Centre WriteEducation
December 11, 2020

Josh Jones: Free schools — A very Conservative Revolution

Michael Gove reportedly has a bust of Lenin in his office alongside Thatcher's portrait, reflecting his admiration for revolutionaries of all stripes. Certainly, his mass expansion of the ‘academisation/free schools’…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
December 10, 2020

Louise King: COVID-19 must not leave a lasting scar on our youngest generation

2020 has undoubtedly been a year like no other. The routines of our daily lives have been turned upside-down and many people have faced hardships and difficulties. Children have felt…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteHealth & Social Care
December 4, 2020

Sebastian Daszkowski: Is the government doing enough to address the obesity crisis?

The long-lasting effects of COVID-19 on policy making will be experienced for many years. However, one of the less discussed policy shifts is Johnson’s campaign against obesity. Does it represent…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteHealth & Social Care
November 27, 2020

Constance Talbot: Women’s Rugby: levelling the playing field?

The number of women playing rugby has soared in recent years, with more than a quarter of global players now being women (2.7 million). In 2018 alone there was a…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
November 25, 2020

Sam Smethers: A post-COVID caring revolution

The COVID-19 crisis is having multiple and profound impacts on our lives, one of which is the way care is shared within households, but will it hasten us towards equality…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre Write
November 20, 2020

Joanne Cash: Levelling up begins with the early years

The coronavirus lockdown supposedly forced families across the UK into the same experience at the same time: confined to their homes, sharing the kitchen table for education, work and play.…
Anvar Sarygulov
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BrexitCentre Write
November 17, 2020

Lachlan Rurlander: Making the most of Brexit will help British farming thrive

The issue of Britain’s farming future post-Brexit has returned to the spotlight since the passing of the government’s Agriculture Bill on Monday, which lays out the framework for future agricultural…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
November 13, 2020

Izabela Zawartka: What the UK can learn from Australia’s Better Access to Mental Health Care Initiative

Beyond its immediate threat to physical health, the coronavirus pandemic puts a considerable strain on individuals’ mental wellbeing. Factors such as social isolation, financial stress, and mourning for the loss…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteWelfare
November 12, 2020

Peter Aldous MP: The Conservatives are taking rising need for food banks seriously – these new measures must be just the start

It has been a difficult year for families across the country. Despite the best efforts of the government, the pandemic has thrown many families newly into sudden financial hardship and…
Anvar Sarygulov
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ArticlesCentre WritePhoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield
November 12, 2020

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield: A better reward? Public attitudes to citizenship

Summary This analysis tests public attitudes on the importance of, benefits of and criteria for citizenship. The findings provide policy ideas for — and a strong case to — this…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre WriteTransport
November 11, 2020

Eleanor Wells: Getting women into cycling

Today, 62% of CO2 emitted by the road transport sector comes from passenger cars. If as many Britons cycled as people in the Netherlands, two million fewer car-using commuters would…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Centre Write
October 29, 2020

Victoria Atkins MP: Stopping the rise in domestic abuse

Home should be a place of love and safety but for many people in this country this is sadly not the case.  Their partner tries to control their lives in…
Anvar Sarygulov
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Andrew LemingCentre WriteEnergy & EnvironmentPatrick Hall
October 26, 2020

Patrick Hall and Andrew Leming: Beyond the Leaders’ Pledge: Stronger action on UK biodiversity

Late last month, the Prime Minister joined 64 other global leaders in signing the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature. The Pledge aims to build upon global efforts made under the UN…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
October 20, 2020

Anne Longfield OBE: No child left behind

For a country as wealthy as ours, it cannot be right that in 2018/19 over four million children were living in poverty — an increase of 600,000 children since 2010/11.…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
October 16, 2020

Eleonora Vassanelli: Why is Italy’s response to the second wave of COVID-19 better than the UK’s?

