Robert Halfon: We need to get a handle on home education – and the surge of kids who’ve vanished from the school roll

The Education Select Committee, which I Chair, has published a report on how we can strengthen this type of education.

Is racism in Britain increasing?

The third part of a series on ConHome this week about the politics of race and ethnicity in Britain today.

Tobias Ellwood: We’ve left Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorists to plot attacks against the West – once again

We urgently need an inquiry to understand our strategic failures in the country, and what went wrong.

Will Holloway: The Government can show it’s serious about levelling up by launching a National Plan for Manufacturing

It could take action to reduce industrial electricity costs, among other important steps.

Bob Blackman: Sizewell C is key to taking control of the UK’s energy production – and achieving Net Zero

The importance of having a reliable baseload of firm power remains essential to the energy mix.

Garvan Walshe: Orbán, Le Pen, Morawiecki. Europe’s new national populist alliance is a sign of weakness, not strength.

Weakening at home and friendless abroad, it finds itself on the back foot – and exposed to its nations’ reliance on EU funds.

Paula Higgins: British homeowners are vital to reaching net zero. But we must ensure climate targets are achievable for them.

There are dozens of policies, tax changes and other levers that government can pull to climate proof our homes.

Off the football field, Laschet assures the Germans they can continue to pretend to be weak

The front-runner to succeed Merkel has perfected the art of making not having a row, indeed not making a decision, sound reasonable.

Garvan Walshe: Iran’s new President will be a headache for the West – and a nightmare for Iranians themselves

Raisi, who presided over the execution of 5000 regime opponents in 1988, would be a strong bulwark against an Iranian version of Gorbachev taking over.

Ryan Bourne: The tax hikes that could fall in the south. And tear the Tory coalition apart

The problem is that spiralling spending demands quickly use up the options which voters don’t notice. Eventually you need other big sources of revenue,

Adrian Lee: Nord Stream 2. How Russia could turn off half Germany’s gas supply – and so threaten our collective security.

It may gradually slide down the road to a more neutralist position in the years ahead – to paraphrase William Hague “In NATO, but not run by NATO.”

“We have been surprised by the EU’s willingness to resort quite quickly to threats”. Lord Frost’s Königswinter speech.

“We do have a challenge…it is to respond to the new political configuration here without falling into the trap of statism.”

Chris Skidmore: To keep up with our G7 colleagues, we must increase our spending on innovation and research

Currently the UK spends around 1.7 per cent of its GDP on R&D. Yet the US and China are heading towards three per cent GDP, and others even more.

There are vaccine shortages worldwide. Is it really more important to inoculate children here than adults abroad?

Unions have called for children to be vaccinated – but they may be up against an even noisier group: parents.

John Baron: A shortfall in funding threatens the British Council’s future. The Government must protect this crucial institution.

One of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of British soft power is at risk of the biggest set of closures in its 90-year history.