieve its 2030 CCUS ambitions. Finally, Erikka looks at the UK's Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme and how it might change under the Labour Government. She is also speculating on what assets GB Energy may be looking to take over, but for that to happen Labour has to "get their finger out" as she said.   About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what's coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscribe.  

Railway Industry Association (RIA) Chief Executive Darren Caplan joins the latest episode of the Rail Technology Magazine Podcast. Darren discusses the future of the UK's rail industry under the new Labour Government, identifying a certain amount of continuity from the previous Government, including plans for continued devolution and the establishment of Great British Railways.Darren also stresses the importance of incentivising increased passenger numbers and revenue growth, despite a recent recommendation by the National Audit Office that the Department of Transport may have to dissuade people to travel by rail.He presents his views on the capacity issues presented by the cancellation of the Northern leg of HS2 and how the new Government must act quickly and decisively to prevent serious capacity problems in 5 to 10 years' time.Darren also shows optimism for the future of the rail industry given positive global trends, and emphasises the crucial role that the sector has to play in achieving decarbonisation targets.

Three weeks haven't yet passed since the election, but Keir Starmer's Government has faced its first rebellion. The response to seven Labour MPs breaking rank over the Government's stance on the two child benefit cap was swift and fierce, leading to the whip being removed and anger inside and outside the party. Nish and Coco ask if Starmer has only stoked further division within the party. Clare Farrell drops in to discuss the landmark sentencing of five Just Stop Oil protesters and how the previous government's draconian anti-protest legislation led to this moment. Later, chair of the NHS Federation Victor Adebowale joins Nish and Coco to discuss the National Audit Office's recent findings into the state of NHS finances and what can be done to fix the service, while taking the pressure off of near-breaking point staff. Useful LinksOpen Letter:https://defendourjuries.org/wtf/Just Stop Oil petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-prison-for-protest/Pod Save the UK: live! https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/pod-save-the-uk-live

A report by the National Audit Office into farming published today shows much room for improvement.A tree nursery in Fife has been working hard to become better for the environment, and is now pushing to become carbon-negative. The longest running scientific study into the impact of cereal farming on invertebrates, the Sussex Study which is run by the Game and Conservation Trust, has just published a new paper analysing 50 years' worth of data.Presented by Caz GrahamProduced by Alun Beach

A damning report from the National Audit Office in May this year concluded what many have long suspected, that customer service from HMRC is falling ‘far below' expected levels. In this episode of The Tax Track, we look at the problem, its impact and potential solutions.The figures are damning, with call waiting times soaring by over 350% over the past five years and just 67% of calls being answered. While HMRC is striving to resolve issues, circumstances beyond its control are holding back progress.Unpicking this thorny issue are Lindsey Wicks, Senior Technical Manager for Tax Policy at ICAEW; Stephen Relf, Technical Manager, Tax; and Caroline Miskin, Senior Technical Manager, Digital Taxation. LinksThe Tax Track podcast: A taxing year aheadhttps://www.icaew.com/insights/podcast/the-tax-track/a-taxing-year-ahead HMRC halts decision to restrict helplineshttps://www.icaew.com/insights/tax-news/2024/mar-2024/hmrc-halts-decision-to-restrict-helplinesIssue 114, agent updatehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agent-update-issue-114/issue-114-of-agent-update#tipspostICAEW gives five reasons to use the HMRC apphttps://www.icaew.com/insights/tax-news/2024/mar-2024/icaew-gives-five-reasons-to-use-the-hmrc-app NAO report – HMRC Customer servicehttps://www.nao.org.uk/reports/hmrc-customer-service/ PanellistsLindsey Wicks, Senior Technical Manager, Tax Policy, ICAEWStephen Relf, Technical Manager, Tax, ICAEWCaroline Miskin, Senior Technical Manager, Digital Taxation, ICAEW Producer Ed AdamsEpisode first published: 2 July 2024Podcast recorded: 25 June 2024

Money Box can reveal that the government is recouping more than £250m pounds from over 100,000 carers who it says broke the earnings rule and should have lost their carer's allowance. The numbers came from a Parliamentary Question this week asked by the chair of the work and pensions select committee, Twice as many women as men are being chased for these overpayments.We hear from a carer who has around £5000 worth of debt as well as finding out more about rights for carers affected.The Department for Work and Pensions told us, “The total amount of Carer's Allowance overpayments includes historical debts which the department is seeking to recover. In comparison, Carer's Allowance expenditure is forecast to be £4.2 billion this year alone.” “Carers across the UK are unsung heroes who make a huge difference to someone else's life, and we have increased Carer's Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010.” Also on the programme, a report by spending watchdog the National Audit Office has revealed callers to HMRC helplines were on hold for a total of 789 years in 2022/23. Are we saving enough for our retirement? Pensions and investment mutual Royal London gives Money Box exclusive figures.And how do you spend a £50 note? We get to the bottom of what shops are allowed to accept.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Sandra Hardial Researcher: Jo Krasner Editor: Sarah Rogers

The Pension Dashboard is intended to provide an online service to millions of people who have paid into a pension at work by showing all their pots and their value in one place. But the National Audit Office this week revealed a 'digital skills' shortage is behind delays, providers now have until October 2026 to connect to it. The costs of the dashboard are also up by almost a quarter to £279 million. Some people hoping to sell their leasehold homes are being charged large amounts by their freeholder to fill out a simple form which helps the sale to go through smoothly. We hear from 'Harry' who was just days away from exchanging contracts on his two bed flat in London when his sale collapsed because his freeholder wouldn't sign an LPE1 form unless Harry paid more than £20,000. The forms contain information such as ground rent and service charges and rules on pets. Also in the programme we answer listener questions about how to protect your money when banks merge, and applications open on the 12th of May for the next round of government funded childcare. Working parents in England with children aged nine months to under two years can apply for 15 hours of subsidised childcare starting from September. Parents have been encouraged by the Department for Education to act as soon as possible to secure their place. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Sarah RogersThis episode was first broadcast on Saturday the 11th of May.

