Synopsis In this week's programme: Fire "at will"? The Beecroft Report has been stirring up controversy all week. But is there any evidence that the economy would be boosted if employers could fire their staff "at will", as Adrian Beecroft recommends? Professor John Van Reenan - director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics - can't find much. Hard-working Greeks One version of the Euro crisis story has it that hard-working Germans are bailing out lazy Greeks. But in fact Greek workers put in far longer hours than their German counterparts. The maths of infidelity It's a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women. But it takes two to tango. So can this be mathematically possible? Publication ... Continue reading →

Britain could be forced to reveal whether it gives the United States intelligence for drone attacks on terrorist suspects in a court action that threatens to expose ministers to allegations of war crimes. The Times understands that the Government has retained three QCs to help to prepare its case, such is the seriousness with which ministers take the action, due to be heard at the High Court as early as July. The Government publicly denies that its intelligence and security services have had any involvement in so-called lethal intervention. The hundreds of US drone strikes on suspected al-Qaeda and Taleban targets in Pakistan since 2004, as well as those against Islamist militants in Yemen, are regarded as having played a key role in thwarting terrorist ... Continue reading →

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There has been speculation recently that the government is planning to divert millions of pounds in NHS funds from deprived urban areas in the north, to leafy, Conservative voting constituencies in the south. This stems from health secretary Andrew Lansley’s recent comment that “age is the principal determinant of health need” and that distribution of the £100bn budget for the NHS in England should “get progressively to a greater focus on what are the actual determinants of health need.” Somewhere along the line, those comments were interpreted by a generally cheesed-off medical profession that Mr Lansley intends to introduce an “age-only” NHS allocation formula, switching substantial NHS funds from, generally younger, Labour-voting constituencies in north to the octogenarians who thrive in the Conservative-voting villages of ... Continue reading →