The Problem of Responsibility
Catchy title, I know. But a little cache of letters I found recently, dating from 1965, raised the question of political responsibility. And it was a jolt to realise how far we have come- gone- in terms of direct engagement between the governed and the government. My...
The three biggest distortions of the election
Spare a thought for a moment for the hapless policy wonk. I don’t really speak as a representative of the guild, so to speak – I am far too opinionated. But I have enough policy wonk in my genes to know what they are going through, and two weeks from a general...
Briefing the election candidates
On giving away social housing
I wrote earlier this week about selling social housing to tenants, and the circumstances where it could be a radical idea again, as perhaps it was in 1980. Of course, what we didn't know then was that local authorities would be forced to hold onto the money they made...
The Costs of Eviction
Last Monday the Sweets Way occupiers and protesters got another week from a pleasant County Court judge in which further to prepare their arguments as to why they should not be evicted from their homes on Sweets Way in the London borough of Barnet. The judge heard...
Who dimmed the university mind?
I’ve always believed that fairy tales have a role in understanding the contemporary world, and therefore of politics. This sounds a little sceptical or satirical, but I don’t mean it like that. You can use fairy tales as a positive way of extracting the underlying...
Not So Sweet
A roomy green estate of 150 houses has been rapidly cleared of its residents, now scattered to other boroughs, other schools, other towns. A tiny number have taken over one house and are mounting a resistance to the ‘social cleansing’ they claim has happened in...
Our Allotted Span
A document dropped through my door on Saturday. It was from the Allotments Association asking for our help in protecting the site of 50 allotments in the village.Apparently we need to get our allotments designated as a Local Green Space to protect them from the...
Where are the resources going to come from?
Take the NHS for example. The political narrative is always about the dearth of resources available – and of course this is bound to be a problem. But it is odd, nonetheless, given that so much of what needs doing requires no obvious training – visiting,...
The underlying causes of an unbalanced economy
We don't live in a very literate age when it comes to economics. There are still people in Whitehall, even the Treasury, who believe that somehow – if cities decline or fall, if one place succumbs to grinding poverty – that is it the ‘market’ that did it. However...