This week on the Tax Factor, Nimesh Shah and Roger Holman look at two HMRC stories in the news: the one penny tax demand and the National Audit Office's findings that HMRC tax helpline wait times are getting even longer. The Conservatives and Labour are fighting over tax numbers, but Nimesh and Roger are not really sure that any of them add up. And finally, how HMRC have asked the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal against the Upper Tribunal ruling on giant marshmallows!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good morning,As an experiment, today's Sunday morning thought piece is in video. If you prefer, you can also read it below. You should also be able to read and listen, as many like to do.Let me know what you think.This week, May 7th, marks the 25th anniversary of one the UK's greatest ever financial blunders. There is no shortage of them, but this one really stands out: that is Gordon Brown's decision to sell more than half of Britain's gold. The decision and then its implementation were both of such cack-handed incompetence that for many the only possible explanation is conspiracy. We will come to that in a moment.Every now and then the government does something that makes your ears prick up and think, “Well what are they doing that for?” This was one of those times. I knew nothing about gold or investing back then, but, even I, could see it was a dumb and needless thing to do. That's the most amazing thing: Brown was under no pressure to sell. He was under no pressure to do anything. Even non-libertarians will struggle to explain why we need government when they are this incompetent.It wasn't just me. The tabloids said the decision was, “catastrophic.” Gold traders called it, “appalling”. Parliament was outraged. Foreign central banks were too. What was Gordon Brown thinking?It was two years into Brown's new job as Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the time, the UK held approximately 715 tonnes of gold, worth around $6.5 billion. The value of the country's gold amounted to about half of its US$13 billion foreign currency reserves and the Treasury wanted to “achieve a better balance in the portfolio”. There was, it said, too much exposure to a single asset, which paid no interest and its price was volatile. Via a written question in the House of Commons the Government suddenly announced that it would be holding a series of auctions for its gold reserves, starting in six weeks, with an eventual plan to sell 415 tonnes by 2002. Eddie George, the Governor of the Bank of England, raised “strong objections” as he and Gordon Brown clashed, but he was “outgunned by a coalition of the treasury and some of his own senior officials”. "The sale of the gold was not something that we recommended at the Bank,” George later said. “We did not think it was a good idea to sell such a large amount of gold at once. However, the decision was taken by the Chancellor and his advisors, and we respected their right to make that decision."London was still (just) at the epicentre of the gold market and its numerous gold traders thought the decision was nuts. Gold prices move in decades-long cycles, they told Bank of England officials, and the price was likely a lot nearer the bottom than the top.  “The timing of the decision was ludicrous. We told them, ‘You are going to push the gold price down before you sell',” said Peter Fava, then head of precious metal dealing at HSBC. “We thought it was a disastrous decision; we couldn't understand it.” Revealing the timings and amounts for sale so far in advance would cause traders to short the asset, and that would drive the gold price lower.Not only did Brown give a six-week advance notice to the market that the UK would be selling, driving away any potential buyers and sending speculators short in advance of the sale, the UK had even lent one fifth of its gold out, which speculators borrowed and sold in order to front run the UK's sale. Sure enough, the price fell 10% by the time of the first auction in July to lows not seen since shortly after the US abandoned the gold standard in 1971. No wonder so many see this as the worst decision in British financial history.Here is the timing of that first sale illustrated. £150/oz. Today we are at £1,900/oz. What a bunch of clowns. As soon as the commitment was made, a consortium of central banks - including the European Central Bank and the Bank of England - signed the Washington Agreement on Gold in September 1999, limiting gold sales to 400 tonnes per year for 5 years. This triggered a reversal in price, a 25% rally in a week. Such gains have never been seen before or since. If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy in the not-too-distant future. My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company.In total, the UK eventually sold 395 tonnes over 17 auctions from July 1999 to March 2002, at an average price of US$275 per ounce, raising approximately US$3.5 billion. I have had it said to me many times that China was on the other side of the trade, but that is something we will never know. Never explain as conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence runs the wisdom, but this was so incompetent even those who favour that line of thinking struggle to explain Brown's logic.It was done to diversify UK assets, runs the standard explanation. Gold pays no interest, Brown wanted a yield. How was Brown to know interest rates would fall for the next 20 years? Many, especially on the left, supported the decision. Even the former UK Prime Minister David Cameron later said: "I think that the decision to sell the gold was the right one. It was based on sound advice and it released funds that could be invested in other assets. Of course, with hindsight, it is easy to criticise the decision, but at the time it was the right thing to do."But such are the levels of incompetence, and it being gold, many other theories quickly emerged. It was “a political decision”, not a financial one, said the Bank of England. Many argue that the sale was part of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair's plans to take Britain into the new euro currency without asking voters: either to fund the euro itself, or to fund the UK's entry into the European single currency. This theory is linked to the wider belief that there is an agenda to create a European superstate that will replace national sovereignty. Hence the argument that the sale was part of a broader plan to suppress the price of gold. Brown was acting on behalf of a shadowy cabal of bankers and financiers, the same people that today are thought to be attempting to impose the Great Reset and control the world's financial system.Others argue that he sold the gold at a low price in order to benefit his friends in the City of London. Brown is always suspiciously, in the eyes of some, quick to defend the “transparent” manner in which the sale was carried out. “The National Audit Office said that it was in a transparent and fair manner that the sale had happened while achieving value for money, so that is actually what happened,” Brown declared in 2007.Perhaps, simply, Brown thought the price was going even lower and called the market wrong. Not such an unlikely mistake to make. The 1990s had seen something like 1,600 tonnes sold by Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands. Official sector holdings in 1968 accounted for some 40% of all the gold ever mined in history. By 1999, that figure had fallen below 25%. The new European Central Bank might not even bother keeping any bullion from the 11 founders of the forthcoming single euro currency. Analyst Kamal Naqvi, then at Macquarie Equities, told the FT: “The British are looking to sell before everyone else.”Two months earlier, in April 1999, Switzerland, the fifth-largest holder of gold, narrowly passed a referendum to take the franc off the gold standard - it became the last nation to leave the gold standard. The sale of another 1,300 tonnes was green lit (Switzerland never actually sold). The following week the International Monetary Fund was “practically unanimous” in its plans to follow suit. There had been calls - led by Gordon Brown (who would repeat them in 2005) - to use the money to write off Third World debt for the new Millennium. “100 per cent debt relief on multi-lateral debt, IMF debt, to be written off by revaluing or dealing with IMF gold through sales,” Brown said."The decision to sell gold was taken after extensive consultation with the Bank of England, and based on their advice that the price was likely to fall further. It was the right decision, and it released over £2 billion to invest in other assets".He was never a man to admit when wrong, even with reality staring him in the face. Once the decision had been taken he was too stubborn to go back on it, even with all that advice from the gold markets. The result was that he nailed the bottom of the market.Of everything he did as Chancellor, internationally, this stupidity is what he'll be most remembered for. The mistake was to swap gold, the money of last resort, an asset that is nobody else's liability, an asset with a track record as money going back to pre-history, for modern fiat money, beholden to the whims of others. Gold's day was done, they thought. Professor Niall Ferguson declared the “twilight of gold”., whose only future was “as jewellery or in parts of the world with primitive or unstable monetary and financial systems.” Hello!Thanks very much for reading.Until next time,Dominic.PS Here also in case of interest is my conversation with Tom Clougherty of the IEA from a fortnight ago. