Sara Freedland, with son Jonathan and grandson Jacob in 2005. Photograph: Toby Glanville for the Guardian Nearly 11 years have passed since I last broke my own rule and wrote in this place about something deeply personal. Then, in the summer of 2001, it was the birth of my first child and the article was a hymn of praise for the National Health Service that had ushered my son into the world.Today I write about my mother, who died 10 days ago. Once again, though, this is not my main purpose. I want to record my praise, even awe, for the people who looked after her. It was not so straightforward this time. Yes, the NHS funded it all, but my mother was tended to ... Continue reading →
A Greek return to the drachma would be disastrous for Britain and the rest of Europe. Photograph: Yorgos Karahalis/Reuters Greece leaving the euro could plunge Britain into a recession that would cause lasting damage to the economy, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, has said.It could be as bad as the recession caused by the credit crunch and there would be a possibility that "you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started", he said.Chote – who as head of the independent OBR is Britain's economic forecaster-in-chief – delivered his warning in a wideranging interview with the Guardian, in which he also said there was no evidence to show that cutting the 50p top rate of ... Continue reading →
