Theme : politics
- Cultural and Artistic Practice and Democratic Participation Last week, I spoke at the launch of Peckham Space, a project run by Camberwell College of Arts that looks at the role or participation in contemporary art.The speech covered a range of topics, in particular that of creative and artistitc production as a democratic space and its potential in relation to politics. You can read a text of the speech, here ... and a podcast of the event will follow soon. from : samjones 27th June 2008
- The Politics of Public Behaviour Demos published a new pamphlet yesterday: The Politics of Public Behaviour. It looks at the public consequences of private decisions. The aim was to ask where and when government should involve itself in people’s personal decision-making, from parenting to carbon emissions, diet, exercise, pensions savings, gambling and organ donorship. It seems on all this issues and more the public/private boundary is becoming blurred. from : duncanoleary 9th May 2008
- Old habits die hard? There has been much in the news in the last few months about the past lives of our politicians, but how much do these really matter? I think there is good reason to be cautious about David Cameron's 'transformation' of the Conservative Party, given his past record and the prevailing economic consensus. from : tombarker 1st May 2008
- A new race Cold War? You would be forgiven for thinking that I'm talking about the fallout from the Beijing Olympics torch relay, but in fact I am referring to a speech being delivered today by Trevor Philips to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Philips argues that Powell was wrong to predict a 'hot war' between races, but that the UK instead now faces the emergence of a 'cold war', with relations between different races and ethnic groups at a low.Two points come to mind:First,... from : rachelbriggs 20th April 2008
- Trust me, I'm the head of immunisation at the Department of Health Vaccines are an interesting condensation point for debates about science, the public good, personal freedom and choice. As the UK government found a few years back with the MMR vaccine, you get in trouble if you are on the one hand telling people to choose everything to do with their healthcare and on the other coercing them into vaccination for the public good. The evidence, as we found out, won't win arguments that messy. There's a nice book co-authored by Demos friend Melissa Leach that... from : jackstilgoe 10th March 2008
- Diversity and politics Is ethnic diversity at the root of our current political malaise? Robert Putnam shows us that diversity brings major benefits to societies, but can harm social trust and political engagement in the short term. If he's right, then this might just be a transitional phase of renegotiation before we get back to politics as usual. from : simonparker 13th February 2008
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Launch of the Everyday Democracy Index
Yesterday evening Demos was jam-packed for the launch of the Everyday Democracy Index. Paul Skidmore unveiled the first exciting set of results, with an engaging response from Professor Timothy Garton Ash.
Rather than relying solely on traditional democratic indicators like electoral turnout, the EDI also measures how good countries are at empowering their citizens in everyday spheres of life like neighbourhoods and communities, workplaces, public services and even the family.
from : kirstenbound 1st February 2008 - Beyond 68 Is Barack Obama's real significance the fact the he was too young to be on the frontlines in 1968? There's a pretty convincing argument in this week's Economist that we're witnessing the moment when American politics moves beyond the culture wars of the hippie generation and becomes, well, something else. from : simonparker 7th January 2008
- Engaging with Europe Last week the European Commission published its draft annual progress reports on accession candidates, including Croatia and Turkey. However, despite not attracting much attention outside the candidate countries and the EU itself, these reports are still the EU’s most important tool in accession negotiations – and the question of whether the accession process is effective is of vital importance to the future of the EU. Could this mean it may be time to start taking notice of what is going on in Brussels and engaging with the crucial questions that will need to be answered if the EU is to successfully reform itself into an entity that can deliver on its promises? from : dompotter 27th November 2007
- Education is about more than making sure the numbers add up The Conservatives yesterday unveiled some education policy proposals, but what is surprising about the substance of these policies is that there is a distinct lack of new ideas. Moreover, it seems that there is also something of a reluctance to look beyond a familiar source for policy inspiration. from : dompotter 21st November 2007