• Why we need a different ‘conversation’ before May 7

    Why we need a different ‘conversation’ before May 7

    As the General Election campaign shifts into a different gear – the wall to wall coverage, the on / off TV debates , the post debate analysis and the stage managed events in local high streets for the cameras  – the gap between the politicians and their reference group and the rest of the country…

  • Further Education Matters

    Further Education Matters

    At the end of last month, the Government outlined their plans for adult further education. Excluding funding for apprenticeships, the budget for 2015/16 will be cut by 24 per cent. That’s 24 per cent of the funding for adults who want to gain a better education later in life. Further education was deeply scarred as…

  • Who’s going to win?  Show me the money

    Who’s going to win?  Show me the money

    I blogged previously about a conference at which academics made predictions for potential election results based on a range of factors. One of those factors was money. It is possible, by looking at the Electoral Commission website, to see which constituency or local parties have received the most in donations in any particular quarter. Parties…

  • Why we are missing out on a genuine political conversation?

    Why we are missing out on a genuine political conversation?

    Over the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to sit and listen to ‘real’ people talk about their hopes and aspirations as well as their anxieties and fears. Their voices, as opposed to those which we hear on the news or indeed those that we engage in at conferences or workshops, provide a…

  • Predicting results.. what works and what doesn’t

    Predicting results.. what works and what doesn’t

    Predicting election results is a mix of art and science.  We can all think of polls and pundits in the past who have got it wrong.  But there are some signs observers can look out for to make at least a partial judgement. Yesterday (March 5th) I attended an excellent event at the BBC in…

  • Why changing how public services are run and financed is off the agenda

    Why changing how public services are run and financed is off the agenda

    How public services are funded and how they are run have been two central questions to dominate news and political conversations. The scale of problems associated with the NHS, from the crisis in A&E to the scandals revealed in the Francis Report in Staffordshire, have all been about money and staffing. And yet, as the…

  • Unaccustomed as I am…..

    Unaccustomed as I am…..

    This Spring sees the last lot of party conferences before the big event. Some are specific national conferences, like the Conservative Welsh Conference that has just taken place.  Others are UK wide, like the Lib Dem conference due to take place later in March (13/14/15th) and Ukip’s event in Margate. Organisations such as “grassroots” organisation…

  • Why policy matters and why we need to talk about it more

    Why policy matters and why we need to talk about it more

    The General Election campaign, not formally announced but underway,is being dominated by the personalities (or lack of). So it matters that the Green Leader had a difficult interview or that senior MPs can offer to trade their services for £5,000 a day but that other (potentially more significant things) issues can be ignored or missed altogether.…

  • What price an MP?

    What price an MP?

    In the wake of the cash for access scandal there has been much comment about MPs remuneration and whether they should have incomes beyond their role as MPs. The various comments by Sir Malcolm Rifkind – the free time he had on his hands; dismissing his salary of £67,000; his right to have a higher…

  • Words… words…words

    Words… words…words

    Is there any phrase more annoying than “hard- working families”?  This seems to have entered the political phrasebook and is now trotted out by just about every party on just about every occasion.  Some say it was first used in the 1990s although Liverpool University’s Dr Stuart Wilks Heeg has pointed out a use in…