When the history of this Coalition government is written a substantial chapter will no doubt be devoted to contrasting the vaulting ambitions of IDS’s welfare reform agenda with the incompetence and inhumanity of its implementation. Like some sort of inverted alchemist IDS has the ability to turn golden […]
One of the most striking developments in policy design in the UK is the rise of conditionality. It most prominently affects those who are out of work and seeking assistance from the welfare system, but it features across a range of other policy areas including housing and health. […]
On Thursday I blogged about the weak foundations underpinning some of the Coalition government’s policies. On lobbying, on Universal Credit, and on Legal Aid the policy has run into serious trouble. I might return to the lobbying issue again soon, because you could read it in different ways. […]
Today we witnessed a number of important developments, if you happen to be a policy geek. These developments have a substantially different character, and provide students of the policy process with much to chew on. This morning we received news that Chris Grayling has decided to drop his […]
Yesterday I scooted over to Newport to the Office of National Statistics to give a presentation as part of a lunchtime seminar on Universal Credit. The text accompanying my presentation is available on my page at Scribd.com. You can access it below the fold.
[This is the text to accompany my presentation to open the South West Observatory seminar “Welfare reform: challenges, impacts and evidence”, 13/11/12] Where to start? Politicians are prone to hyperbole. The most minor modification to a relatively peripheral policy is portrayed as a groundbreaking initiative. However, in the […]
I’m having trouble getting this morning’s Andrew Marr Show out of my head. This is not pleasant. There are two causes of this affliction, both relating to the interview with Iain Duncan Smith. The first is the rather extraordinary approach taken by Marr. To call it the interviewer’s […]
This morning the Social Market Foundation launched their report Sink or Swim? which highlights some of the likely problems to follow if the Government pursues Universal Credit in its current form. Jules Birch blogged today over at Inside Housing on some of the many problems that have already […]
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