Stuart Weir - openDemocracy (Page 16)

The lesson for Labour in the social fund fiasco

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Gordon Brown may have rediscovered Keynes and his nerve, but the politics of his government remain rooted in what has always been old-fashioned as well

By Stuart Weir

/ 24 Dec 2008

A new era for Democratic Audit

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): It is very odd in a culture which hides behind pragmatism and custom actually to base an enterprise on principle, and especially if that enterprise

By Stuart Weir

/ 22 Dec 2008

Beating the retreat on constitutional renewal

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): It was a frustrating experience, giving evidence to the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. The committee was packed with government and establishment

By Stuart Weir

/ 17 Dec 2008

Shooting to kill

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): We are a moderate lot. We believe in the rule of law and believe uncertainly that no-one is above the law in this country. Since

By Stuart Weir

/ 15 Dec 2008

Criminalising leaks

Stuart Weir (London, Democratic Audit): The Damian Green case and the prosecution of the journalist Sally Murrer – a more serious and ominous case – has raised suspicions that the common law

By Stuart Weir

/ 5 Dec 2008

A parliamentary pantomime

Stuart Weir (London, Democratic Audit): A delicious irony, between the elaborate pantomime of the Commons’ tradition of independence enacted once again for the royal opening and the abject reality of

By Stuart Weir

/ 4 Dec 2008

Human rights v civil liberties?

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): I have never quite followed the split between those who think reform-minded people should talk in terms of "civil liberties" and those who

By Stuart Weir

/ 26 Nov 2008

The real threat from the BNP

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Two years ago Democratic Audit and two of our partners, Helen Margetts and Peter John, provoked a storm when we suggested that the British National

By Stuart Weir

/ 20 Nov 2008

A wilder constitution?

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): It is said that Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for The Rhonda Valley, presented his constitutional reform package for Labour's manifesto to Downing

By Stuart Weir

/ 26 Sep 2008

How our media reports on human rights

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): I can't say that I watched or listened to every TV or radio news report yesterday, but the pattern of those reports I

By Stuart Weir

/ 7 Aug 2008

A super-quango is born

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Local government in England is neither local, government nor representative. Local authorities are ruled from above by central government departments and major quangos. At last,

By Stuart Weir

/ 28 Jul 2008

The Dark Knight

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Just so that I don't spoil the movie, please skip this post if you mean to go and see Dark Knight, the latest

By Stuart Weir

/ 27 Jul 2008