Category: Dale&Co.

Potty proposals

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 24/09/12] There’s a joke going around at the moment: Did you hear that Nick Clegg has joined a boyband? It’s called No Direction. This came to mind when I read of Clegg’s announcement on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show that the Liberal Democrats are proposing […]

The Tie That Binds

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 22/07/12] Last week’s reversal over Lords reform may turn out to be key moment in the life of the Coalition. In retrospect it may appear the point at which it all started to unravel. It was swiftly followed by another Cameron-Clegg relaunch, but that […]

Trading Liberty For “Security”

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 06/04/12] What is going on? I mean, seriously? Is it just me or do the wheels seem to be coming off this Government quite badly? If we look over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a botched budget, including the failure to make […]

Privatising Policing: A Step Too Far?

[Originally posted at Dale&Co., 03/03/12] This week’s instalment of the Leveson Inquiry has raised some pressing questions about inappropriate relations between members of the police and corporate interests. We were presented with argument that highly questionable, if not corrupt, practices were commonplace among public officials. It’s therefore unfortunate […]

Rent Asunder

[Originally posted at Dale&Co., 03/01/12] The new year has opened with a couple of important housing stories. The first was another attempted crackdown on illegal subletting in council housing. The second, which attracted significant media attention, is the reform of the local housing allowance (LHA) – the housing […]

NIMBY Nation

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 13/12/11] The publication last week of the 2010 British Social Attitudes report made the headlines because it seemed to indicate that the British population is becoming increasingly self-reliant, self-centred or selfish – depending on your perspective – and more inclined to see poverty and […]

A new approach to housing policy?

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 22/11/11, It is an earlier version of material discussed in Laying the foundations?] The much anticipated, and heavily trailed, housing strategy for England – Laying the foundations – arrived on Monday. The Government’s claim is that the strategy will “get the housing market moving […]

Ethical renewal to banish that fin de siecle feeling

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 15/10/11] The Cash for Questions scandal and the associated perception of endemic sleaze contributed to the demise of the Major government. It ushered in a period of institutional renewal. The Committee for Standards in Public Life was established under Lord Nolan in the mid-1990s […]