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Good morning,As an experiment, today's Sunday morning thought piece is in video. If you prefer, you can also read it below. You should also be able to read and listen, as many like to do.Let me know what you think.This week, May 7th, marks the 25th anniversary of one the UK's greatest ever financial blunders. There is no shortage of them, but this one really stands out: that is Gordon Brown's decision to sell more than half of Britain's gold. The decision and then its implementation were both of such cack-handed incompetence that for many the only possible explanation is conspiracy. We will come to that in a moment.Every now and then the government does something that makes your ears prick up and think, “Well what are they doing that for?” This was one of those times. I knew nothing about gold or investing back then, but, even I, could see it was a dumb and needless thing to do. That's the most amazing thing: Brown was under no pressure to sell. He was under no pressure to do anything. Even non-libertarians will struggle to explain why we need government when they are this incompetent.It wasn't just me. The tabloids said the decision was, “catastrophic.” Gold traders called it, “appalling”. Parliament was outraged. Foreign central banks were too. What was Gordon Brown thinking?It was two years into Brown's new job as Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the time, the UK held approximately 715 tonnes of gold, worth around $6.5 billion. The value of the country's gold amounted to about half of its US$13 billion foreign currency reserves and the Treasury wanted to “achieve a better balance in the portfolio”. There was, it said, too much exposure to a single asset, which paid no interest and its price was volatile. Via a written question in the House of Commons the Government suddenly announced that it would be holding a series of auctions for its gold reserves, starting in six weeks, with an eventual plan to sell 415 tonnes by 2002. Eddie George, the Governor of the Bank of England, raised “strong objections” as he and Gordon Brown clashed, but he was “outgunned by a coalition of the treasury and some of his own senior officials”. "The sale of the gold was not something that we recommended at the Bank,” George later said. “We did not think it was a good idea to sell such a large amount of gold at once. However, the decision was taken by the Chancellor and his advisors, and we respected their right to make that decision."London was still (just) at the epicentre of the gold market and its numerous gold traders thought the decision was nuts. Gold prices move in decades-long cycles, they told Bank of England officials, and the price was likely a lot nearer the bottom than the top.  “The timing of the decision was ludicrous. We told them, ‘You are going to push the gold price down before you sell',” said Peter Fava, then head of precious metal dealing at HSBC. “We thought it was a disastrous decision; we couldn't understand it.” Revealing the timings and amounts for sale so far in advance would cause traders to short the asset, and that would drive the gold price lower.Not only did Brown give a six-week advance notice to the market that the UK would be selling, driving away any potential buyers and sending speculators short in advance of the sale, the UK had even lent one fifth of its gold out, which speculators borrowed and sold in order to front run the UK's sale. Sure enough, the price fell 10% by the time of the first auction in July to lows not seen since shortly after the US abandoned the gold standard in 1971. No wonder so many see this as the worst decision in British financial history.Here is the timing of that first sale illustrated. £150/oz. Today we are at £1,900/oz. What a bunch of clowns. As soon as the commitment was made, a consortium of central banks - including the European Central Bank and the Bank of England - signed the Washington Agreement on Gold in September 1999, limiting gold sales to 400 tonnes per year for 5 years. This triggered a reversal in price, a 25% rally in a week. Such gains have never been seen before or since. If you are interested in buying gold, check out my recent report. I have a feeling it is going to come in very handy in the not-too-distant future. My recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company.In total, the UK eventually sold 395 tonnes over 17 auctions from July 1999 to March 2002, at an average price of US$275 per ounce, raising approximately US$3.5 billion. I have had it said to me many times that China was on the other side of the trade, but that is something we will never know. Never explain as conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence runs the wisdom, but this was so incompetent even those who favour that line of thinking struggle to explain Brown's logic.It was done to diversify UK assets, runs the standard explanation. Gold pays no interest, Brown wanted a yield. How was Brown to know interest rates would fall for the next 20 years? Many, especially on the left, supported the decision. Even the former UK Prime Minister David Cameron later said: "I think that the decision to sell the gold was the right one. It was based on sound advice and it released funds that could be invested in other assets. Of course, with hindsight, it is easy to criticise the decision, but at the time it was the right thing to do."But such are the levels of incompetence, and it being gold, many other theories quickly emerged. It was “a political decision”, not a financial one, said the Bank of England. Many argue that the sale was part of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair's plans to take Britain into the new euro currency without asking voters: either to fund the euro itself, or to fund the UK's entry into the European single currency. This theory is linked to the wider belief that there is an agenda to create a European superstate that will replace national sovereignty. Hence the argument that the sale was part of a broader plan to suppress the price of gold. Brown was acting on behalf of a shadowy cabal of bankers and financiers, the same people that today are thought to be attempting to impose the Great Reset and control the world's financial system.Others argue that he sold the gold at a low price in order to benefit his friends in the City of London. Brown is always suspiciously, in the eyes of some, quick to defend the “transparent” manner in which the sale was carried out. “The National Audit Office said that it was in a transparent and fair manner that the sale had happened while achieving value for money, so that is actually what happened,” Brown declared in 2007.Perhaps, simply, Brown thought the price was going even lower and called the market wrong. Not such an unlikely mistake to make. The 1990s had seen something like 1,600 tonnes sold by Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands. Official sector holdings in 1968 accounted for some 40% of all the gold ever mined in history. By 1999, that figure had fallen below 25%. The new European Central Bank might not even bother keeping any bullion from the 11 founders of the forthcoming single euro currency. Analyst Kamal Naqvi, then at Macquarie Equities, told the FT: “The British are looking to sell before everyone else.”Two months earlier, in April 1999, Switzerland, the fifth-largest holder of gold, narrowly passed a referendum to take the franc off the gold standard - it became the last nation to leave the gold standard. The sale of another 1,300 tonnes was green lit (Switzerland never actually sold). The following week the International Monetary Fund was “practically unanimous” in its plans to follow suit. There had been calls - led by Gordon Brown (who would repeat them in 2005) - to use the money to write off Third World debt for the new Millennium. “100 per cent debt relief on multi-lateral debt, IMF debt, to be written off by revaluing or dealing with IMF gold through sales,” Brown said."The decision to sell gold was taken after extensive consultation with the Bank of England, and based on their advice that the price was likely to fall further. It was the right decision, and it released over £2 billion to invest in other assets".He was never a man to admit when wrong, even with reality staring him in the face. Once the decision had been taken he was too stubborn to go back on it, even with all that advice from the gold markets. The result was that he nailed the bottom of the market.Of everything he did as Chancellor, internationally, this stupidity is what he'll be most remembered for. The mistake was to swap gold, the money of last resort, an asset that is nobody else's liability, an asset with a track record as money going back to pre-history, for modern fiat money, beholden to the whims of others. Gold's day was done, they thought. Professor Niall Ferguson declared the “twilight of gold”., whose only future was “as jewellery or in parts of the world with primitive or unstable monetary and financial systems.” Hello!Thanks very much for reading.Until next time,Dominic.PS Here also in case of interest is my conversation with Tom Clougherty of the IEA from a fortnight ago. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

