Blog
The Gibraltar Three − journalistic truth vs political expediency
05 Mar 2013 15:06
The play Gibraltar which opens at the Arcola on 27 March analyses the pursuit of journalistic truth against political expediency following the controversial shooting of three unarmed IRA terrorists in 1988. Did the flawed documentary Death on the Rock, which suggested that the SAS had summarily executed three IRA terrorists, help lead to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998? Did it undermine the hawks on both sides of the political divide and give impetus
Energy Bill: Will the coalition split like an atom?
by Clare McNeil / 05 Mar 2013 13:59
The government is facing a possible backbench rebellion by Conservative as well as Liberal Democrat MPs on an amendment from Tory MP Tim Yeo to the Energy Bill. The vote, likely to be at the end of the month, calls on the government to set an ambitious clean energy target for the power sector by 2030 to secure new low carbon energy to replace ageing coal and nuclear plants.
For
Is Britain’s nuclear renaissance in danger?
by Jamie Reed MP / 04 Mar 2013 14:39
If many commentators are to be believed, the renaissance of Britain’s nuclear industry is in imminent danger of collapse.
It’s a seductive analysis. As the Member of Parliament whose constituency contains the UK’s largest nuclear complex in the form of Sellafield, I threw myself into efforts to draft a new pro-nuclear energy policy with Malcolm Wicks and the No 10 Policy Unit almost immediately after my election in 2005.
As
Why the parties are ripe for rebranding
by Tom Wadsworth / 04 Mar 2013 13:08
It’s easy for political geeks to forget that most people in this country are not absorbed in politics on a day-to-day basis. So once every few years when they come to vote, people have to rely on their overall impressions of the parties – the brand.
That brand needs to give voters an overall impression of what they’ll get for the next five years: what the party’s vision for the country
Lessons from Eastleigh for Labour
by Emma Burnell / 01 Mar 2013 11:57
Well they say you should never bet what you can’t afford to lose. Luckily I can just about forego my £20 bet on John O’Farrell in Eastleigh. Labour and myself talked big about the campaign, and we fought the seat hard, but mostly we were in it for the laughs. Fun while it lasted, we aren’t the party with the biggest hangover today. We might have stumbled, but we can take huge comfort
Council tax: How Westminster politics plays locally
by Ed Cox / 28 Feb 2013 10:57
The news today that 4 out of 10 councils are turning down a government hand out in favour of putting up council tax is good news for local democracy.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has been Osborne’s austerity champion delivering £5bn cuts to councils in England to date with further technical changes in the Autumn Statement meaning further substantial cuts through to 2016-17.
For example, Birmingham will see its
The vulnerability of political staff should worry us
by Sadie Smith / 27 Feb 2013 14:08
Last week my colleague and I – after we’d stopped screaming like girls - had cause to put a call into the Parliamentary Rodent Dude. Amid a wide ranging discussion on a number of issues, and a free and frank exchange of views on the state of our office, I asked for reassurance that Fortesque the Mouse was definitely a mouse, and not a rat. I hate rats.
Did you know that Parliament
PMQs: Not very statesmanlike
by Anoosh Chakelian / 27 Feb 2013 12:49
Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions – or Barked Deflected Statements, as it will officially be known as once the government finally cracks down on mislabelling – was a let-down from both leaders. Such a display could represent the main reason, aside from serious sexual harassment allegations and ill-advised duckhouse ownership, behind so many people being turned off by our politicians.
Under the guise of a discussion of our economy’s recent credit rating
It’s show business for Queen King
by Anoosh Chakelian / 26 Feb 2013 13:34
“Anthea Turner,” announced Anthea Turner, deftly skirting around the queue to the House of Lords terrace yesterday evening.
Behind her, a bizarre clutch of eager Dancing on Ice fans, earnest former constituents and staunch New Labour devotees hustled in for a dramatic reading of Labour peer Oona King’s diaries.
An extract from her diaries, which once prompted the Mail to label her the ‘Bridget Jones of the Commons’, were
Foreign aid is vital to UK's spending
by Nadhim Zahawi MP / 25 Feb 2013 11:17
After the biggest shock to hit our economy since the Second World War, and further challenges to global growth in the Eurozone, we all know times are tough. As we approach the Budget, the usual questions are being raised about where to cut back and where to prioritise our spending. Nowhere is the issue of spending more hotly debated than on the aid budget. We’ve all heard the argument we can no
Will research kill cancer?
by Sarah Woolnough / 21 Feb 2013 11:29
It remains as important as ever to improve how we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. We have come a long way in the UK over the past 40 years, but we must do better.
Our cancer outcomes still lag behind the best performing countries, and at a time when we have an NHS in transition and a difficult financial climate, we also face an increasing cancer burden and an ageing population.
The Hilary Mantel furore reeks of synthetic outrage
by Sadie Smith / 20 Feb 2013 14:49
One of the first things I learned on starting working for a Member of Parliament was how to get a press release published in its entirety. The key was always the headline: that’s what grabbed the copy-short local journalist on a slow news week. The best ones always had “anger” or “fury” in them. If you could get your MP to “demand” something as well, so much the better.
“MP angry over potholes:
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Quote of the Day
"The prime minister has said he does not believe that statutory legislation is necessary to achieve the principles outlined by Leveson."
