The search for purposes in institutions is meaningless. A body only becomes an institution when people start acting in ways other than those set down in their rule book or mission statement. We must be wary of the impulse to build institutions, and be prepared to recognise the importance of habits
Yesterday's shocking figures for GDP in the last quarter of 2010 have changed the dynamics of British politics. The so-called 'squeezed middle' debate has only just begun and now sits at the heart of the politics of stagflation.
While the Cameroon Conservatives re-draw the state, emphasising the role of the individual, popular culture propagates the myth of the self-made star. Psychology is the zeitgeist - but can society's deep-rooted problems be dealt with on the level of the individual?
Outraged by his local council's decision to close half the libraries in Oxfordshire, the author of the Dark materials trilogy delivers a broadside against market fundamentalism, the cuts and the 'Big Society' that goes with them.
Osborne claimed in his June budget that the Coalition's economic strategy would be fair and progressive. Yet the brunt of their attack on the deficit will be borne by the poor, while business has been shown some astonishing largesse.
Referendums on Europe have been proposed as a way to defend British parliamentary sovereignty from the encroachment of Brussels. But this is confusing parliamentary and popular sovereignty. Why are the British political classes obsessed with the sovereignty of parliament, why has the idea become s
Conservative Party Chair Sayeeda Warsi spoke out against Islamophobia and has met with a barrage of criticism from the right and a clear voice of support from a fellow Conservative Peter Oborne. There should be more like him.
Secret tax files passed by a Swiss banker to Wikileaks have further highlighted the corruption of UK governance and our financial institutions. Stuart Weir reflects on how we can tackle tax avoidance and the use of tax havens, and asks what part, if any, Labour will play.
What a fascinating end to a watershed week for Britain, a week shaped by the continued Blairite dominance of British politics. Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the health service opened the week; Blair’s evidence to the Chilcot inquiry and the resignation of Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s Head of Commu
Blair, Coulson, Cameron: what is going wrong with British government? The BBC knows how to report it but seems unable to understand it.
Long before the latest savage cuts, the UK’s failure to prioritise children was an international disgrace. At yesterday’s Westminster Education Forum, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former Children’s Commissioner, urged children’s advocates to shape up and work together to challenge the government.
