Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues
By Andy Westwood Filed Under: All posts, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Andy Westwood assesses a political transformation in the wake of the Autumn Statement. 2012 really was a big year for Britain. Politically, it was the moment that George Osborne tanked. First with the ‘Omnishambles’ Budget and its ill conceived Granny and Pasty taxes and second with a round booing at the Olympic Park. But it […]
By Diane Coyle Filed Under: All posts, Whitehall Watch Posted:
The day after George Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review, Diane Coyle picks out the winners and losers. One of the most important attributes a Chancellor of the Exchequer can have is to be lucky. Lucky, that is, in all the aspects of the economy that are outside the control of the government – which is most […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts, Westminster Watch, Whitehall Watch Posted:
More fast reaction from Colin Talbot to the Comprehensive Spending Review 2015. One thing has puzzled me since the introduction of “Quantitative Easing” (QE) in 2009. Between then and 2012 the Bank of England ‘bought’ £375bn of government bonds from their previous private sector owners. This is a pretty sizeable chunk of the total Government […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: All posts Posted:
[Rather than single blog I am posting a series of shorter posts on the Spending Review today on specific issues] “Mr Speaker, I want to announce to the House that we are on target to meet our long-term economic plan of reducing the size of the British state to just 36%, putting firmly at the […]
By Mike Addelman Filed Under: All posts, Polling Observatory Posted:
Mike Addelman, in collaboration with the BES team, blogs about work to uncover just why the opinion polls before the 2015 General Election were so wrong. One of the world’s longest-running investigations into political attitudes and voting behaviour, the British Election Study (BES), has been amassing huge quantities of data on every General Election since […]
By Laia Becares Filed Under: Ethnicity, Featured Posted:
If we are to break cycles of deprivation and begin to redress inequalities in health between the white British and ethnic minority populations, policymakers should put more emphasis on structural disadvantage and experiences of racial discrimination, says Dr Laia Bécares. Studies have consistently shown that racial discrimination can lead to poor health, and that racism […]
By Jenny Hughes Filed Under: All posts, Featured Posted:
Public spending cuts to the arts damage society as much as the arts themselves, argues Jenny Hughes. In his book, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, Mark Blyth summarises an economic policy of austerity as “a morality play, one that has shifted the blame from the banks to the state. Austerity is the penance […]
By Tanja Müller Filed Under: All posts, Europe Posted:
A few months ago Tanja Müller wrote a blog on the failed quest for solidarity in Europe in light of the movement of refugees and migrants. Here she follows that up with another in the wake of devastating Paris attacks. The main response in too many countries then – and I wrote the previous blog […]
By Natalie Bennett Filed Under: Devo, Featured Posted:
The Northern Powerhouse and local devolution do not go far enough in empowering local communities. We need proper bottom-up devolution, argues Green Party leader Natalie Bennett in the Cresc Annual Lecture. “We believe that the basic principle of Government should be … that power flows upwards from the people, and from their most local levels […]
By Juan Matthews Filed Under: Featured, Science and Technology Posted:
The future of the nuclear industry could lie with small reactors, argues Professor Juan Matthews. In the beginning, all reactors in nuclear power stations were small. Calder Hall, Britain’s first power station which went on-line in 1956, consisted of four reactors each generating just 50 MW of electricity. The next generation of Magnox reactors averaged […]