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    Camilla Cavendish

    Contributing editor and columnist

    A former head of the Downing Street policy unit under Prime Minister David Cameron, she is a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and a winner of the Harold Wincott and Paul Foot awards for journalism.

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    • Saturday, 20 May, 2023
      UK employment
      The great workers’ rights competition is holding us back

      Too many new rules will fuel the burgeoning legal and compliance industry, which is not the kind of growth the UK needs

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of a mechanical man working at a computer, with a red hand turning him on an off using a switch on the back of his chair
    • Saturday, 13 May, 2023
      UK politics
      By meddling with justice, UK politicians are undermining it

      Both Conservatives in Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood are weakening our legal safeguards

      Illustration of blindfolded Lady Justice, with Big Ben as her body, tilting over. In one hand she holds broken scales and behind her back she holds a large sledgehammer with the UK Parliament’s portcullis emblem engraved on it.
    • Saturday, 6 May, 2023
      Civil Service UK
      The Whitehall Rolls-Royce desperately needs a service

      Relations between civil servants and ministers have plummeted to new depths — a revolution is required

      Jonathan McHugh illustration showing a mechanical figure riding an antiquated vehicle
    • Friday, 21 April, 2023
      Demographics and population
      Weaponising population growth is a dangerous and regressive road

      Countries that are losing demographic ground may fall back on old tricks to force women to bear children

      illustration of an elephant draped in India’s flag overtaking a panda draped in China’s flag
    • Friday, 14 April, 2023
      UK general election
      Negative campaigning drags politics down to the gutter

      One of the risks for all parties is low election turnout, because voters can’t stand any of them

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of a man about to cross the road and a woman behind him holding an umbrella in one hand, hot beverage in the other as they pass an advert depicting a bloodthirsty dog, barking the word ‘vote’ coloured red and in large writing
    • Friday, 7 April, 2023
      Christianity
      Welcome to the age of DIY spirituality

      As organised religion declines, we are searching for solace in the strangest places

      Illustration of a man standing in front of the self-help section in a library, but looking behind his shoulder at the Bible, which is illuminated by rays of sunlight from the window
    • Friday, 31 March, 2023
      NHS England
      Sharing patient data is something to be celebrated, not feared

      Easier access to NHS records will save lives — but health executives must make their case to the public

      Illustration of a surgeon wearing scrubs using a pair of tongs to pull a medical file, marked confidential, from a filing cabinet drawer
    • Friday, 24 March, 2023
      Metropolitan Police Service UK
      There are glimmers of hope for reform after the exposure of rotten Met culture

      The successful transformation of Northern Ireland’s police service demonstrates that London can expect better from its disgraced force

      Jonathan McHugh illustration four police officers, with one in a spotlight
    • Friday, 17 March, 2023
      UK politics
      Labour and the Tories seem stuck in a big state echo chamber

      The UK needs a conversation about tax, spending and the public sector but the main parties lack defined visions

      Illustration of a red speech bubble from Keir Starmer’s head overlapping with a blue speech bubble coming from Rishi Sunak, with a question mark between the bubbles
    • Saturday, 4 March, 2023
      Neurotechnology
      Humanity is sleepwalking into a neurotech disaster

      Who has access to our brain data, and what they’re doing with it, should concern us all

      A headset that tracks brainwaves allowed viewers to control an interactive installation at Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights festival in January. The debate about how to regulate neurotechnology is in its infancy
    • Friday, 24 February, 2023
      UK agriculture
      Wilting support for the Tories in farming areas reflects neglect

      As supermarkets ration salad, agriculture needs help from a government that cares

      Illustration of a farmer ploughing his land with a tractor and slicing the word ‘conservatives’ in the process. The land turns yellow, then red then green into the distance
    • Friday, 17 February, 2023
      UK devolution
      Devolution has stoked brutality and division in our politics

      As she resigned, Nicola Sturgeon complained of the toxic atmosphere that she and her party have contributed to in Scotland

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of a stone pillar with the Scottish flag hanging over it. One red tartan stiletto is on top of the pillar, the other one falling off
    • Friday, 17 February, 2023
      The Weekend Essay
      My 20-year journey through the NHS