In April's news:- The RCSLT Member survey is open now for members to have their say: www.rcslt.org/news/rcslt-member-survey-2024/- There are RCSLT board and committee vacancies open now, including lay positions:www.rcslt.org/news/trustee-and-c…ee-vacancies-2024/- RCSLT will be at Birmingham Pride in with partnership with the SLT Pride Network. Participating in Birmingham Pride is an opportunity for celebration and joy, as well as an important platform to voice the inequalities that still exist for the LGBTQIA+ community.www.rcslt.org/news/join-the-rcsl…ide-in-birmingham/- The third in a series of webinars about the Professional development framework is taking place on Thursday 25 April.- Watch out for news on our upcoming RCSLT Connect events which will be around the UK.- Hear about the National Audit Office report on the NHS Workforce plan: www.rcslt.org/news/rcslt-welcome…hs-workforce-plan/- RCSLT's response to separate nursing pay scale consultation www.rcslt.org/news/rcslt-respons…cale-consultation/- Waiting lists in Northern Ireland and media exposure there- Parliamentary petitions:Increase investment in speech and language therapy: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/657935Review how to make Parliamentary debates inclusive of communication difference:petition.parliament.uk/petitions/658364Please do take a few moments to respond to our podcast survey uk.surveymonkey.com/r/LG5HC3RThis interview was conducted by Victoria Harris, Head of Learning at The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and features Derek Munn, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the RCSLT and Cara McDonagh, Director of Engagement and Communications at the RCSLT.

It's Budget week and the Chancellor has announced his plans for taxation and provided a fresh economic forecast. But how does Parliament get to grips – indeed does it get to grips - with the nation's finances? We talk to Baroness Morgan of Cotes, a Conservative Peer who has been both a Treasury Minister and a scrutineer on the Treasury Committee. Henry Midgley of Durham University – who has worked at both the House of Commons and the National Audit Office – also joins us to discuss how MPs could improve scrutiny of taxation and public spending.There have been more dreadful polls for the Conservatives, some of them projecting a catastrophic result for the party. So, what would the House of Commons look like if the Conservatives got just 20% of the vote at the next general election? Mark and Ruth have some fun speculating on the implications of a lopsided House of Commons in which the opposition parties muster barely 100 seats between them.Paul Scully MP has joined the band of senior Conservative MPs planning to leave at the election. He directed some choice words about the future of his party towards his colleagues and reflected on the brutality of politics and the toll it takes on politicians and their families.The Government lost 10 votes on amendments to the Rwanda Bill at Report Stage in the House of Lords this week. What does the scale of the votes tell us about the future of this Bill? And why are Labour's tactics on the Bill now in the spotlight?

Paul Waugh, chief political commentator of the i Newspaper, assesses the latest developments in Westminster. In a week of challenges for the Conservative Party over their Rwanda plan, Paul is joined by Sir John Hayes MP and Labour's Baroness Hayter, to discuss what happens next. Meanwhile in the small Swiss town of Davos, government ministers and tech billionaires rub shoulders to discuss global challenges. Former Downing Street Director of Communications, Guto Harri, is joined from Davos by the Financial Times' Gillian Tett to discuss what it's all about.Gareth Davies, Comptroller & Auditor General of the National Audit Office sets out the challenges facing government following his speech to Parliament this week.And finally, in a week of polls, Deltapoll's Joe Twyman and Sophie Stowers from UK in a changing Europe, discuss how seriously we should take the polls as we prepare for a general election this year.

