Why did the Leveson report say little about regulating politicians?
Almost all the debate about the Leveson Report so far is over whether the Government should introduce statutory regulation of the press. The other grave issues covered by the Inquiry, and Lord Justice...
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How politics always under-estimates support for left-wing views
It is a truism of politics, oft-cited by Jonathan Bernstein, that activists and politicians always feel the opposition are better organised and less principled than themselves. In that spirit we should...
View ArticleWhy the BBC calculator utterly failed to grasp the modern British nature of...
The BBC is right to conclude in its Great Class Calculator that simplistic brackets such as upper, middle and working class no longer accurately reflect 21st century occupations and lifestyles. But the...
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The EDL endorsement proves that UKIP’s faux-libertarian pretense doesn’t work
by Alex MacDonald and Olly Neville On Wednesday evening, The Backbencher broke the news of how the English Defence League’s leader, Tommy Robinson – aka Stephen Lennon – endorsed UKIP and their...
View ArticleThe Conservatives are not serious about cutting the welfare bill
The Labour Party is rarely confident in talking about social security or immigration. This is mostly because the Conservatives set the agenda and Labour try a confused, nuanced position in response....
View ArticleWhy not remember Thatcher’s legacy by helping her victims?
by Alex Higgins When the Iron Lady came out, I had something of a premonition of a very predictable future. Margaret Thatcher would die and our national dialogue would become completely unbearable. The...
View ArticleHow the Conservatives are trying to wreck the Defamation Bill
One of key reasons for the introduction of the Defamation Bill was to protect journalists and small publication from being harried by large corporations. The problem with defamation law has been...
View ArticleWhy haven’t the Greens become popular since the financial crash, rather than...
At a cricket match with some lefties a few years ago, I suggested to some prominent Greens that their party needed to sound more anti-establishment like UKIP. Obviously I didn’t mean the Greens should...
View ArticleThe ‘Labour 4 for an EU Referendum’ campaign is finished. Dead on Arrival.
I was running my own campaign calling for Labour to offer an EU Referendum before it became cool. But now, given all the renewed focus on this question, a group of Labour folks have set up a Labour for...
View ArticleAre the British public getting more savvy to extremism?
Here’s a brilliant story from the City of York: The EDL posted details about a demonstration they were going to host at our mosque on Sunday on their Facebook page. My first reaction was to let the...
View ArticleWhy Labour is right to abandon Winter Fuel Allowance for rich pensioners
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is to make a speech this morning, which is broadly an pre-emptive assault on the upcoming Spending Review by Osborne. Extracts were sent to reporters last night. Part of his...
View ArticleHave left-wing protests become too broad to be meaningful?
by Michael Jefferies Many will have seen the spectacular photos documenting the recent protests in Brazil. The streets were full, block after block with people standing shoulder to shoulder – an...
View ArticleHow much do we really Care?
by Joseph Cottrell-Boyce Last Thursday the BBC released a video of 83-year-old Muriel Price, sobbing pitiful protests to an empty house as she lay stranded in her bed, her agency carer having failed to...
View ArticleWhat will Britain be like when the Royal Baby is King?
So the #RoyalBaby has arrived. Congratulations to the Duchess of Cambridge and her husband. Already tired of the preposterous media circus? Frustrated by the sycophancy? Here’s a constructive way of...
View Article10 things the media didn’t tell you about changing party political funding
by Josiah Mortimer Last week saw the release of all registered parties’ finances for 2012, as well as Q1 figures for 2013. It was gold dust for politics geeks. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the media...
View ArticleWhy Zero-hours contracts should be banned
Imagine you get a phone call at 6am each morning, to tell you if you’ll get any work – or pay – each day. You’re awake, dressed, waiting, then it’s “stand down”. That can happen five days in a row, and...
View ArticleTen ways to win your online petition-driven campaign (at Change.org)
by Katherine Sladden Since launching in the UK in May 2012, Change.org – the world’s largest petition site – has seen its UK user base grow to almost 3 million people, starting, joining and winning...
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The Tories have a bigger problem than just UKIP
Lord Ashcroft’s mega poll of key marginals, released yesterday, has been interpreted as showing three things: 1) Labour are doing very well against the Tories in the Tory-Labour battlegrounds 2) The...
View ArticleIf we want stronger action on the environment, we need to stay within the EU
by Rosie Magudia Last Friday, the Green Alliance published their review of the three major political parties’ activity on the environment since May 2010. The “Green Standard 2013” makes disappointing...
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A ten point plan to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK
The think-tank Institute of Employment Rights has today published a set of policy proposals to strenthen the labour movement and collective bargaining in the UK. They point out that economic growth...
View ArticleFive ways Ed Miliband and Labour can keep ex-Lib Dem voters in 2015
by Andy May It was a strange feeling watching this week’s Labour conference. Once a political enemy, I could conceivably be voting for the party in 2015. I joined the Liberal Democrats over a decade...
View ArticleWhy is this generation worse off than their parents?
by Stewart Lansley Later this week, the government’s social mobility and child poverty commission will report that middle-class children from families with above average incomes are set to become...
View ArticleThe right to insult all religions is important, and should be cherished
The first time I was invited on to a debate on TV, I was so nervous I couldn’t stop myself shaking. It was partly nerves and partly the topic. It was Christmas 2005, and a theatre in Birmingham had to...
View ArticleTwo more responses to Nick Cohen over Tricycle theatre
In the Observer today, I debate Nick Cohen on whether the Tricycle Theatre in London was right to ask the UK Jewish film festival to ‘reconsider’ its funding from the Israeli government. There are two...
View ArticleThe problem I have with Russell Brand
The comedian Russell Brand was interviewed on Newsnight last night about his book, which you can watch above. One headline is that Brand casually implies 9/11 was an inside job because George Bush had...
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