Like the discovery that Britain's railways are as vulnerable to the sun as to wet leaves or the wrong sort of snow, reports that Gordon Brown has warned Cabinet ministers to expect tough public spending negotiations should hardly come as a surprise.

Many conservative MPs and candidates were horrified at their party's dismal results in last month's by-elections.

The government has repeatedly promised to cur public sector administration costs and halt the rise in civil service jobs, yet both have risen year after year.

In the run-up to the 2004 Spending Review, IFS has written a short briefing note, which considers the options for public spending during the years of the review (2005-06 to 2007-08), in light of what has already been announced and what we know about the government's priorities and past spending decisions.

In his 1956 book "The Future of Socialism", the Labour thinker Tony Crosland famously argued:The essential thing is that every citizen should have an equal chance - that is his democratic right.

This Briefing Note looks at the potential for the introduction of a 'fat tax' into the UK in an effort to reduce the growing prevalence of obesity in Britain. This Briefing Note looks at trends in UK obesity and examines evidence on eating habits and exercise in order to see whether trends here can account for what we see happening to obesity. We go on to review some of the key economic reasons behind why we might be concerned about obesity and why we might consider there to be a case for government intervention. We also discuss how food is currently taxed and the various ways in which a 'fat tax' might be introduced, looking at particular issues the government might need to address should it wish to introduce one. We finish by presenting some simple analysis of a hypothetical 'fat tax' in terms of how it might impact differently on the rich and the poor.

Since April 1999, spending on public services has grown substantially.

The Higher Education (HE) Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on the 31st of March 2004. Here we suggest one way in which the implementation of the proposals can be simplified.

Seeking a Premier Economy focuses on the labor and product market reforms that directly impacted productivity, employment, and inequality.

This lecture focuses on government intervention in the funding of higher education and outlines the implications of these provisions for students, graduates, universities and the tax payer.