The Budget, the Cheltenham Festival and the US presidential race hots up

APPRENTICESHIP WEEK

Last summer, the Chancellor George Osborne made a big play of his pledge to create three million apprenticeships to help young people into jobs and give a boost to UK productivity.

A few years back we didn’t hear much talk about the importance of apprenticeships from politicians or young people, who perhaps saw them as second-rate career choices.

But not any more. The value of learning a skill has grown enormously since the recession. Which is why the Government is keen to promote National Apprenticeship Week, which starts today, and has backed new research which revealed that almost four fifths of apprentices get full-time employment at the end of their apprenticeship.

THE BUDGET

The scale of spending cuts and who they will affect, along with the question of fuel duty, are likely to be among the big talking points as the Chancellor George Osborne delivers his budget speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Will he also be able to convince people that the Northern Powerhouse is back on track? As always, political commentators are trying to second guess what Mr Osborne will say, with some suggesting that pensions could still come under attack. We will find out soon enough.

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL

The undoubted highlight of the National Hunt season with an atmosphere capable of making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, the Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest dates on the British sporting calendar.

As well as the famous Gold Cup, there’s the added frisson of watching former cyclist Victoria Pendleton who rides on Pacha Du Polder in the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase on Friday. Pendleton only took up the sport 12 months ago and says simply completing the daunting Gold Cup course would be comparable to winning an Olympic gold medal.

TOP TRUMP?

The US presidential election has, at times, made for car crash TV. It feels like the battle for the respective Republican and Democratic nominations has been going on for an interminably long time. But we are at last, thankfully, entering the home straight.

Ohio is among the states holding its winner-takes-all primary this week as Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton look to cement their positions.

But whatever the outcome of these latest round of votes the whole process has been dispiriting and unsavoury. Never before in a US presidential election has the tone been lower, or the language as base.

There has been little attempt, especially among Republicans, to even pretend to campaign in poetry. So what chance is there then that the next president will be able to govern in prose?

COMMONWEALTH WEEK

It may have been maligned in recent years with critics calling it a colonial relic out of step with the modern world, but the Commonwealth still means a great deal to many people. Which is why The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will receive a warm reception as they mark Commonwealth week at a number of events over the next few days.

The Commonwealth encompasses almost a third of the world’s population, bringing together 
people of many faiths, races and languages. That alone ought to be applauded.