This week on the podcast the National Audit Office reports on organised crime and fraud in franchise agreements - is the regulation right and are the incentives appropriate? Plus we discuss the prospect of a university going under, there's new UCAS figures out and who's paying the Real Living Wage?With Nicola Dandridge, Professor of Practice in Higher Education Policy at University of Bristol, Jonathan Grant, Director at Different Angles, Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, and welcome to episode 88 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I'm Chris Kirkbride. It's yet another busy week of financial crime news, so I'm just going to get on with it. As usual, I have linked the main stories flagged in the podcast in the description. These are: Baker & McKenzie, UK government announces creation of specialist enforcement unit for trade sanctions.Council of Europe, Evaluation Report: United States of America.Council of the European Union, Anti-money laundering: Council and Parliament agree to create new authority.Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, Speech by HHJ Pelling KC: Issues in Crypto Currency Claims.Department for Business and Trade, New unit to crack down on firms dodging Russian sanctions.Department of Justice, Commodities Trading Company Agrees to Pay Over $98M to Resolve Foreign Bribery Case.Europol, EUR 5.5 million frozen in anti-corruption investigations across Europe.Europol, Early Warning Notification: The Use of Bluetooth trackers for geolocation in organised crime.Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, New Iranian sanction regime comes in to force.Home Office, Serious and organised crime strategy 2023 to 2028.Interpol, INTERPOL Secretary General welcomes G7 commitments on transnational organized crime.Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, A hostage to fortune: ransomware and UK national security – Report Summary.Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Cyber Security Strategy: 2023 to 2028.National Audit Office, Financial services regulation: Adapting to change (press release).National Audit Office, Financial services regulation: Adapting to change (report).National Crime Agency, National Crime Agency calls on parents to help young people recognise the signs of money muling.National Crime Agency, SARs in Action: Issue 23.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Haiti.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Counter-Terrorism (International).Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Iran.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Russia.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidation List.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, OFSI Annual Review 2022 to 2023: Strengthening our Sanctions.Office of Foreign Assets Control, Transnational Criminal Organizations Designations; Counter Terrorism Designation; Iran-related Designation.Ro Khanna, Release: Ro Khanna Introduces A New Political Reform And Anti-corruption Plan To Clean Up Corruption In Washington.Ro Khanna, Expressing support for a comprehensive political reform plan.UK Legislation, Crime and Courts Act (section five).UK Legislation, The National Crime Agency (Directed Tasking) Order 2023.US Department of State, Promoting Accountability in Support of the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.US Department of State, Taking Additional Sweeping Measures Against Russia.US Department of Justice, Leader of $6.8 Million Pandemic Fraud Scheme Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Charges.US Department of Justice, Justice Department Announces Distribution of Over $158.9M to Nearly 25,000 Victims of Madoff Ponzi Scheme.US Department of Justice, Albany Man Pleads Guilty to Pandemic Relief Fraud.US Department of Justice, Two Men Charged for Operating $25M Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme.US Department of the Treasury, Treasury Designates Perpetrators of Human Rights Abuse and Commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.US Department of the Treasury, Testimony of Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Before the Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations, U.S. House.YouTube, The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal.

The former SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes, found herself at the centre of a political storm about her religious views. In response to interviews questions, she said the idea of having children outside of marriage conflicted with her Christian faith and confirmed that she was anti-abortion. Ms Forbes also said she would not have voted for same-sex marriage if she had been a politician in 2014 when the law passed. The backlash against these views led SNP colleagues to abandon her campaign in droves. In her first major broadcast interview after withdrawing from the leadership race, Kate Forbes said “We live in a world where it's our duty and responsibility to coexist in a compassionate, caring, loving way. There is no doubt – people put this to me all the time – that if I had perhaps not been honest, and not been truthful, if I had tried to make certain things more palatable, or politically correct, then would I have been more successful? Perhaps”. This inspires a discussion on relationship between faith and politics and whether the two can work together. In a special episode of Beyond Belief, recorded in front of a live audience at the Religion Media Festival in London. Aleem is joined by: NICK FLETCHER, Conservative MP for Don Valley, who's talked in the past about the way in which he sees himself as a Christian first and politician second RUTH CADBURY, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, who's a Quaker. She was among the MPs who signed an early day motion calling for the abolition of parliamentary prayers DABINDERJIT SINGH OBE is former director of the National Audit Office and for decades has played a prominent role in government-Sikh relations. REV SALLY HITCHENER is an Anglican priest, Associate Vicar at St Martin-in-the-Fields, charity co-founder and LGBTQ+ rights activist. Producer: Linda Walker and Katharine Longworth Presenter: Aleem Maqbool Assistant Producer: Naomi Wellings

MultiChoice Malawi and MACRA's conflict, fuel shortage, JCE and PSLCE exam results, new Auditor General for the National Audit Office, Kell Kay to bring Ayra Starr to Malawi, Mzuzu and Civo stadiums in bad conditions, and much more.Thanks for tuning in!Let us know what you think and what we can improve on by emailing us at malawi@rorshok.com Like what you hear? Subscribe, share, and tell your buds.Wanna avoid ads and help us financially? Follow the link:https://bit.ly/rorshok-donateVideo - Bingu National Stadium Stripped of Toilet Sinks: https://twitter.com/mcbrams/status/1688592729347964951

In this episode, Neil and Ian summarise the findings presented in the recent National Audit Office report on the condition of school buildings. They explore the startling reality that many school buildings, particularly those beyond their estimated initial design life, contain asbestos. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in public health, education policy, and the ongoing challenge of asbestos management in the UK. Read the full report - https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/condition-of-school-buildings.pdf Get help with asbestos - https://www.acorn-as.com

In the lead up to techUK's flagship public sector conference Building the Smarter State, we are pleased to partner with KPMG to deliver a series of podcasts looking at key enablers of the smarter state. We all want to see a smarter state, for the benefit of both public service efficiency itself and to deliver a better experience to citizens – but there are some critical blockers to this. In this first episode, we explore legacy IT – including what it is, and why it is such a difficult, yet important issue for digital transformation in the public sector. John Owen, Chief Technology Officer, Cabinet Office and Adrian Clamp, Partner and Head of Digital Transformation at KPMG join Georgina Maratheftis, techUK's Associate Director for Local Public Services to talk about how we reframe legacy IT and tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the public sector transformation, as outlined in the National Audit Office's recent report Digital Transformation in Government: addressing barriers to efficiency. Listen to the conversation to hear practical ways and insights into how government and industry can better collaborate to solve this challenge and future proof tomorrow's legacy. The next podcast in the Building the Smarter State series will focus on bridging the digital skills gap. Help shape the future of the smarter state by attending the annual Building the Smarter State conference on the 27 September! https://www.techuk.org/building-the-smarter-state-2023.html Learn more about techUK here: https://www.techuk.org/

Charlie Bell is a priest in the Church of England (St John the Divine, Kennington, in the Diocese of Southwark) and has also published in the field of theology, with a book on psychology, sexuality and theology (Queer Holiness) and an upcoming book (May 2023) on the medical-theological interface (Light to those in darkness: total pain and the Body of Christ). Charlie is also a College Lecturer in Medicine and teach Biochemistry to first year undergraduates the Director of Studies for pre-clinical medicine (first year). He previously supervised biochemistry, human reproduction and physiology to medical students and biological natural scientists. Other Academic Clinical Fellow with King's College, London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Digital Fellow, Maudsley Learning. Praelector of Girton College (Joint with Simone Maghenzani, January 2019). National Medical Director's Clinical Fellow at the Health and Social Care Committee, House of Commons and the National Audit Office (2019-20). Module Leader and author, Healthcare Systems and Resource Management, Global MBA, University of London. Faculty Lead, Changing Face of Medicine Commission. Visiting Senior Fellow, Lincoln International Business School.

