Think Tanks

Celia Hannon (London, Demos): In April 2007 charlieissocoollike, a 16 year-old vlogger from Bath joined YouTube. So did the British Prime Minister. Since then Charlie has amassed 70,000 subscribers. The Prime Minister has 5,000. These figures betray a very naked truth - young people are not flocking to listen to their presidents and Prime Ministers when they talk to them via internet videos. Instead, they are seizing power for themselves; taking on roles as reporters, distributors, commentators and artists. It seems that while their parents and grandparents won their freedoms by challenging governments, this generation of young people would rather find their ‘route-around’ existing institutions and forms of media.

Ivo Mosley ( Exeter, imprint academic): I’m here for the Political Studies Association Annual Conference on, wait for it, Democracy, Governance and Conflict: Dilemmas of Theory and Practice, at Swansea University. We are selling a hundred different books that try to stimulate honest debate on politics. Is there an appetite for honesty in academia, or is it just a replica of the endless dance of position-taking that is politics itself? Is it honest to describe what you do as ‘Political Science’? Politics being a pragmatic business informed by ideals, this association with the word ‘science’ seems misplaced to me, but perhaps it sounds grander and more able to change the world than mere ‘Thought’.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): On 6 March Policy Exchange invited me to a showing of Charlie Wilson's War, scheduled for tonight, followed by a discussion. I was very interested in going and asked if I could bring a guest who is a young film maker who I knew had liked the film and would be interested in the discussion. I was told she was "welcome" and I thanked them. Arrangements were made. Two days ago I was informed that they had overbooked and only one person could come from my "organisation". I protested to no avail. Being right-wing used to mean belief in traditional values like one's word is one's bond. Now it seems to mean modelling oneself on low grade carriers who overbook and then bounce you off. I am very cross indeed. The detail of behaviour is revealing. Is it just Policy Exchange? Perhaps all think tanks are undermined when 'what we said yesterday' no longer counts because now it is today.