This week, MP for Elmet and Rothwell Alec Shelbrooke has proposed making changes to the welfare system in order to effect what the Daily Express today describes as a “crackdown” on the “skivers taking us all for a ride”. The idea is a fairly populist one which fits into the present narrative of benefit-bashing,...
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You might have seen today’s news from the Conservative Party Conference that the Government will now allow householders to exercise “reasonable force” in the protection of their homes and families from burglars. “Being confronted by an intruder in your own home is terrifying, and the public should be in no doubt that the law...
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David Cameron “sets out his vision for the future of Britain” today in a rather astonishing Mail article. Packed full of platitudes and lacking any sense of self-awareness, I have to admit to reading most of it with my mouth agape. So, in the famous internet tradition of Fisking (a point-by-point criticism which highlights...
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Following the riots of August 2011, the Economist writer Bagehot produced a fabulous article demonstrating that the crisis over wayward youth was one which had reoccurred in almost every generation in recorded memory. The piece, which tapped into Stanley Cohen’s theories of moral panic, demolished the knee-jerk view that this sort of public disorder...
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As the disciples of Eurozone austerity are unceremoniously booted out of office, now might be a good time for us to discuss whether the backlash against British austerity, which has been growing since the formation of the coalition, has the potential to expand and provoke yet another government to...
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Precisely ten years ago, on the 11th of April 2002, a remarkable event took place in Venezuela. The democratically elected President, Hugo Chávez, was removed from power in a military coup. A mere 47 hours later he was reinstated, but the events of that period tell us much about the nature of modern imperialism....
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The citizens of Manchester, like their counterparts in towns and cities across the UK are struggling to come to terms with huge reductions in local authority funding. The city council recently approved £61m of cuts for 2012/13 in addition...
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On the 19th of February, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey hopped on the bandwagon of a new petition launched by the Coalition for Marriage, a group formed to support what they define as traditional marriage (ie: that which involves one man and one woman), opposing any...
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The past few weeks have focused intensely on the economic credibility of the Labour party. This has now come to a climax with Ed Balls’ apparent u-turn on the coalition’s programme of cuts. I have to admit to the use of some choice language whilst watching Balls’ speech to the Fabian society on Saturday,...
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Today marks the first anniversary of Passing Nightmare. It may sound cliché, but we’ve come a heck of a long way in the space of a year. Over 40 articles have been published on a variety of topics, expertly written by a wide selection of writers. Many have commented that 2011 has been quite a year...
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