Alice Miles



Profile:
Full name: Alice Miles

Area of interest: Politics and national issues (especially education and health

Journals: The Times

Email: [mailto:alice.miles@thetimes.co.uk alice.miles@thetimes.co.uk]

Website/blog: TimesOnline

Agent:



Biography:
Education: Southampton University

Career: Trained as a journalist with the Mail on Sunday; qualified as a barrister; Political reporter with Evening Standard; chief leader writer at the Daily Express; The Times: Parliamentary Sketch writer; Columnist at The Times since 1999 Viewpoints/Insight:

Controversy:

Books:

Latest work:

TV/Radio: Has appeared on BBC TV's Question Time

Awards/Honours: What the Papers Say Awards: Columnist of the year, 2007

Advisory posts:

Speaking/Conferences:

Other:



The Times:
Column remit: Politics and national issues (especially education and health)

Section: Features

Role: Columnist, associate editor

Pen-name:

Email: alice.miles@thetimes.co.uk

Website: TimesOnline

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Wednesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 950 words



Articles:

 * me, what was the point of new Labour?'' - The Blairites are destroyed. David Miliband, their champion, is discredited. And many of their policies have turned to dust - 10th June 2009
 * is opening the door to the extremists'' - It's pointless to pretend that the BNP does not have genuine appeal on ordinary housing estates across the land - 3rd June 2009
 * about the mum aged 15, not 66'' - While the baby of a much older mother is vulnerable, the teenager is the bigger social problem - 20th May 2009
 * finally does policy, but too late'' - The Prime Minister has noticed voters' concerns at last. But nobody is listening any more - 13th May 2009
 * exam stress: give more tests'' - Teachers dislike of SATs is not to do with children - it's because their work is exposed to scrutiny - 6th May 2009
 * plans are muddled and baffling'' - Inexplicably the Conservatives are protecting the bloated NHS, so poor old education may suffer - 29th April 2009
 * a Budget for jobs can't subsidise ambition'' - The something-must-be-done brigade should face it: some of the young unemployed quite simply don’t want to work - 22nd April 2009
 * cabal motto: smears, not ideas'' - Journalists knew all about the plots run from No 10. So why did we help to spread the poison? - 15th April 2009
 * the plug on this torture of MPs'' - Some expenses claims are outrageous. But politicians pay a high price to stay in public life - 8th April 2009
 * ups and downs of being a national park'' - Labour calls it a gift to the nation, residents are jubilant. So why isn't everyone delighted by the South Downs' new status? - 4th April
 * life is lazy and lacking in imagination'' - Don't blame second-home owners for all rural ills. They also employ local gardeners and builders - 27th March 2009
 * the last refuge of desperate politicians'' - Brown has resurrected the al-Qaeda bogeyman. But at present the bigger threat is from elsewhere - 25th March 2009
 * have to work till you drop'' - Rather than resent older workers we should worry about the young who are content to live on benefits - 11th March 2009
 * hopeless, paralysed. Time to go'' - Even Cabinet ministers are finding it hard to contemplate another 14 directionless months. We need an election now - 4th March 2009
 * out, Kipper! These books are deadly!'' - It's no wonder that our children don't enjoy reading. The first material they are given ticks boxes but dulls minds - 11th February 2009
 * the point of Westminster?'' - The economy, strikes over migrant workers and the House of Lords row: the Government isn't working - 4th February 2009
 * does snow turn us into a nation of infants?'' - Adults need to get their woolly hats and laughing gear on - 3rd February 2009
 * database is good mother, not big brother'' - Our details are all over the web. And a central bank of information will help vulnerable children, not harm secure ones - 28th January 2009
 * can Labour find its own magic?'' - Two promising young ministers can offer inspiration to a party that is still in desperate trouble - 21st January 2009
 * by Slumdog's poverty porn'' - Danny Boyle's film is sweeping up awards, but it's wrong to revel in the misery of India's children - 14th January 2009
