Eagle-eyed readers may notice a new look to Public Agenda this week and by design, or possibly accident, we seem to have tapped into a public sector vogue for revamping things.

The Government led the way by calling for a shift in the way caring for older people is marketed as a career option.

Ivan Lewis, the Health Minister, tells Nursing Times (May 27): “The way we present the care system is often in a deficit - how it goes wrong and how it lets people down.” The plan now is to beef up the image of the caring professions to get more young people interested in looking after their elders.

Elsewhere, the cry on everyone's lips is “urgent review”, not least at the Police Federation annual conference, where the entire criminal justice system has been judged no longer fit for purpose. Police Review (May 30) says that a former vice-chairman of the federation told delegates that too few police resources and too many targets meant that the system was close to meltdown and the vice-chairman of the Prison Officers' Association said that “radical change” is required in the prison system.

Youth crave tough justice

When young people were asked why they were more punitive than adults. ' Violent crime is happening to us,' came the answer

BACKGROUND

• Public sector turns its sights on a new look

• Care provision fails prisoners

• Bill Emery of ORR: A regulator who plays it safe

• Credit crisis is good for schools

Related Internet Links

• Public sector jobs

• Snakes & Ladders

In education, English grammar is being reviewed. Or rather, it's not being reviewed, much to the annoyance of experts who say that new guidance on the teaching of English focuses too much on improving exam results and not enough on pupils' learning experience. The Times Educational Supplement (May 30) quotes a lecturer in English education who says that if explicit grammatical knowledge is part of the new Key Stage 3 framework on English it is “almost invisible”.

Meanwhile, a redesign of the way that gross domestic product (GDP) is calculated would help to get the Government off the hook as economic storm clouds continue to gather, says www.publicfinance.co.uk (May 30). Apparently, if the Office for National Statistics indulges in a bit of sorcery with Treasury forecasts and something called the 40 per cent ceiling, then GDP looks a bit brighter.

Finally, Times Higher Education (May 29) says that De Montfort University has redesigned its red logo by making it, er, redder. “The new red aims to reflect a more serious and professional focus,” says DMU's director of marketing. It will make the university look more confident and ambitious, “while still reflecting our creative and innovative strengths”.

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