Fevzi Turkalp, the Gadget Detective, joins Darren Adam on LBC to discuss the National Audit Office rating the BBC iPlayer as worst for sound and picture quality than some of its competitors, and how consumers can keep up with the increasing number and cost of streaming services during the cost of living crisis. You can follow and contact the Gadget Detective on Twitter @gadgetdetective. If you enjoy these shows please consider subscribing and leaving a review, thanks! #Fevzi #Turkalp #Gadget #Detective #Tech #Technology #News #Reviews #Help #Advice #Darren #Adam #LBC #Radio #BBC #iPlayer #National #Audit #Office #Picture #Image #Sound #Quality #Amazon #Prime #Netflix #Disney #YouTube #Virgin #TV #Films #Streaming #Cost #Living #Recession #Covid #Paramount #Bundle #Sky #Content #Subscription #Sport #Digital #License #Fee

Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3FRtNpD We live in a world where business, Government and media extol the virtues of being data led, of using and exploiting data, of regarding data, in a slightly imperfect analogy, as the new oil. Ed Humpherson, head of the UK's Office for Statistics Regulation, is in the front line of these debates. He focuses on how the UK Government collects and presents statistics to serve the public good. He will argue that there are different motivations that lead people to place data at the heart of discourse. They include the weaponisation of data, in which data are used as a resource in debate, isolated factoids dropped in as a rhetorical device; data as a programmatic comfort blanket – data which confer an illusion of control and delivery mastery; and data as knowledge and learning, where data are used to find out about the world, in all its messiness, and appreciate the limitations and caveats. His talk will bring out how to thrive in a world of data everywhere. Speaker: Ed Humpherson is Director General for Regulation at the UK Statistics Authority, and head of its Office for Statistics Regulation. He is responsible for the development and implementation of the UK's Code of Practice for Statistics; for assessing compliance with this Code by Government departments and the Office for National Statistics; and highlighting concerns about the misuse of statistics in public debate. Between July 2009 and December 2014, Ed was a Board Member and Executive Leader for Economic Affairs at the National Audit Office. This role included responsibility for the overall strategic direction of NAO's work on economic affairs. Amongst other previous responsibilities, Ed oversaw the NAO's response to the 2007-09 financial crisis. Ed is also Vice Chair of the charity Motability; a trustee of Pro Bono Economics; a trustee of the Regulatory Policy Institute; and co-chair of the Royal Society's data community of practice. Ed is a chartered accountant and was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he obtained a first-class MA honours degree in Politics and Economic History.

Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Ugz9ia Government uses corporate finance techniques to generate proceeds from asset sales, maintain financial stability, open new markets for investment and a range of other purposes. This offers a fascinating variety of professional opportunities in government departments and agencies, and professional advisory mandates. The National Audit Office will explain they recently published a guide to corporate finance in the public sector and how this can support senior leaders working in the public sector to apply the appropriate principles and concepts, establish commercial ventures and create new asset classes such a student loans and financial guarantees. UK Government Investments will discuss their role in the stewardship and governance of a portfolio of government shareholdings and how they support corporate finance professionals working across government. Speakers: Matthew Rees is Director of the NAO's Commercial Hub, which leverages the NAO's wide range of parliamentary reports about government performance to provide insights across public procurement and commercial arrangements, corporate finance and regulation. Matthew has led a wide range of NAO studies, including the use of supply chain finance in the NHS, the privatisation of Royal Mail, the UK guarantees scheme for infrastructure investment and landscapes of government companies and financial institutions. Matthew qualified at KPMG, where he worked on public sector audit before moving to corporate finance and investment banking. He has served as a NED at Gemserv Limited, a business process outsourcing company, and is a member of the ICAEW's Supervisory Council. His public sector career spans Competition and Markets Authority, Ofwat and the Single Source Regulations Office. Organisations: The National Audit Office supports parliament in holding government to account by producing high-quality audits, including financial audit, value for money studies and investigations.

This financial crime weekly special edition takes a brief look at the National Audit Office report, Progress Combatting Fraud. Usual weekly podcast is back on Sunday this week.

Hello, and welcome to this week in financial crime. I'm your host, Chris Kirkbride. Another busy week this week. Sanctions, money laundering, fraud, cyber, and regulatory enforcement. More life-affirming content from the world of financial crime. Let's make a start.These are the links to the principal documents mentioned in the podcast:City AM, Exclusive: The WhatsApp scandal in banking and its place in the City.Criminal Cases Review Commission, Fraud conviction overturned after latest CCRC Post Office referral.European Securities and Markets Authority, Report: Administrative and criminal sanctions and other administrative measures imposed under the Market Abuse Regulation in 2021.Financial Conduct Authority, Date set for trial against 5 individuals involved with Worthington Group plc.Financial Conduct Authority, FCA bans director from working in financial services after violent criminal conviction.Financial Conduct Authority, FCA issues Final Notice to former CEO for anti-money laundering failings.Guernsey government, Economic & Financial Crime Bureau now enshrined in Law.National Audit Office, Progress Combatting Fraud.Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC'), Treasury Sanctions Global Russian Military Supply Chain, Kremlin-linked Networks, and Elites with Western Fortunes.Payment Systems Regulator, Memorandum of Understanding between the Payment Systems Regulator (‘PSR') and the Lending Standards Board (‘LSB').Securities and Exchange Commission, Commission filed 760 enforcement actions and recovered record $6.4 billion in penalties and disgorgement on behalf of investing public.TRACE, Bribery Risk Matrix.UK government, UK and international partners announce further sanctions against Iranian officials.UK Insolvency Service, Suspended prison sentence for Bounce Back Loan fraudster.UK Legislation, The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (HighRisk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022.UK Legislation, The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (HighRisk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022: Explanatory Note.UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Oil Price Cap Update.

Dr. Charlie Bell College position(s) Fellow, Director of Studies, College Officer Subject:  Medicine Specialising in: John Marks Official Fellow in Medicine and Praelector Degrees, Awards and Prizes MA (Dunelm 2021), MA (Cantab 2015), MB BChir (Cantab 2017), PhD (Cantab 2015), PGDipLATHE (Oxon), SFHEA, FRSA, AFFMLM Research Themes I undertook a PhD investigating the immunogenetic mechanisms responsible for the development of type 1 diabetes with Professor John Todd in the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, with involvement in clinical trials and driving in vivo and in vitro laboratory studies.  I was previously an Exchange Scholar at Mt Sinai Hospital, in New York City, characterizing the role of the immune system in melanoma. My clinical training is in psychiatry, and my research interests primarily relate to personality disorders and their interaction with forensic services, from a biological perspective. My research is based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College, London. I am currently undertaking work to determine biomarkers of psychopathy, with a view to stratifying patients and developing novel treatment approaches. Responsibilities I am a College Lecturer in Medicine and teach Biochemistry to first year undergraduates. I am the Director of Studies for pre-clinical medicine (first and second year). I previously supervised biochemistry, human reproduction and physiology to medical students and biological natural scientists. Other Academic Clinical Fellow with King's College, London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Digital Fellow, Maudsley Learning. Praelector of Girton College (Joint with Simone Maghenzani, January 2019). National Medical Director's Clinical Fellow at the Health and Social Care Committee, House of Commons and the National Audit Office (2019-20). Module Leader and author, Healthcare Systems and Resource Management, Global MBA, University of London. Faculty, Changing Face of Medicine. Visiting Senior Fellow, Lincoln International Business School. Outside of medicine: I am a deacon in the Church of England and have also published in the field of theology, with a book on psychology, sexuality and theology (Queer Holiness) due out this May (2022). Research Fellow and Associate Tutor, St Augustine's College, West Malling. Assistant Curate, St John the Divine, Kennington. Board Member, Affirming Catholicism.  I am also a Liveryman of the City of London. Connect with Dr. Bell Website Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Government says it's £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme is delivering more affordable, quality homes for communities - but is the money reaching rural areas? 189,000 affordable homes have been delivered by the programme since 2015, but a report from the National Audit Office from the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities 'is at high risk of not meeting a sub-target for rural homes'. We hear from a planning expert who says change is needed. In many places, the rise in the number of houses used as holiday lets or holiday homes can be a real problem for local people looking for somewhere to live. In West Wales, the difficulties young people are having getting on the property ladder or finding a place to rent are also having a knock on effect on farmers, who are struggling with recruiting staff. And could regenerative agriculture reduce the carbon footprint of farming, as well as making it more profitable? We visit a regenerative farm on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border where Jake Freestone says his approach has also lead to increased biodiversity. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

The National Audit Office has released a scathing report on the former Morrison Government's handling of a billion-dollar fund for the regions.

The National Audit Office has released a scathing report on the former Morrison Government's handling of a billion-dollar fund for the regions.