Last month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented on the UK’s ability to tackle the second wave of coronavirus, saying that countries like Italy and Germany have responded more effectively because…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
October 14, 2020

Callum Bains: The Government’s ‘green recovery’ must address regional disparities

An early victim of the COVID-19 pandemic was the 26th United Nations’ Climate Change Conference (COP26). The postponement of the conference in April gave an early indication of the scope…
Sam Lampier
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Andrew LemingCentre WriteEnergy & Environment
October 12, 2020

Andrew Leming: Winning the Treble: UK Biodiversity and the Aichi Targets

As the RSPB’s recent report, A Lost Decade for Nature, makes clear, the Government must redouble its efforts on the conservation of ecosystems and wildlife throughout the country. Assessing the…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
October 9, 2020

Cory Freeman: Short termism has hindered our preparedness for crises — we must get proactive about climate change

A reactive, rather than a preventative, response to crises is an all too familiar approach adopted by humanity. Yet what happens when we encounter a problem for which a reactive…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
October 7, 2020

Peter Hitchens v Polly Mackenzie: Has liberalism eroded the family?

PETER HITCHENS: Dear Polly, All my life energetic, admirable and courageous people have tried to help those who suffered in the cold glare of strict old-fashioned sexual morality. Who can…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteForeign
September 28, 2020

James Paterson: SME reform should be at the heart of ‘Suganomics’

Shinzo Abe, who resigned last month as Japan’s Prime Minister for health reasons, leaves behind a mixed legacy on the economy. His administration’s policies, nicknamed ‘Abenomics’, kept the economy afloat…
Sam Lampier
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BrexitCentre Write
September 25, 2020

Christopher Lim: The liberal conservative case for CANZUK

In recent days, talk dismissing the Government’s attempts at building post-Brexit relationships has been rife. The appointment of Tony Abbott, former Australian Prime Minister, is to become the UK government’s…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WritePolitics
September 23, 2020

Andrew Gibbons: How Boris Johnson could stall Scottish independence

The Prime Minister is in a bind over growing Scottish pressure for another referendum on independence from the UK.  Many of Boris Johnson’s actions, including visiting Scotland, seem to increase…
Sam Lampier
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Alexander GriffithsCentre WritePolitics
September 20, 2020

Alex Griffiths: An indirect solution to Lords reform

For decades reform of the House of Lords has been an issue which, despite widespread support, has never seen substantive systemic change even though over the decades there has been…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
September 10, 2020

Matt Warman MP: Levelling up the tech sector

From the Bletchley Park codebreakers to Tim Berners-Lee and the invention of the World Wide Web, the UK has a rich heritage of technologies that we should be truly proud…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteMedia
September 7, 2020

Peter Wilson: Is local radio news safe with the demise of well-known stations?

The demise of the well-known local radio stations including Eagle FM, KL.FM, Minster FM, Radio Aire, Spire FM, Stray FM, Swansea Sound, Wessex FM and Yorkshire Coast Radio and their…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirusForeign
September 4, 2020

Davide de Carle: How China turned crisis into opportunity in Italy

Italy’s disapproval of the European Union during the COVID-19 pandemic has been sharp and prompt. 77% of Italians believe the EU will not help during the crisis and 72% say…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WritePolitics
September 2, 2020

Callum Innes: Tackling youth obesity should mean more sports, not just fewer sweets

Despite much of the country tucking into Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, Boris Johnson is insisting that it is engaging in a ‘war on obesity’. So ambitious…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
August 28, 2020

Jordan Urban: Send the Community Shield to America

Sport has been used as a diplomatic tool for generations. From the Olympics every four years to President Obama’s baseball game to mark the normalisation of relations with Cuba, showcasing…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
August 25, 2020

Jim Morrison: Our thoughts are not our own

Most of us live our lives in cultural and political echo chambers. It’s nothing new and it’s completely natural. But over the past 15 years something has changed. As more…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WritePolitics
August 21, 2020