 * chance of cutting obesity? A big fat zero'' - The number of failed government healthy-eating initiatives is expanding in step with the national waistline - 7th January 2009
 * it's a rubbish job - but I still love it'' - For 34 years Glenn Davies has picked up all the stuff we chuck out. Alice Miles spends a day at the tail end of consumerism - 29th December 2008
 * drunks who call out an ambulance'' - The NHS isn't there to pick up the pieces of a drunken night out - 26th December 2008
 * damned leaks and the drip of poison'' - Off-the-record briefing and tip-offs are Westminster's stock-in-trade. Ignore the squeals of those who cry foul - 24th December 2008
 * pensions have gone'' - Unions may not like it, but we can no longer support such well-paid retirements in the public sector - 17th December 2008
 * teachers + jargon = failure'' - Huge numbers of 11-year-olds can't read or add up. The latest curriculum rehash will not help - 10th December 2008
 * hard to turn people away, but it's your job''' - As border security becomes ever more important, we spend a day with an immigration officer at Heathrow airport - 8th December 2008
 * now for something far more important'' - The raid on Damian Green's office was high farce, not constitutional disaster. MPs should address weightier matters - 3rd December 2008
 * perfect for the 2012 Games'' - As ministers argue whether to cut housing or hospitals, we can no longer afford to waste money - 26th November 2008
 * people want to stay far away from muck''' - Bed bugs, rats, mice... it's too close for comfort on a day spent with a pest controller for the City of Westminster - 24th November 2008
 * Brown's great Christmas giveaway'' - Capital projects and public service reform have stalled. But a publicly funded spending spree is no replacement - 19th November 2008
 * divide once every 17 minutes''' - Spending a day with the woman charged with keeping back the tide of infection at University College London Hospital is a sobering experience - 17th November 2008
 * all of us are cut out for puppy love'' - In the UK, we have more stringent rules about caring for animals than we do about caring for children - 10th November 2008
 * secret pathway to the best schools'' - Nurseries offer a loophole for parents to get round the strict admissions rules for primaries - 5th November 2008
 * 'It's not you, it's the uniform''' - Everybody hates a traffic warden. So what's it like to patrol with one for a day? - 29th October 2008
 * of dabbling with the super-rich'' - Images of yachts and billionaires are unlikely to convince voters the new Tories are down to earth - 22nd October 2008
 * is too naive to be a Machiavelli'' - Lord Mandelson, our newest peer, is the spin-doctor who won't take his own medicine - 15th October 2008
 * crisis + 33 ministers = indecision'' - Gordon Brown has moved a lot of chairs around but seems to have found answers harder to come by - 8th October 2008
 * grovelling media doffs its hat'' - Instead of derision there is deference. The Fourth Estate is in awe of the new political elite - 2nd October 2008
 * exit door for Brown. Please'' - Attempts to rally round Gordon Brown are hopelessly misguided. He should plan his exit strategy now - 24th September 2008
 * of the guzzlers and squirrellers'' - The credit crunch hurts but there are compensations watching some get their comeuppance - 17th September 2008
 * win if we lose faith in trial by jury'' - If 12 ordinary citizens were not convinced of an airline bomb plot, police and politicians have no right to contradict them - 11th September 208
 * but an appalling candidate'' - Sarah Palin's zest for life gives her an appeal. But is she really White House material? - 3rd September 2008
 * me $866m: I know how to spend it'' - The money spent on the Games is colossal. It would be better to spend it on something useful - 13th August 2008
 * result: Government 0 Pupils 0'' - From graphs manipulated by statisticians to pupils bewildered by grades, education is in turmoil - 6th August 2008
 * mortgage fairness to buy votes'' - Underwriting loans to kickstart the housing market is a quick fix that poorer taxpayers will never forgive - 30th July 2008
 * be first to offer disabled people a job?'' - If we want to get claimants off incapacity benefit, we had better come up with some proper work for them - 23rd July 2008

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