Modelling and forecasting played a prominent role in the way policies were designed and decisions were made during the coronavirus pandemic. But the government's handling of the crisis raised questions about how modelling - epidemiological and economic – was used by ministers. So how should models be produced and used within government? How should they be communicated to the public? And how well equipped are ministers and officials to understand and interpret modelling when making their decisions?. This panel explored the role of modelling in the Covid pandemic, the lessons that ministers should learn, and how the UK should draw on modelling in future crises. Ben Chu, Economics Editor for Newsnight Professor Neil Ferguson, Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London Richard Hughes, Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility Ruth Kelly, Chief Analyst at the National Audit Office. The event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. #IfGforecast We would like to thank The Forum, Imperial College London's policy engagement initiative for kindly supporting this event.

Modelling and forecasting played a prominent role in the way policies were designed and decisions were made during the coronavirus pandemic. But the government's handling of the crisis raised questions about how modelling - epidemiological and economic – was used by ministers. So how should models be produced and used within government? How should they be communicated to the public? And how well equipped are ministers and officials to understand and interpret modelling when making their decisions?. This panel explored the role of modelling in the Covid pandemic, the lessons that ministers should learn, and how the UK should draw on modelling in future crises. Ben Chu, Economics Editor for Newsnight Professor Neil Ferguson, Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London Richard Hughes, Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility Ruth Kelly, Chief Analyst at the National Audit Office. The event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. #IfGforecast We would like to thank The Forum, Imperial College London's policy engagement initiative for kindly supporting this event.

Hello and welcome to the Alcohol Alert, brought to you by The Institute of Alcohol Studies.In this edition:International experts call for ban on all alcohol promotion 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵‘No clear evidence’ MUP reduces harmful drinkingVast difference in alcohol-related deaths remains between richest and poorest in ScotlandContents Unknown: How alcohol labelling still fails consumers‘No place for cheap alcohol: The potential value of minimum pricing for protecting lives’Sobriety tags rolled-out further despite no evidence of efficacyIrish Government makes moves to improve product labellingBrexit Freedoms Bill could deliver pint-sized wine bottlesNo and low alcohol sales double in the UKAlcohol Toolkit Study: updateWe hope you enjoy our roundup of stories below: please feel free to share. Thank you.IAS BlogsTo read blogs click here.International experts call for ban on all alcohol promotion 🎵 Podcast feature 🎵Realising Our Rights, a new report launched on 28 June by Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) and a group of subject experts, calls on governments across the world to introduce comprehensive restrictions on alcohol marketing in order to improve health.The publication explains how increasingly sophisticated marketing means that people are being constantly bombarded with positive messages about how alcohol enhances their lives. The alcohol marketing experts who helped develop the report point out that this seeks to build long-term relationships between people and alcohol brands, which reinforce alcohol as a social norm and ultimately contribute to high levels of consumption and harm across the world.They particularly draw attention to at-risk population groups, with children and young people, and people at risk of an alcohol problem, more affected than others.A number of additional pieces of research were commissioned to help develop the report, including research examining the impact of alcohol marketing on people with an alcohol problem. The complementary research found that this demographic has an increased susceptibility to alcohol marketing, which fosters positive alcohol-related emotions and increases their likelihood of drinking.The group’s recommendations include:Additional research for the report included analysing case studies from seven countries with marketing restrictions, to understand the processes, successes and challenges to introducing these restrictions. These case studies can be used by countries looking to introduce similar restrictions, to better understand issues around:Utilising a window of opportunityOpposition from the alcohol industryHow to frame regulationsUse of evidence and argumentsThe AFS report includes a human rights-based approach to marketing restrictions, highlighting that states have a legal obligation to protect citizens’ rights – such as the right to health – and that commodities that infringe on these rights need further restriction.AFS’ Chief Executive, Alison Douglas, said:“The current self-regulatory approach to alcohol marketing is failing to protect people and has led to our communities being wallpapered with promotions for a product that harms our health.“People don’t just have a need to be protected from alcohol marketing they have a right to be protected.  A number of other countries have already imposed bans on alcohol marketing, if we want to create a more positive culture where everyone can realise their right to health, the UK and Scottish governments must act to restrict alcohol marketing.”The Scottish Government is consulting this year on marketing restrictions, and the Minister for Public Health, Maree Todd said:“I welcome this report and will study carefully its detailed findings and recommendations. I am determined to tackle the harmful impacts that alcohol marketing can have on children and young people, as well as the triggering effect it can have on heavy drinkers and those in recovery.”Tom Bennett, one of the report experts who is in long-term, abstinent recovery from an alcohol problem, said:“Alcohol marketing can be massively triggering; it’s designed to be. Seeing an image of a cold beer on a warm sunny day or a midwinter glass of whisky in front of an open fire can be highly appealing. Yet the message these images convey, that alcohol is life enhancing, is at odds with the health risks.”‘No clear evidence’ MUP reduces harmful drinkingPublic Health Scotland and the University of Sheffield released the final report on the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland, which suggests that among those drinking at harmful levels or those with alcohol dependence, there is “no clear evidence of a change in consumption or severity of dependence”.It also found that some economically vulnerable groups saw increased financial strain as they ended up spending more on alcohol. Some of those surveyed reduced spending on other things such as food and utilities.Public Health Scotland’s theory of change for MUP (reproduced from Beeston et al, 2019)However, there was little evidence of other negative consequences, such as increased crime or a shift to illicit substances. As this was an argument frequently used against the introduction of MUP, it is an important consideration.Further, the proportion of people who had drunk at hazardous levels in the last week fell significantly by 3.5% in the market research data. Other analyses of Scotland’s MUP have also found reductions in consumption among some population groups.Professor John Holmes, the lead researcher on the project, highlighted in a recent IAS blog that MUP isn’t designed to reduce drinking for those who are dependent:“Alcohol dependence is a more complex problem than harmful drinking and is best-tackled by early identification of alcohol problems and the provision of an accessible and effective treatment system.“MUP may therefore only contribute to a reduction in alcohol dependence by preventing future cases rather than addressing current ones.“Overall, our report offers a nuanced and mixed picture of the impact of MUP on a key population of concern, with both positive and negative findings for those on both sides of the policy debate.”During a meeting of the health committee in Holyrood, Dr Sandesh Gulhane (Conservative MSP for Glasgow) claimed that MUP was failing, and that the most vulnerable were cutting back on food to afford the high prices. Professor Petra Meier responded that pricing policies alone would not be enough to alter the consumption for some very heavy drinkers, and investment in health services is also necessary: “addiction services have had major cutbacks during Covid, they have been virtually inaccessible unless you were able to join online groups and make do with things like alcoholics anonymous online and so on.”Vast difference in alcohol-related deaths remains between richest and poorest in ScotlandIn related news, Public Health Scotland (PHS) also released its MESAS report 2022 (Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland's Alcohol Strategy) on 21 June , which shows huge inequality between the poorest and most affluent adults who consume alcohol, in terms of hospital stays and deaths.Rates of alcohol-specific deaths were five times higher in the poorest communities and hospital stays were nearly eight times higher.Vicki Ponce Hardy of PHS said the report showed that significant inequalities were resulting in "preventable" deaths:“The most recent survey data shows that almost a quarter (24%) of adults in Scotland still drink more than the recommended, low risk, weekly, drinking guideline. Among those exceeding the guideline, it's those in the lowest income group who are likely to consume the most."Contents Unknown: How alcohol labelling still fails consumersA new study by the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) looked at alcohol product labelling information on 369 products and found that:The AHA recommends that the UK Government sets up an independent body to monitor and enforce mandatory labelling, based on the WHO’s best practice for labelling.Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, AHA’s chair, said:“Those who profit from the sale of alcohol cannot be trusted to willingly provide product information. Legislation on alcohol labelling must ensure that consumers have the full picture of the contents and risk to health of the products they buy through Government making clear labelling on all alcohol products a legal requirement.“Given the choice, most alcohol producers are leaving this vital information off the labels, keeping consumers in the dark about what’s in the products they are drinking.”Product discrepancies were also foundMatt Lambert, the chief executive of the industry body the Portman Group, responded:“This report doesn’t correspond to the findings of Portman Group’s much larger and more comprehensive recent survey where we looked at 400 products including the biggest brands by market share – the ones which accurately represents what most customers are buying. That research found near universal coverage of industry best practice showing pregnancy warnings, alcohol unit information, signposts to responsibility messages, and four in five products carrying the Chief Medical Officer’s low risk guidelines.“Industry self-regulation has been responsible for voluntarily delivering greater information and awareness for consumers and the AHA’s own report shows that significant progress has been made. The sector is firmly on track to provide more information to consumers without recourse to valuable Parliamentary time, public funding or mandatory measures.”The UK Government is set to consult on alcohol product labels “in due course”.‘No place for cheap alcohol: The potential value of minimum pricing for protecting lives’The World Health Organization has published a comprehensive review of minimum pricing policies, in order for states and policymakers to understand the best available evidence and implementation practicalities on these policies.The report looks at evidence from simulation modelling studies and real-world studies in Scotland and Canada, which show encouraging results regarding reducing overall alcohol consumption.It goes on to look at objections and concerns around minimum pricing policies, such as any adverse economic impact and increases in illicit alcohol, and finds little to support these.As Scotland struggled to introduce minimum unit pricing due to legal battles with the whiskey industry, the report discusses requirements for the policies to be consistent with international trade law.International comparisons of minimum pricing rateAs Dr Aveek Bhattacharya, one of the report’s lead authors, explained in an IAS blog this week:“Here in one place, WHO Europe has collected a fact base on how and how well the measure works in different countries.“It is, to our knowledge, a unique resource, and we hope it will be useful to policymakers as other governments consider taking the leap in future.”Sobriety tags rolled-out further despite no evidence of efficacyFrom the 15 June, the Government rolled-out so-called ‘sobriety tags’ further. The tags monitor alcohol through sweat and are being used for prison leavers if their probation officer thinks they could reoffend when drinking.Alcohol is believed to play a part in 39% of violent crime in the UK and roughly 20% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service are identified as having drinking issues.Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said:“We’ve seen that alcohol tags work - with tagged offenders complying 97% of the time. That’s why we’re going to double the number wearing them from 900 to 1,900 over the next two years, focusing on those leaving prison on license.”This focus on compliance while wearing the device says little about whether the scheme works in the long-term in reducing reoffending. As Dr Carly Lightowlers wrote in an IAS blog last year:“A focus on compliance – in terms of alcohol-free days – is somewhat of a smokescreen as what is needed is evidence of whether drinking and related offending are reduced in the long term after tag removal, which is yet to be provided.”Additionally, a report from the National Audit Office released on 8 June said a failed plan to transform the electronic tagging system has wasted £98 million.The report says that the Government does not know if tagging offenders is helping to cut reoffending because of failings in the system, and that efforts to change the system were abandoned in March after 11 years and £153 million.Irish Government makes moves to improve product labellingLast week, the Irish Examiner reported that the Irish Government has made an application to the European Commission to enact regulations that would require health warnings on all alcohol products. These would include warnings regarding liver disease, fatal cancers, and consuming alcohol while pregnant.The regulations also provide for those selling alcohol in licensed premises to be required to display a notice containing the same health warnings, a link to the public health website and an indication that the alcohol and calorie content of products is available on request.The measures are contained in the Public Health Alcohol Bill, which has introduced a range of interventions including minimum unit pricing and restrictions on advertising at sporting events.Brexit Freedoms Bill could deliver pint-sized wine bottlesIn a Telegraph article on the first day of June, Brexit Opportunities Minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, was said to be “spearheading the drive to ditch unnecessary regulations” around the sale of alcohol.One of the mentioned regulations was that sparkling wine “can only be sold in traditional champagne-style glass bottles, complete with mushroom cork and foil”. The article states that regulations about bottle sizes could be scrapped, meaning wine producers could offer pint-sized bottles for the first time in half a century.Another rule that says drinks cannot be called wine if they are under 8% could be got rid of, meaning no and low-alcohol wines can be referred to as wine, instead of synonyms such as “wine-based drink”.The article states that:“The plans, set to be outlined in the upcoming Brexit Freedoms Bill, could be enacted swiftly because legislation giving ministers the power to make the changes has already passed Parliament.”Patrice Noyelle, President of Pol Roger Champagne, presents a pint bottle of champagne to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms in 2008. CREDIT: Daniel JonesNo and low alcohol sales double in the UKAccording to alcohol market research group IWSR, sales of no and low alcohol products in the UK have doubled from 2016 to 2021, from $240m to $454m. Alcohol-free sales tripled from $52m to $184m.Emily Neill, head of research at IWSR, said promoting low-alcohol drinks was partly a commercial decision by companies:“What you’ve seen in markets such as the UK and US is consumers becoming much more conscious of their health…there’s a higher proportion of younger consumers who don’t drink at all or would like to moderate their consumption.”AB InBev said six years ago that it would aim for low-alcohol and no-alcohol beers to make up a fifth of sales by 2025, a target it admits it is unlikely to meet, with about 6% of sales currently from the products.Despite this, sales of no and low alcohol products are still very low in the UK. A study summarised in an IAS blog last year showed that of UK households that bought alcohol, only “0.92% also bought zero alcohol beer between 2015 and 2020” and only “2.17% bought low alcohol beer”.Alcohol Toolkit Study: updateThe monthly data collected is from English households and began in March 2014. Each month involves a new representative sample of approximately 1,700 adults aged 16 and over.See more data on the project website here.Prevalence of increasing and higher risk drinking (AUDIT)Increasing and higher risk drinking defined as those scoring >7 AUDIT. A-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupationCurrently trying to restrict consumptionA-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupation; Question: Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses? Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses?All past-year attempts to cut down or stopQuestion: How many attempts to restrict your alcohol consumption have you made in the last 12 months (e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses)? Please include all attempts you have made in the last 12 months, whether or not they were successful, AND any attempt that you are currently making.The UK Alcohol Alert (incorporating Alliance News) is designed and produced by The Institute of Alcohol Studies. Please click the image below to visit our website and find out more about us and what we do, or the ‘Contact us’ button. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit instalcstud.substack.com

