A by-election earthquake in the post-industrial northern English city of Bradford saw a high-profile politician with a strong appeal among disaffected urban Muslims win an overwhelming victory. This "Bradford spring" reflects the changing attitudes and concerns of Muslim voters in a democracy that
The financial crisis demonstrated extraordinary failures on the part of policy elites and economic experts. And yet we remain governed by technocrats. We need to re-politicise economic policy-making, or else repeat the mistakes of the past.
The UK government is radically cutting support for the disabled. What does that mean for people living with disability?
Britain’s commitment to liberty has been shown in the last twenty-five years to be a hypocritical charade. The Lib Dems, defenders of civil liberties in opposition, are betraying this position in power. But blaming parties or politicians is a distraction from the real culprit: the British state it
Directly-elected Mayors in England will centralise power, deepen bureaucracy and lead to a politics of celebrity. There are better paths to the enhanced local democracy that we need.
In ganging up on housing estates, in racist attacks or inter-state brinkmanship, how does the enemy become the Other? This peculiar purification process requires a narrative and a chance to 'perform a boundary'. For local and national communities, leaders and politicians alike, it is one way to re
How to get Britain's unemployed back to work? Re-invigorate the job market? Skill them up? Or co-erce them into taking courses in 'motivation' and 'self-belief?' Tick 1,2 or 3... but just remember, you won't get the right answer if you don't have the right mental attitude!
The end of the British Bobby? Is policing by corporate power replacing policing by consent? Clare Sambrook exposes the insidious first steps of G4S, the world's largest security company, as it moves in on the police force of Lincolnshire (Margaret Thatcher's home county).
While the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review was visibly reported as a missed opportunity, the recent Building Stability Overseas Strategy (BSOS) has received little attention. Yet BSOS presents a unique opportunity to better understand and connect approaches across ‘civil society’, ‘devel
English nationalism has long been trapped between American-led globalisation and small-minded nostalgia. Can England rediscover its identity in its rich local, regional and radical movements?
Security company G4S recruits "outstanding investigative officers" to run murder investigations in the UK for £25,000-a-year.
Taking the Occupy movement in Spain as a case in point, location, organisation and timing seem to be crucial when it comes to putting across a lasting message.
