England

Friday 10th February

Localism and the web: a new era for England's democracy?

Gavin Barker, 10 February 2012
Local English democracy may look endangered, but new technologies are revolutionising the way we perceive our communities and take collective decisions.
Tuesday 7th February

Liberty is at stake: Commons, Lords and the Welfare Reform Bill

Stuart White, 7 February 2012
If the claim to financial privilege over the Welfare Reform Bill stands, little stops the Coalition from forcing through a broad range of laws. Say goodbye to checks and balances! Scrutiny, farewell!
Monday 6th February

A cyclist's-eye-view of the City shows where power lies - and how we might change it

Mark Ames, 6 February 2012
The experience of cycling in a City - a space that has now been taken over by the car, with some segregated concessions to pedestrians - leads the author to an experience of unique vulnerability. A city that has made cycling safe is not just a nicer place to live: it is one that accords equal dignity to the weak
Sunday 5th February

Lords Spiritual: a problem of transparency and legitimacy

Scot Peterson, 5 February 2012
There are twenty-six English Bishops in the House of Lords. How are they appointed? Recent events have shown the procedure to be secretive and flawed. Any future reform of the Upper House must question the legitimacy of the Lords Spiritual.
Wednesday 1st February

The hole at the heart of the Labour Party

Stuart Weir, 1 February 2012
Ed Miliband’s sortie against Stephen Hester and City bonuses is a sign of life in Labour. But Labour’s position on the benefit cap reveals a deep-seated weakness.

The English conversation has finally begun. What took so long?

Sunder Katwala, 1 February 2012
Englishness is finally finding a voice, after more than a century. Why has it been muted this long, and is it time now for a strong civic nation, or will an England of blood and soil emerge?
Monday 30th January

The shock-and-awe of mega sports events

Christopher McMichael, 30 January 2012
How mega sporting events bring the logic of war to host-city governance. The example of the football World Cup in South Africa highlights how security for mega-events has become a self-reinforcing feedback loop between state and corporate sector, taking the analogy between Sport and War another step closer
Sunday 29th January

The adventures of Conan The Librarian

Conan Librarian, 29 January 2012
What is a public library for? Costa coffee and "bums on seats"? or the promise of a better world? The managerialised nightmare of a London council's cost-cutting misunderstandings is glimpsed at through the deep stacks by a not-yet-defeated librarian and idealist
Friday 27th January

How should 'political England' be recognised?

Lewis Baston, 27 January 2012
England has a political identity, but how can this be given an expression? English votes for English laws? An English Parliament? Let the discussion of practical solutions begin.
Thursday 26th January

The Black English

Roifield Brown, 26 January 2012
Being English is not a question of blood, of purity: it has always been a multi-racial alliance.

New faces of nationalism

Tom Nairn, 26 January 2012
Around the globe, new forms of governance are being sought to counter-balance the hyper-empire of global capitalism. Scotland is developing its own resistance, could England follow suit?

The debate on Englishness can no longer be avoided

Anthony Painter, 26 January 2012
An increasingly assertive English nationalism; the prospect of an independent Scotland; the economic crisis.... the English question is ready to explode. Evasion tactics are deeply embedded, but even these are about to fail.
Monday 23rd January

From welfare to warfare

Simon Barrow, 23 January 2012
This week, the Lords battles it out with the government over the fate of Britain's benefits system. Faced with a small army including bishops, Lib Dems and enraged disability campaigners, their tactics are getting tougher and dirtier.
Tuesday 17th January

Is Britishness a generous thing, or has it damaged England?

Neal Ascherson and Peter Oborne, 17 January 2012
The Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne and Scottish writer Neal Ascherson discuss national identity in light of the approaching referendum on Scottish independence.
Friday 13th January

What would Scottish independence mean for the North?

Katie Schmuecker, 13 January 2012
Scotland will have its referendum before the end of 2014. Will independence, or further devolution, be good, bad or indifferent for the North of England?
Thursday 12th January

British Future: State of the Nation(s) 2012

Gareth Young, 12 January 2012
For those interested in the constitutional future of the United Kingdom, the Hopes and Fears State of the Nation 2012 report by British Future provides interesting reading.
Monday 9th January

Occupy: rediscovering the general will in hard times

Natalie Fenton and Nick Couldry, 9 January 2012
Times of economic crisis call into question our systems of democracy. Today's global occupy movement is a call to reclaim the economy as a site of decision. To do so, we will need to rethink ourselves as political subjects.

High pay: what Machiavelli would have recommended a politician do

Tony Curzon Price, 9 January 2012
It's true that high pay for bosses serves no purpose except keeping them (and their headquarters) in the country. The only real solution is economic policy coordination. In its absence, Machiavelli would have been proud of the proposals and statements on display this new year in the UK
Thursday 5th January

The national question and the greatest living English poet

Nick Pearce, 5 January 2012
Can Englishness be articulated to a progressive project? Perhaps its time to turn to Geoffrey Hill, a poet immersed in the complexities and richness of England.
Wednesday 4th January

Whose Englishness is it anyway?

Christine Berberich, 4 January 2012
Originally published by the Journal of American, British and Canadian Studies.
Berberich, Christine (2009) “A peculiarly English idiosyncrasy?”: Julian Barnes’s use of lists in England, England. American, British and Canadian Studies, 13. pp. 75-87. ISSN 1841-1487
Republished by kind permission.
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