Centre for Cities Chief Executive Andrew Carter joins the National Audit Office's Director of Local Service Delivery and Value for Money, Ashley McDougall, and Danielle Mason, from the What Works Centre for Economic Growth, to discuss the findings of the NAO's Supporting Local Economic Growth report.   This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

In this episode, Emma De Vita, editor of Project, meets Marcos Fuentes, recipient of APM's 2022 Festival of Education and Research award for Doctorate of the Year. The focus of his thesis was how to co-create value for the long term, from the project planning stage and then throughout the development cycle of a project. The thesis originally established eight ways to achieve wider sustainable value, such as social, environmental, experiential and emotional elements beyond traditional short-term criteria such as time and cost. Marcos originally hails from Mexico, and spent a decade in the US and Europe, including six years in London, but recently returned to Mexico to work for its National Audit Office, where he is a Strategic Adviser. He is an Honorary Researcher at University College London, at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, with a focus on the exploration of megaprojects in the Latin American market, of which he has first-hand knowledge. In this podcast, Marcos first shares his practical advice for project professionals based on his award-winning PhD findings, and second, shares his expertise from the world of challenging megaprojects in Latin America.

Wherein we check out how well the parasite tour of the Caribbean is going, check in with the tory spring conference, and check up on a VERY exciting report on our special Ajax boy from the National Audit Office! Also features tips and tricks for dominating your local Tesco's.  Get more episodes on our Patreon!  Follow us on Twitter!  Watch us on Twitch!  Pod Cast: Fillmore David - @SanitaryNaptime Toucan Rob - @CountRthe Jamie the Bee - @anxietycowboy Trix Alasdair - @Ballistari Yummy James - @anarchonbury

This week on the podcast we discuss the crisis in Ukraine and what universities can do,  and would like to do if only the home office allowed it. There's also Phillip Augar on the government's response to his review, a new admissions code, a look at university finances via the National Audit Office and DK's been to digifest.  With Paul Greatrix, Registrar at the University of Nottingham; Laura Tamara, Co-President at BedsSU; David Kernohan, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Concerns with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, published by Larks on March 9, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Summary This is a critique of the current draft of the UK Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, a recent attempt to influence policy, supported by some EAs. The Bill imposes a range of new duties on public bodies relating to future generations, ‘sustainable development' and ‘wellbeing'. We support the underlying goals of the authors of the Bill, but believe that if the Bill were passed as currently drafted, it could significantly damage short and long term welfare. Our concerns only relate to this Bill as currently drafted; we believe in general that it is important for EAs to work more on improving policy in both the long and short terms, and John is involved with a new initiative to help with that. Later in this post we set out thoughts on other approaches which could be effective for achieving long term policy goals. We do not see compelling evidence that simply passing a law that says there is a requirement for long-term thinking, goals or metrics will necessarily lead to better or more long-term thinking in a way that overall benefits future generations. Vague language, subversion of goals, ignoring or simply failing to improve metrics, contrary incentives of policymakers and the law of unintended consequences are all large risks, in light of the history of well-meaning legislative initiatives that have caused damage to long term welfare. We think there is substantial risk that the Bill could damage the welfare of future generations. Simply passing a law that the government must do ‘good things' does not in fact ensure that it will do good things. If the goal of the Bill is circularly defined as imposing the duties and other legal measures it proposes, then it will do that. But we have no confidence that, as drafted, it will benefit future generations. Introduction The Bill establishes a set of national wellbeing goals, formulated by the Secretary of State with public consultation. It places various duties on public bodies and creates a new requirement of future generations impact assessments. It also requires a futures and forecasting report with a 25 year time horizon. It empowers the head of the National Audit Office to examine whether public bodies have followed their wellbeing duties. It also suggests a new Joint Committee on Future Generations in Parliament to review future legislation, and a new Future Generations Commission. There are numerous other provisions. It is based on the text of, and lessons learned from, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. We enthusiastically endorse the goal of making governments' actions and perspectives more long term in outlook. Government action is often characterized by a distressingly short term perspective, as shown by the multiple suboptimal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and indeed in the multiple failures in pandemic preparation before that. We also welcome the increasing interest of the EA movement in improving policy and governance in a non-partisan way, as we think these areas are neglected, potentially high impact and more tractable than is generally understood. However, we are concerned that the proposed Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill may not achieve its stated outcomes. Given the current state of knowledge, we think there is a high risk of unintended and counterproductive consequences from actions based on superficial analysis. We think that the analysis should be taken to a deeper level before action is decided upon. We know a number of people with experience in government and policy who have expressed the view that perspectives in the EA movement can sometimes – with the very best of intentions – be naïve in terms of the expected practical outcome of partic...

The UK is currently one of the most regionally unequal countries in the developed world. The government's White Paper on Levelling Up sets out 12 “missions” to increase economic opportunities across all regions. The UK is far from the first country to try and “level up” regional areas. Countries including France, Germany and China are also making efforts to tackle similar regional inequalities.But just how easy is it to tackle regional economic imbalances for levelling up to work?  Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Sylvain Chabé-Ferret from the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, and Professor Michael Kenny and Dame Fiona Reynolds from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy about just how far public policies can really go to address regional inequalities.Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Episode 5 transcriptThe Crossing Channels podcast series is produced by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy and IAST. Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse #CrossingChannelsAudio production by Steve Hankey.Podcast editing by Annabel ManleyMore about our guests:Professor Michael Kenny  is the inaugural director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, and leads its Policy and Engagement programme on ‘Place'. He is leading research projects on left-behind communities, social infrastructure and devolution, and is writing a book about the UK's constitutional future.Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE is the Chair of the Management Board for the Bennett Institute, and chair of the National Audit Office and Chair of the Governing Council of the Royal Agricultural University.Dr Sylvain Chabé-Ferret is Assistant Professor at the Toulouse School of Economics, Research Fellow at Inrae and member of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Toulouse.  He specialises in the econometrics of causal inference with applications to the evaluation of Payments for Environmental Services and of Job Training Programs. Sylvain has also set The Social Science Knowledge Accumulation Initiative (SKY), which aims to summarise evidence in social science, mainly via meta-analyses.www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.ukwww.iast.fr

Talking to top journalist and presenter, Henry McDonald. Prof. Michael Parkinson C.B.E. delivers a superb interview that investigates the proposed Everton stadium project as well as delving into Liverpool's regeneration.This exceptional interview is followed by a very interesting look at The Green Scene in Ireland with our man on the ground, Pete the Builder, and Steve Randall.Prof. Michael Parkinson's Biography Courtesy of Liverpool UniversityMichael is an Honorary Professor at the University of Liverpool and Ambassador for its Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place. He was made Commander of the British Empire for services to urban regeneration in 2007 and Citizen of Honour of Liverpool in 2016.He received his BA (Hons) from the University of Liverpool in 1965, his MA Economics (with Distinction) from the University of Manchester in 1968 and his PhD from Liverpool John Moores University in 2002. He was a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Liverpool 1970-1992; Professor of Political Science 1972-3 and Director of the Urban Studies Programme 1976-79 at Washington University in St Louis. He was Director of The European Institute for Urban Affairs 1992-2013 at Liverpool John Moores University and Adviser to its Vice-Chancellor 2012-2013. At the University of Liverpool, he was Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor 2013-14 and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Civic Engagement 2014-2020.Michael has acted as adviser on urban affairs to UN-Habitat, the European Commission, the European Parliament, OECD, EUROCITIES, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the National Audit Office, the House of Commons Select Committees, the Core Cities, and a range of cities in the UK and Europe. He has held board positions in many local, national and international organisations. He most recently served as a Board member of the Prime Minister's Regeneration Investment Organisation and of the Special Olympics Great Britain 2021 and Trustee of the Centre for Cities and Alternative Futures Group. He is currently a member of the Mayor's Advisory Board on Liverpool's World Heritage Status, a member of the Liverpool Brand Committee and Special Adviser to Procure Plus Group.To continue to read Prof. Michael Parkinson's bio, click here on Constructive Voices Episode Five.

This week we are joined by Dr Julian Lewis, Chair of the Commons Defence Committee to discuss defence spending and why the UK needs a full time National Security Adviser. Christina Lamb, chief foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times talks about the Taliban peace talks and whether they will bring long term peace to Afghanistan. We're tracking the Adrian Darya 1.  The oil tanker that was seized by Royal Marines off Gibraltar back in July has been hanging around in the Eastern Mediterranean  - what is it waiting for? Paul Beaver is an aviation expert and we talk to him about the National Audit Office report suggesting military aircrew training is coming up short. And we remember the start of the Second World War, 80 years ago this week. Follow us on twitter: @bfbssitrep

A report by the National Audit Office of the UK has said schools face cuts of 8% in real terms by 2019-20. While the government said school funding would be ringfenced, headteachers are facing a mountain of increased cost. What is the answer to this? Let Mark and Pete tell you. For more: petertimothycooper.com

Are children missing out? The National Audit Office and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health have raised concerns about services for children this week. Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England joins us to discuss what she thinks is happening. We hear about why incontinence affects fifty per cent of women during their lives and what they can do to improve their pelvic floor. With Burn's Night tomorrow, was Robert Burns an early feminist or an old sex pest? - we debate. And, we hear about Christine's discovery in our series on family secrets.

How well equipped is Britain today to defend itself both at home and overseas?Britain's armed forces are struggling to maintain numbers. According to the National Audit Office there is a shortfall of more than 8,000 among military personnel and there is a significant shortage of personnel with skills in critical areas. The Army is at its lowest level since the days it was preparing to confront Napoleon, unable to meet even the reduced requirement of 82,000 regulars. Several reasons are cited: the lack of a current war to act as a recruiting sergeant, a recruitment process that's not working well, discontent within the ranks and a higher number of people leaving the forces than normal. We examine these causes and ask what effect the shortages have both on the battlefield and strategically. Contributors:Mike Martin, former captain in the Royal Yeomanry and author of 'Why We Fight'Anthony King, chair in War Studies at Warwick University and former civilian adviser to General Sir Nick CarterBen Barry, a former British infantry officer and now senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in LondonMandy Hickson, former RAF pilot