      As a patient and Number 10 adviser, Camilla Cavendish has witnessed the service’s struggles at first hand. Here she charts a way to safeguard its future

      hospital worker
    • Tuesday, 14 February, 2023
      ReviewNon-Fiction
      Time to Think — what went wrong at the Tavistock gender clinic

      Hannah Barnes’s sensitive and powerful investigation of good intentions gone awry at the London children’s service

      A building with trees and a sign in front
    • Friday, 3 February, 2023
      Retirement
      Tempting back older workers means ditching business as usual

      Stereotypes about curmudgeons have to go, along with dreary jobs and the expectation of a work-free retirement

      An older man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, hat and sunglasses steps out from the inside of a shadow of a man in a pin-striped suit
    • Friday, 27 January, 2023
      UK politics
      Sunak’s failure to sack Zahawi adds insult to all our injuries

      Tax avoidance and asset-boosting policies contribute to the widespread view that politicians can’t be trusted

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of Nadhim Zahawi’s head surrounded by gold coins, some of which have eyes
    • Friday, 20 January, 2023
      Education
      ChatGPT will force school exams out of the dark ages

      Too much of our testing regime still remains fixated on being able to regurgitate information

      Illustration of secondary school girls doing homework. One is sitting at a desk writing on a white paper, the other one is standing next to the desk turning the handle of a machine which minces knowledge from the internet into answers for the homework
    • Friday, 13 January, 2023
      Ageing Populations
      The retirement revolution is only just beginning

      Expectation of a long and healthy old age is unequally distributed, piling up advantages for the affluent

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of a pensioner riding a tandem bicycle with an elderly woman in an armchair and knitting at the rear, with a piggy bank in the bike basket
    • Friday, 6 January, 2023
      UK social care
      We need to see social care as an investment not a cost

      Other countries have found big answers to managing ageing populations and it’s time Britain did, too

      Illustration of a black wooden rocking chair in the middle of a room with a red chequered blanket on it and a pair of slippers in front of it. Behind the rocking chair is a picture of balloons hanging over it. Next to it is a long grey curtain drawn back to reveal an old man in his pyjamas holding a large red balloon and two smaller balloons standing in the background. one of which is green and the other blue
    • Friday, 30 December, 2022
      Parenting and families
      Ambitious parents are instrumental in childhood’s modern malaise

      Parental anxiety is contagious but we constantly push for our children’s successes and intervene in their failures

      An insidious-looking man with piano keys for teeth holds a young child in his mouth
    • Friday, 16 December, 2022
      Healthcare
      An exhausted NHS limps towards its high noon

      During Covid, the health system burst free from its bureaucratic shackles, but the status quo has roared back

      Jonathan McHugh illustration depicting a nurse standing in the corner turning her back to the rest of the hospital room, wearing her medical uniform and a face mask. There is a chair in the left corner and part of a turquoise curtain visible in the right corner of the room. The wall clock is showing a few minutes to twelve o’clock.
    • Friday, 9 December, 2022
      Rail
      Train strike chaos is a true nightmare before Christmas

      We live in an age of extraordinary human endeavours, but it seems impossible to run eight carriages along a fixed line

      Illustration of a train track disappearing into the distance. The track looks like a long Christmas tree with the wooden spacers coloured green. The light from an approaching train looks like the star on top of a Christmas tree. Commuters are waiting on both platforms, while the electronic display boards show only cancellations and delays.
    • Friday, 25 November, 2022
      Ageing Populations
      The Great Unretirement is coming

      Older affluent workers are leaving Britain’s labour force — employers and the government must get them back

      Jonathan McHugh illustration of a middle aged man with moustache putting on his suit jacket having left behind in the bin his umbrella and briefcase
    • Friday, 18 November, 2022
      Conservative Party UK
      Economic competence trumps Tory ideology — for now

      Jeremy Hunt aims to restore grown-up government, but will a divided party unite behind him?

    • Friday, 11 November, 2022
      National Health Service
      The NHS is failing the nurses who keep it afloat

      The threatened pay strike obscures a wider refusal to value, reward and retain experienced staff

      Illustration of a nurse in uniform, with a placard saying “value nurses” and another saying “value nursing staff”. There are red and blue clapping hands surrounding her
    Previous page You are on page 2 Next page

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