Opinion Articles

What’s a ‘back office’ for? The case of policing

British police forces are regarded as among the best in the world. The (mainly) unarmed British 'Bobby', policing by consent, is still an attractive ideal – as shown by the demand for British officers in other countries. In current discussions of public spending cuts, the government insists that this 'frontline' service will be protected, if […]

History offers no route-map: these spending cuts have no precedent

George Osborne's emergency Budget is the most important statement of a new governing ideology since James Callaghan's famous renunciation of Keynesian economics at the 1976 Labour Party Conference. In particular, the scale of the public sector cuts ahead are staggering – even to historians used to analyzing the roller-coaster of twentieth century economic growth. The […]

MMR, autism and the history of medical controversies

Andrew Wakefield has been struck off by the General Medical Council for his research into a possible link between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Although he will appeal the verdict, it is another strike against him and his controversial theory. This may be a good thing. Wakefield failed to provide evidence […]

Scrapping the police ‘stop’ form

In her address to Police Federation delegates at their Bournemouth conference, Home Secretary Theresa May, spoke in rather vague terms of the new government's intention to reduce the burden of 'stop and search' procedures, and of her intention to scrap the 'stop' form, which police officers are currently required to complete when a member of […]

Dr Liam Fox: More Palmerston than Blair?

When the Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox referred to himself as “more Palmerston than Blair” in an interview with The Times, it can be safely assumed he was not alluding to the fact that Lord Palmerston began his parliamentary career as a Tory, and ended it as a Liberal. Palmerston was famous in foreign affairs […]

Nick Clegg and the not-so-great 1832 Reform Act

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has authenticated his blueprint [pdf file, 43KB] for political and constitutional reform with a comparison to the 1832 'Great' Reform Act, promising to deliver: The biggest shake up of our democracy since 1832, when the Great Reform Act redrew the boundaries of British democracy, for the first time extending the […]

The ‘Great’ Reform Act of 1832: Clegg’s unfortunate parallel

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called the reforms announced today 'the most significant programme of empowerment by a British government since the great reforms of the 19th Century', in particular since the Great Reform Act of 1832. The parallels with 1832 are actually deeply unfortunate. The rationale behind the passage of the Reform Act […]

If Cameron is the new Baldwin, where does this leave Clegg?

BA cabin crew: the new London dockers?

Philip Hammond's comparison between BA cabin staff contemplating strike action and the London dockers of the 1960s who attempted to resist employment and technological changes is not entirely inaccurate. Like BA cabin staff today the dockers of London and other British ports were low paid, insecurely employed, worked long hours and were only taken seriously […]

Avoiding Irish entanglements

The Conservative Party, now in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, no longer needs to rely on the support of Ulster Unionists. This is just as well, because the history of entanglements between Irish and British parties suggests it would have been an unwise move, which the Conservatives narrowly avoided. In January, Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman […]