Select Committees in the UK Parliament have become more powerful over the last five years or so since the implementation of the Wright Commission reforms, which allowed for – amongst other things – the election by the whole House of Commons of members and chairs. Here, Ian Marsh looks at the outreach of the committees […]
In The Media and Public Life: A History, John Nerone details the emergence of journalism as a practice grounded in the representation of public opinion, positing a number of key transformative moments in its evolution. Exploring the tensions between the ideal of the journalist as a public intellectual and the realities that jeopardise this role, Nerone presents […]
Despite being trumpeted as a “devolution revolution”, the detail of the Spending Review suggests that the government’s approach is distinctly evolutionary; the Treasury is far happier passing down the axe than cutting local government loose. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a positive story to tell about local growth and the Northern Powerhouse, writes Ed Cox. […]
There was something highly implausible about the pre-election fiscal debate. The Autumn Statement saw George Osborne dramatically soften the blow facing Whitehall departments and cuts are to be a quarter of the size planned just seven months ago, despite the fact nothing fundamental has altered in the economy. Gavin Kelly writes that this highlights “candour deficit” […]
Immigration is a huge element of contemporary political debate, and it continues to divide and polarise opinion, while fuelling the rise of UKIP and other radical parties across Europe. Here, Craig Johnson and Sunil Rodger argue that while hostility to immigration may be in part to do with economics, a sunny economic outlook is unlikely […]
The Government has recently announced a review into the Freedom of Information legislation introduced by the New Labour government led by Tony Blair, who has let it been known recently that he deeply regrets his decision. Benjamin Worthy looks at what to expect from the commission, and observes that politicians are less likely to support […]
The UK has enjoyed a significant degree of multi-tiered governance since the introduction of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, with recent events suggesting this dynamic will intensify further. Here, Audrey André, Jonathan Bradbury, and Sam Depauw look at constituent correspondence patterns, and find that politicians are much more likely to forward correspondence to the appropriate […]
While the majority of the public typically supports environmental policies, if the costs fall on local groups with projects in their backyards, they often resist. In new research that uses Ontario, Canada as a case study, Leah C. Stokes examines how small groups are able to mobilise politically to oppose the location of new wind […]
While America’s media system is atypical, understanding its weaknesses may offer important implications for the future of public media like the BBC. Victor Pickard discusses the structural problems facing the American media and the corporate libertarian ideology that holds them in place. He argues that until corporate libertarianism is dismantled, it is difficult to achieve […]
We need an intelligent debate on whether 16- and 17-year-olds should vote in the EU referendum, says Richard Berry – not least because the notion that different age groups have very different policy priorities is misguided, at best. Similar PostsThe purdah controversy – setting the rules of the referendum gameSwitching off E4 on election day is a bold […]
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