Anti-immigration parties gained support in the European elections, but politicians’ real challenge is to reform a system that treats undocumented migrants unfairly, argues Dr Claire Fox. Despite the election rhetoric and growing support for anti-immigration politicians, the number of undocumented, ‘irregular’, migrants in the UK probably fell in recent years. Increasingly tough immigration policies and [...]

Legislation to permit assisted dying will be debated in Parliament this week, after hitting the headlines at the weekend. Dr Alexandra Mullock explains the legal background and some of the issues Peers and MPs will need to consider. Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill – due to be debated in the House of Lords later this week – [...]

As cities get ‘smarter’ and are managed by ever increasing streams of data, so the need for clear cross-border legislation becomes paramount, says Dr Anita Greenhill. The news last week that the UK government was passing an emergency law to ensure police and security services can continue accessing people’s phone and internet records, is just [...]

Despite government programmes to address high levels of unemployment in ethnic minority groups, inequalities persist, explains Professor James Nazroo. The impact of the economic crisis on members of ethnic minority groups has been strangely overlooked. Discussions of falls in unemployment rates and how these relate to part time and insecure – zero hours – employment, [...]

Without effective policy deliberation, the Civil Service will struggle to do anything well. Professor Colin Talbot makes the case for postgraduate qualifications for the Civil Service Policy Profession. Since the introduction of ‘Professional Skills for Government’, we have had a defined group within the Civil Service known as the ‘Policy Profession’. Although the ‘Professional Skills [...]

This is the thirty-eighth in a series of posts by Dr Robert Ford, Dr Will Jennings, Dr Mark Pickup and Prof Christopher Wlezien that report on the state of the parties in the UK as measured by opinion polls. By pooling together all the available polling evidence, the impact of the random variation that each individual survey inevitably produces can [...]

Following the four month ban issued to Luis Suarez by FIFA, Dr Hannah Quirk and Dr Elaine Dewhurst from The University of Manchester’s  School of Law look at some of the legal consequences. FIFA, football’s world governing body, has banned the Uruguayan footballer Luis Suarez for four months and nine internationals for biting Italy defender [...]

The use of rap lyrics to suggest guilt or bad character is prejudicing criminal trials, warns Dr Eithne Quinn. In April 2014, Nicky Jacobs was found not guilty of the murder of PC Keith Blakelock in the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, London. A key piece of evidence in the trial almost 30 years [...]