Labour should campaign on AV
Andy Burnham says “It would be a recipe for chaos and confusion if Labour candidates were also supporting AV in their literature.” He’s wrong – the party should campaign for AV.
Yearly Archives: 2010
The new austerity of the Big Society
The Big Society is the social policy that makes the economic policy of deficit reduction possible. The government could not have taken its axe to the public sector with such ruthless confidence without a story to tell about what will fill the gaps left by a retreating state. The Big Society is that story.
Lord Lawson cherry picks data to spread climate change denial
At an International Policy Network seminar this week, Lord Giddens and Lord Lawson, chairman of the climate change-sceptics Global Warming Policy Foundation, once more rolled out the familiar climate change sceptic argument that there has been no global warming so far this century.
Housing benefit cuts: Just how desperate is the secretive DWP?
When government ministers resort to briefing what purports to be new statistical evidence on important policy issues to selected lobby journalists rather than making it available to the public, it is clear indication that they are unsure of their ground. The Department for Work and Pensions has been a hotbed of this sort of quasi-official briefing for several months, as has been pointed out here and by FullFact.
Why workfare won’t work
The Government yesterday announced its plans to make benefit claimants work for their benefits. Under this US-style Workfare, people who have been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for 12 months or more will be required to do community work for 30 hours a week for four months. This could be cleaning the streets, picking up litter or painting walls.
Laws: Lib Dems still thought best time for cuts was 2011
Joey Jones reveals that former-treasury secretary David Laws said the rhetoric on deficit reduction had been “hyped up” and that concessions gained from the Conservatives in other areas forced a Lib Dem u-turn.
Why do the right continue to support Ireland’s disastrous economic policies?
The British right praised Irish policy before the recession, during the recession and continue to praise it now. They have been consistently wrong.
SDLP rules out mergers with parties in the Republic
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie has ruled out any merger with parties south of the border under her watch, reports Ed Jacobs.
Setting the record straight: What Channel 4 got wrong
Last week Channel 4 set out to discredit and undermine the environmental movement with their documentary, ‘What the Green movement got wrong’, featuring a handful of individuals that most people have never heard of blaming environmentalists for everything from mass starvation to the spread of malaria to fuel poverty.
A progressive test for the environment
Labour’s challenge is to ensure that we hold the government to account as well as develop new priorities for the future, writes shadow environment minister Mary Creagh MP.