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Politics Today

  • It's the economy, stupid

    Bill Clinton’s slogan came to mind this week. The retiring Governor of the Bank of England published his final report on the state of the economy but the headlines were hijacked by the Conservative backbench rebellion on Europe. 

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  • How seriously should we take UKIP?

    Last week’s local elections created a stir when UKIP took a quarter of the votes cast but impartial analysis suggests it is too soon to draw conclusions for the outcome of the 2015 General Election. These elections were for 35 English Councils, including the County Councils which the Conservatives traditionally dominate. They lost control of eight. Labour took Derbyshire from them but the other seven have no party in overall control. 

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  • What is porn doing to our children?

    A cross-party group of MPs chaired by Claire Perry has campaigned for internet safety, to protect children from exposure to online pornography. With support from the Prime Minister the group has seen Internet Service Providers required to verify the age of the person setting controls on all newly purchased Broadband packages and computers. Viewing pornographic sites via public Wi-Fi is to be blocked.

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  • Hard Times

    Even though Fitch, the Ratings Agency, has downgraded the UK’s credit worthiness from AAA to AA+, the Chancellor will take some comfort from the latest economic statistics. 0.3% economic growth in the last quarter meant we missed a triple dip recession by a whisker. 

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  • What place does religion have in Britain today?

    It is a presupposition of liberal, socialist and feminist politics that Britain is a secular society in which religion and politics belong in separate spheres of life. Baroness Thatcher’s funeral this week made me wonder how true this is.

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  • Baroness Thatcher

    Unquestionably the death on Monday of Baroness Thatcher has monopolised the headlines all week. She was exceptional in many ways. She is the only female Prime Minister we have had. She held that office for 11 years, longer than anyone except Sir Robert Walpole who lasted almost 21 years (1721-42). 

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  • Welfare Reform

    When the benefit system was created it was a laudable attempt to help people unable to work and support poor families in real need who could not sustain a basic standard of living. It gave dignity to those who were at their wits end trying to put food on the table and pay their essential bills. Seventy years of tinkering and ad hoc development has made the welfare system overly complex and unsustainably expensive. 

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  • Changing the culture of the NHS

    With the Budget done and both Houses in recess, there is time this week to set aside the rough and tumble of party politics and consider how patients are treated in NHS hospitals. The performance of Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2008, when 1,200 patients died unnecessarily and patients were sometimes grossly neglected, fell well below acceptable standards expected in NHS hospitals. 

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  • Leveson Log Jam Broken

    A free press that can challenge wrong-doing in public and private life is essential for a democracy. Silencing it is the first act of every totalitarian regime. A press that is itself guilty of wrongdoing is a menace to those it uses and abuses. 

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  • Taking stock

    Prime Minister’s Questions bring out the worst in MPs. The leaders mock each other as their backbenchers jeer. They treat PMQs as a pre-election campaign, to inform voters of their opponent’s failures. Mr Miliband says the Government’s economic strategy has failed while the PM says the Opposition has no plan that does not involve spending more and increasing the deficit.

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