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The formal campaign is nearly over but what happens next matters more
As the General Election comes to a close, the speculation on what happens next is starting to seem much more important than what has been going on for the last six weeks. We have seen, as I have been arguing through these election blogs, at least three different campaign. From the media’s point of view…
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Under the radar conversations
I have been struck by the growing gap between the election campaign as it appears in the media and the conversations and discussions I am having through my work with community based organisations and residents. Over the past two weeks I have sat and listened to people talk about their voluntary work in a community…
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General Election 2015 is a great indictment of the Northern Ireland Peace Process
It had been hoped that the religious and political binary fault line between Catholic/ Nationalist/ Irish and Protestant/ Unionist/ British was something that 20 years of the Peace Process would begin to erode. This election will suggest quite the reverse: ‘real’ politics, based on political, ideological issues rather than simple religious affiliation may be some…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Why the public realm still matters
The idea of the ‘public realm’ is one which is unlikely to grab everyone’s attention. But it captures an important set of ideas and they are ones we tend to take for granted. At its heart is the simple proposition that the health of a good society can be seen through its commitment to shared…
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Vote: Politics is about more than political parties and the ballot box
Russell Brand caused a stir in the media and amongst the political classes in recent months as he questioned the value of voting in what he sees as a corrupt political system which fails to serve the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Whilst I might have sympathy with some of the things Brand says,…
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Broken links!
Earlier this week (9 February) the Conservatives gave away the list of constituencies the party is not targeting in the General Election. They did this by including the words “non target” in the URL of each candidate’s page on the central website. A bit of an Ooops moment! So we now know, from the Conservatives’…
