Kevin Meagher
Kevin is a former head of communications at Advantage West Midlands and public affairs manager for United Utilities PLC. He was also special adviser to Labour Northern Ireland secretary, Shaun Woodward. He is now a freelance communications consultant.
Coalition pins hopes on inefficient, short-term and costly enterprise zones
Enterprise zones may - yet again - prove an expensive, short-term and inefficient system of business support, writes Left Foot Forward's Kevin Meagher.
Beyond London and the East, the UK is suffering an ‘Osborne jobs deficit’
Most of the rest of the North and Midlands suffer higher than average unemployment rates, adding to a picture of a seriously unbalanced economy.
Water cannons are “useless”, require specialised training and we only have six
The Prime Minister's decision to put water cannon 'on the table' may be popular - but they are ill-suited to dealing with looting, and have the potential to make things far worse
Our summer of strife is a degenerated, cracked-mirror image of the Arab Spring
Without the legitimacy, purpose or desirability of the Arab Spring, our Summer of Strife – with its much deeper roots - will be even harder to put down.
A call for progressives to back directly-elected mayors
Directly-elected mayors would avoid a schooling of internal party politics for city premiers, and could stand up toofficers. Progressives should back them.
Huge demand for Regional Growth Fund shows desperate need for business credit
The goverrnment's axing of Regional Development Agencies have left a huge gap in support for local businesses - as seen by the huge demand for the Regional Growth Fund, which is around a third of the size of the RDAs