The way the Liberal Democrat party leadership has handled the Justice and Security Bill seems little short of extraordinary. To depart so dramatically from party policy is one thing. It isn’t the first time it has happened during this Coalition. I’m sure it won’t be the last. But […]
The agenda for this year’s Liberal Democrat Spring Conference carries the strapline Stronger economy, Fairer society. Given the parlous state of UK plc, and the deeply inequitable impacts of the Coalition austerity policy, the strapline touches on two of the biggest issues of the day. So the unwary […]
Today’s Independent carries a piece on LivesOn, a piece of software currently under development. LivesOn aims to analyse your tweets and then tweet on your behalf in your style on the topics you tweet about. So you can live on online, even after your demise IRL. The idea […]
It may be little more than an uncharacteristic outbreak of optimism on my part, but it seems to me that discussion in the corner of the internet that I inhabit is taking a turn towards the philosophical. And that’s no bad thing. Two developments make me say this. […]
Rafael Behr uses the ongoing Rennard imbroglio as a jumping off point for some broader points about the positioning of the Liberal Democrats in a post today at the New Statesman. He argues that: Clegg’s office has a clear enough sense of where they think he and the […]
It seems we can hardly move for news of sex scandals and allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour at the moment. The cases may be in different sectors – the media, politics, the church – but they share two common characteristics. The first is that at the centre is […]
Yesterday at the New Statesman David Allen Green finished a piece on the Vicky Pryce case and the importance of juries with a broader reflection on the British constitution. At its core is the importance of balance and complementary strengths. The system may have evolved incrementally rather than […]
[First posted at LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog, 18/02/13] It’s pretty difficult to miss the message that the engaged academic should be reaching beyond the academy to communicate with broader publics. And blogging and tweeting have attracted plenty of attention as powerful social media through which to […]
The horsemeat scandal has now been with us for over a month. It has morphed from a localised concern about adulteration of one processed meat product at one supermarket chain into a Europe-wide exposé of industrialised food production and lengthy supply chains that are ripe for abuse. Many […]
[This text accompanies a presentation made to a SW Crucible event on 13th February] In this post I offer a perspective on academic research and the Whitehall policy process. It draws on interactions of various types in and around Whitehall going back to the start of the Major […]
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