News

Regulators were told not to criticise the UK government, says agency chair

Regulatory bodies in England have been told not to publicly criticise the government and instead to raise concerns privately with ministers, the chair of the Environment Agency (EA) has said. […]

US health secretary resigns amid storm over use of private jets

Tom Price stepped down as the US federal government’s health and human services secretary last Friday, amid growing controversy over his use of private and military jets for travel around […]

Britain’s UN ambassador to lead international development department

Matthew Rycroft, the UK’s ambassador to the United Nations, has been appointed as permanent secretary at Britain’s foreign aid ministry, the Department for International Development (DfID). The appointment of the […]

Populist holds trump card in NZ coalition talks

New Zealanders are set to wait at least two weeks to find out who will form their next government, after Saturday’s general election delivered a hung parliament. Populist Winston Peters […]

UK government tables deeper redundancy payment cuts after court defeat

The British government has proposed bigger cuts in redundancy payments for civil servants, after the High Court quashed changes that it made last year. A new consultation was launched by […]

Australia to launch national space agency

The Australian government has announced it’s setting up a national space agency, in a bid to seize a bigger share of the multi-billion-dollar global industry. The move was announced at […]

Nations hit the fiscal sweet spot with sugar taxes

Rising obesity threatens to hit wellbeing, productivity and public finances – but Gavin O’Toole finds that more countries are embracing tax measures that can drive down sugar consumption A growing […]

Catalan officials detained in referendum crackdown

Spanish police have detained 14 Catalan officials and raided more than 20 regional ministries in a bid to stop a planned independence referendum. Thousands of protesters took to the streets […]

Strict new anti-graft code for European commissioners

The president of the European Commission has tightened up the code of conduct for its officials, in a bid to raise ethical standards and police the border between lobbyists and […]

UK cabinet secretary defends civil service against ‘wholly inaccurate’ attack by former minister

The head of the UK’s civil service has defended its progress on implementing key reforms following a critical speech by former Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude. Sir Jeremy Heywood spoke […]