Politics: the future is plural The question of whether it is possible to be both a pluralist and a tribalist in politics dominated the debate at last night’s launch of Labour for Democracy, a new network within the Labour... Posted 05 Dec 2012
16 days and counting to an election no one’s heard of… Another day, another disaster. We now hear that £350,000 worth of ballot papers are headed for the shredder. The farce that is the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections is continuing to thrill audiences across the country.... Posted 30 Oct 2012
Does no means ‘No Change’ or ‘More Powers’? So we have a deal. We have a Yes/No question for a vote on Scottish Independence, and we can hardly contain our disappointment. This referendum has become a bit of a game with both sides intent... Posted 15 Oct 2012
Politics is too important to be left to the politicians As the first stage in a yearlong process to imagine what a ‘Good Scottish Democracy’ might look like we asked for volunteers to take part in a discussion about the future of Scotland Democracy. ... Posted 12 Oct 2012
50 days and counting to the election no one’s heard of… It’s 50 days and counting to the election no one’s heard of… We have been joined by candidates from across the political divide to call on Theresa May to tackle the rock bottom turnout predicted for... Posted 26 Sep 2012
Avoiding a politicians fix – more powers should be on the ballot Most people think it would be a good idea if the Governments in Westminster and Edinburgh could agree on the form of the Referendum on Scottish Independence. It would probably save all sorts of legal... Posted 21 Sep 2012
Cameron’s broken promise on Women’s representation Women’s representation in government has always appeared to matter to the Prime Minister. Back in his 2005 acceptance speech as leader David Cameron spoke of the need to end the “scandalous under-representation of women” in... Posted 09 Sep 2012
Low turnout is a gift to candidates who have cash to spend For some people, low turnout is an opportunity. In the last week we’ve gained enormous traction for our report that Police and Crime Commissioner elections are set for record low turnout – 18.5%, quite possibly the lowest... Posted 26 Aug 2012
Lords Reform: A failure for Britain’s political class And so it’s come to pass. After all the gossip the government has finally withdrawn the House of Lords Reform bill. This isn’t about the failure of one party, one government or one bill, but of... Posted 06 Aug 2012
Playing pass the parcel on turnout On May 3 2012 Scotland went to the polls. We’d like to tell you precisely how many Scots actually went to vote, but the honest answer is we can’t. And that’s because no one knows... Posted 26 Jul 2012