Five policies to fix the political class
The main political parties have all been jostling to respond to the ‘cost of living crisis’. But they’ve all failed to respond to the underlying issue - that in the eyes of voters, the political class lives on another planet. Here are five proposals that might help.
Frontline Friday 4th October 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 30th September 2013 – from welfare reform and legal aid, to the Conservative Party conference and the Daily Mail.
Frontline Friday 20th September 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 16th September 2013 – from the question of what are the Lib Dems for, to education and welfare reform, and the outsourcing of probation services.
The political class: If the Government’s approach to policymaking seems deliberately bad, that’s because it is
A new book on government blunders highlights how the ‘professionalised’ political class increasingly lacks the practical experience required for wise decision-making. Will they listen to its advice?
The political class: The UK is more than one nation, but you wouldn’t know it from think tanks
Many years after devolution, and only a year before the referendum on independence for Scotland, it appears as if the Westminster political class remains reluctant to acknowledge that the politics of the UK has changed significantly. Like the BBC’s weather map, it’s surely time they corrected their rather odd perspective on the UK.
Frontline Friday 6th September 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 2nd September 2013 – from progressive education and emotional intelligence in schools, to transforming healthcare through technology and the human touch.
The political class: Are right-wing think tanks really victims of bias - or unduly privileged?
The Thatcherite Centre for Policy Studies has published a report complaining that the BBC exhibits its supposed liberal bias in the way it describes different think tanks. But the real bias exhibited by the BBC and others is the favouring of political class insiders over other voices.
Why the Government’s lobbying bill is a defence of shadow politics
The Government’s Lobbying Bill has been described as a “dog’s breakfast”. It’s worse that - it’s a defence of the shadow politics that is blighting democracy.
The political class: What is Ed Miliband’s problem?
There’s been no shortage of advice offered to Ed Miliband over the past couple of weeks. Here’s a bit more: your problem is the political class you come from and remain trapped within, specifically its defunct and discredited ideas of ‘leadership’. Make a radical break from these and you might stand a chance.
Guerilla media is increasingly winning the information war
We’re seeing a major change in how and where people find out what’s happening in the world - including from the frontline and independent commentators who know most about the issues that matter because they experience them directly.
Frontline Friday 9th August 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 5th August 2013, from unemployment to zero hours contracts, property taxes to policing protests.
Shadow politics: The NHS is more than a logo
Perhaps the most blatant example of the shadow politics is what the political class has doing to the NHS over the past 30 years. To most people, the NHS is more than a logo - but for how much longer?
Shadow politics: How outsourcing and privatisation have got their teeth into public services
In the shadow politics, some policies - such as outsourcing and privatisation - are beyond the need for evidence. And once they sink their teeth in, they don’t let go.
Shadow politics: Tinkering with the rules around lobbying won’t clean-up politics - abolishing lobbying will
Lobbying - the “next big scandal waiting to happen” according to David Cameron - has finally hit the headlines. The Government has promised to act, but the problem isn’t the rules regulating lobbying - it’s lobbying itself.
Frontline Friday 12th July 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 8th July 2013 - from the potential for an ‘Education Spring’ and the new National Curriculum, to food banks, the bedroom tax and DWP’s handling of statistics.
Guerilla Voice: If consultation isn’t working, where’s the alternative?
The Government no longer seems to believe in consultation. Fine - but where’s the alternative? One year on from the Government’s proposal that ‘open policymaking’ should become the default, how much light is being let in on policy?
The political class: The alternative think tank of the year awards 2013
The Prospect magazine Think Tank of the Year Awards - the so-called ‘Oscars of the think tank world’ - were announced this week. As a guide to what the political class thinks they’re quite revealing, and a bit odd in places. Here we offer our alternative think tank awards for 2013 - the ‘Guerillas’, if you will.
Frontline Friday 28th June 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 24th June 2013. Let us know which posts we’ve missed and which other bloggers we should be following for next week’s list.
Frontline Friday 21st June 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 17th June 2013. Let us know which posts we’ve missed and which other bloggers we should be following for next week’s list.
Declining investment in research threatens to undermine evidence-based policymaking
The Government claims to be investing in evidence to improve policymaking - yet many departments are reducing their investment in research. The risk is that public policy is increasingly informed by partisan or partial ‘research’ - or in some cases, no research at all.