The Greenhouse
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What lies beneath
2/07/09 The News of the World’s ‘Real Sick List’ claims to ‘uncover the worst benefit scroungers in Britain’. It maps the top ten ‘blackspots’ for incapacity benefit with a thoroughness not seen since the paper published the addresses of alleged paedophiles, in a previous, equally geographical take on its favourite bogeymen. But shouldn’t this latest attempt at bashing the poor strike a discordant note in the worst economic downturn since...
A Machiavellian moment
29/06/09 Another week, another display of reputational self-harm by the political class: an ostensibly trust-restoring speaker elected by one party to wind the other up; the failed attempt to hold the inquiry on Iraq in private; not to mention those redacted expenses. During his unsuccessful bid to become the next speaker, Patrick McCormack let his fellow members know that the contest coincided with the date of Niccolo Machiavelli’s death. Amidst the candidate’s paeans to ...
Teatime with Tenants
29/06/09 Bonding over biscuits could be the key to a more tenant-centred approach to social housing. Last week I attended the launch of Growing up in social housing in Britain, a report authored by LSE’s Ruth Lupton and Rebecca Tunstall among others. The report is ambitious, based on all four British birth cohort studies, and looks at how social housing and the profile of those within have evolved since WWII. It builds on previous research demonstrating a correlation betwe...
Who will watch the watchmen?
26/06/09 Aside from the corruption, greed and stupidity, the expenses scandal exposed one overriding issue: that government is tragically backwards in its approach to information sharing. And for all the calls for openness and transparency ringing out across the benches, there is distinct air of futility about this ‘revolution’. The media excitement surrounding promises of openness is not matched by public enthusiasm, and it’s easy to see why. While we ...
Advice for Bercow
24/06/09 So we have a new speaker. I'd like to hear what advice people would give Mr Bercow. I found this last night while reading Bevan's "In Place of Fear". I'm not a fan of Bevan, though In Place of Fear is admittedly brilliant. It's about working class MPs arriving in Westminster, and although the analogy isn't strictly accurate, it would do Bercow good to reflect on it, as he is now its speaker: His first impression is that he is in a church. The vaulted r...
Sarkozy's Choice
23/06/09 Sarkozy’s comments that burkas are ‘not welcome’ in France touches upon a profound problem within liberalism; when does a choice become ‘unfree’? It’s an uncomfortable question for liberals, but a necessary one. Liberals want, above all, to protect the ability of individuals to live the lives they choose. Most liberals tend to be overwhelmingly concerned with protecting individuals from coercion; from the state, and other individuals. Fro...
Multiculturalism's defining juncture
19/06/09 Racist attacks on Belfast’s Roma minority. The BNP handed an opportunity to capitalise on the failures of mainstream politics. The cracks are growing. In times of economic hardship, skewed self-interest often comes to the fore. The oft-misconceived threat posed by the perceived ‘other’ brings about an increase in xenophobic reactions. And immigration becomes a hotly-contested issue. Meanwhile, in a post-9/11 world, legislation has found it tricky to draw a balance...
In defence of altruism
19/06/09 In an article published this week Matthew Taylor wrote that ‘we live in a time of profound social pessimism [where] there is a widening gulf between our view of ourselves and of society at large.’ He is absolutely right. When he continues by saying that we are witnessing a ‘retreat of society in the face of rampant individualism’, he is only half right. On Tuesday 23 June 2009, Demos will launch the publication of Wishful Thinking, ...
Is the Tweetolution taking place?
18/06/09 Everybody is talking about Twitter. Again. This time because it has become intimately entwined in the fallout from the Iranian election. It is the source for pictures, commentary and news from inside an increasingly closed media environment. The only way to monitor developments and feeling from inside a country that seems on the brink of change is through the networked and open channels of Twitter. That has become the source for mainstream outlets. Twitter is the one direct feed fro...
Making two plus two make five
17/06/09 Earlier this week, the Shadow Chancellor drew one of the first clear dividing lines on policy that stands between the parties: public spending. Osborne accused the Prime Minister of Orwellian incoherence, saying that by reducing public sector spending and capital expenditure while simultaneously heralding more investment, Brown may as well be announcing that ‘2 plus 2 makes 5.’ Since taking power, New Labour has accomplished something striking with its public sector r...
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