Opinion Panel

David Lammy MP, one of the noble faces of civil society’s response to the August 2011 riots, has come out in somewhat surprising favour of changing the law on physical disciplining of children by parents – the “reasonable chastisement” entitlement of parents should be considered for reinstatement as a means of bringing restless children into [...]

Publishing ones tax returns in the middle of the night would suggest one has something to hide. This is no less true when the individual who did so could potentially lead the free world. GOP nomination contender Mitt Romney recently revealed that, for the year of 2010, he paid an effective rate of just under [...]

“You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning… And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy [...]

Arriving at the Institute of Education on Saturday 14th January, London, W1, it was clear that this was indeed the right place for the 2012 Fabian Society conference. Shoals of suit-clad, Guardian-clutching socialist young things schmoozed their way between reception points and media desks, surrounded by advertising for the New Statesman. There was a considerable [...]

When I was 17 I yearned, starry eyed, to vote, to have an influence. The 2011 local elections were my first chance. To say that I was pleased with the result would be a lie; the status quo stayed the same. The system doesn’t change that often, and when it does it has very little [...]

Luke Bozier has left the Labour Party to join the Conservatives. For those who follow politics via Twitter, this will be of some interest. For those that don’t, there is only one natural response – ‘who the hell is Luke Bozier?’ Well, it’s a pretty good question. A self-proclaimed ‘Former Senior Adviser to the Labour [...]

John Hewitt Jones questions the idea that draconian measures are the way to maintain civil order in the aftermarth of last August’s riots. ‘[businesses] are just raping the world anyway…just taking advantage of other people’s labour…so why can’t we take advantage of them for this one moment.’ – Anonymous looter, interviewed as part of the [...]

Think 2011 was a year in which the UK population proved it was politically savvy and proactive? Think again. That the title of this piece is a pun on the title of a certain well-known Sex Pistols song is no accident. As much as this year was defined by the anarchy of protest, it was [...]

‘The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – Too many twits make a twat’. The words of our esteemed Prime Minister David Cameron remind us that for many politicians Twitter remains a procrastination tool for under-worked wannabe journalists, nerdy political activists and egotistical backbench MPs. For the civil service, it is difficult to imagine [...]