Veteran lefty Ken Loach has new film out called The Spirit of ’45, a far from balanced documentary about the Attlee government. In a thought-provoking post for the Royal Society of the Arts, Adam Lent takes issue with the idea that Labour’s post-war settlement is dead and buried, killed off by wicked Thatcherites: “…the narrative […]
Danny Kruger used to be a speechwriter for David Cameron. One day he decided that actions spoke louder than words and left politics behind to run a charity called Only Connect. It is, therefore, with the benefit of real experience that he writes for the Financial Times, with a dispatch from the frontline of the big […]
Last year the Baring Foundation, after careful consideration, chose the most worthy recipients for their largesse. They decided to spend a whopping £130,757 on an outfit called Civil Exchange to pay for a "Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector." (I suppose at least it meant they are not pouring even more money into […]
Sir Stephen Bubb was a Labour councillor in Lambeth who was surcharged and disqualified from office during the rate capping era in the 1980s. Now he is chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. This is an outfit from which Sir Stephen claims a six figure salary, much of which comes […]
Are more people going hungry in our country than a years ago? Or two or five or ten years ago? Certainly a lot more people are using food banks run by the Trussell Trust. This is a fantastic Christian charity which operates here and in Bulgaria. Their first Foodbank in the UK opened in Salisbury […]
In an interview in last week’s Spectator, the Conservative MP and Cameroonian cheerleader, Nick Boles, expressed some bracing views on the ‘modernisation’ project that he himself was a part of: “Boles concedes that ‘for classic, relatively low income, Midlands and northern towns and cities there was something missing’. He blames this on the modernisers being ‘very carried away […]
By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter The Church of England's decline has slowed, but not halted. Average church attendance in 2010 was 1.12 million, in 2011 it was 1.13 million. On the other hand, the number of church weddings is up even while the numbers getting married is down. In 1960 there were 2.2 million of […]
Cllr Ralph Baldwin, a councillor in Barking and Dagenham, says the thinking behind the Government's concepts of localism and the Big Society should be combined For the Big Society to be effective we need to take into account the public viewpoint on charities. Well we know about empathy and how people of certain backgrounds tend […]
The Big Society – nice idea, but completely irrelevant in this time of economic crisis. Or is it? According to a fascinating report in the Wall Street Journal, grassroots voluntary action is playing a vital role in Spain, one of the most crisis-ridden economies in the western world. First of all, some context: “Today, workers […]
When it’s well-deserved, there’s nothing wrong in expressing admiration for a political opponent. From a Conservative perspective on the Labour Party, Frank Field obviously tops the list, followed by other decent sorts such as Kate Hoey, Tom Harris, Gisela Stuart and David Lammy. The only downside to such blue-on-red respect is that it is unlikely […]
The Daily Telegraph this morning reported that Olympic gold medalist Laura Trott neighbours were facing difficulties from Herftfordshire County Council over holding a street party. I am assured this is not the case and the road closure will be speedily agreed. Cllr Robert Gordon, the Leader of Hertfordshire County Council, has sent me this comment: […]
Tom Greeves is a speechwriter and actor, and also that rare beast, a rightwing stand-up comedian. Last year, with his serious hat on, he contributed a provocative article to Total Politics: "…I find myself increasingly exasperated at the proliferation of ideas in politics. Everywhere I turn, there is a new think tank, a new pamphlet, […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter And the word of the day is “narrative”. Bruce Anderson uses it in his ConservativeHome column today, suggesting that David Cameron needs to find one — and quick. But it has also been hovering, more generally, over this Olympic period. As I suggested in a post yesterday, the Tory […]