Felicity Challinor: Unlocking the productive potential of the Government machine

“Unlock the productive potential of our country” is the often repeated mantra during Boris Johnson’s General Election campaign as he promised to press the release button, ‘levelling-up’ a post-Brexit Britain.…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
August 18, 2020

Robert Birch: Bottling it: a solution to Britain’s plastic problem

Walking along any beach in the UK, it is easy to see the impact that humans have on the environment. Before, the only bottles seen on the beach were ones…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
August 14, 2020

Nick Molho: Faster, cleaner, smarter

Whilst Brexit will undoubtedly remain a dominant theme in 2020, the new Government will need to press on with delivering progress on the climate change and environmental agenda. It is…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
July 21, 2020

David McPadden: Is ‘levelling-up’ relevant in a post-Covid Britain?

The Prime Minister’s speech a fortnight ago in Dudley cemented a long-standing change to the public messaging surrounding his election-winning promise to tackle regional disparity. ‘Levelling up’ had featured in…
Bright Blue
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Anvar SarygulovCentre Write
July 17, 2020

Anvar Sarygulov: Welfare conditionality and COVID-19

With Jobcentres beginning to reopen this month, concerns have been raised about the reintroduction of conditionality and sanctions after their three-month suspension between March and June. While Jobcentres will play…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
July 13, 2020

Polina Melnikova: A cashless society – the UK’s inevitable future?

In 2019, UK Finance found that 7.4 million people in the UK led a largely cashless life, meaning one in every seven people chose have forgone cash, and rising to…
Sam Lampier
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Anvar SarygulovBB ResearchCentre WritePolitics
July 6, 2020

Anvar Sarygulov: Experiences and expectations of businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a profound health and economic crisis in the UK. More than nine million workers have been furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
June 15, 2020

Amirah Karmali: The potential for European ocean energy development

The demand for renewable energy sources and the desire to achieve net zero emissions has contributed to a growth in research on ocean energy development in Europe (Europe in this…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & EnvironmentTransport
June 2, 2020

Will Craig: How can the UK government encourage the switch to electric vehicles? Be more like Norway.

The British government’s plate seems to be getting fuller and fuller as 2020 ticks on. Piled under the challenging accompaniments of Brexit closely followed by Coronavirus lies the most devastating…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTransport
May 25, 2020

Anna Iafisco: Let’s seize this opportunity to revolutionise urban transport

Over the past decade, public investment and public private partnerships (PPPs) have been used to create well-integrated and energy-efficient urban transport systems, and this has been justified by the economic…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
May 21, 2020

Andrew Gibbons: Providing smart debt relief to developing countries to combat COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing economic mayhem, reducing tax receipts just as increased calls on health and emergency spending occur. This threatens some countries’ ability to service their debts, prompting…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
May 19, 2020

Carlo Moll: Germany should be the UK’s best friend on the continent

With Brexit an accomplished fact and ongoing negotiations over future relations between the UK and the EU reportedly hanging perilously in the balance, a series of questions concerning the future…
Sam Lampier
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BB ResearchCentre WriteEnergy & EnvironmentPatrick Hall
May 15, 2020

Patrick Hall: Delivering net zero

Today, Bright Blue launched our latest publication, Delivering net zero: Building Britain’s resilient recovery, in conjunction with our partners at WSP. This essay collection brings together nearly 40 leading chief…
Sam Lampier
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Alexander GriffithsCentre WritePolitics
May 12, 2020

Alex Griffiths: The Scottish Parliament needs more dissent

Since its establishment in 1999, the Scottish Parliament has seen a dramatic growth in its powers, moving from being a clearly subordinate chamber to one with significant autonomy over, not…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteForeign
May 9, 2020

Benedict Rogers and Perseus: We should hold the Chinese regime accountable because we are pro-China

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its grip on the world, the political blame game has kicked off and is in full swing.  President Trump and his officials have…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteData & Tech
May 6, 2020

David Henig: Technology is no panacea for UK trade policy

Debates on technology and trade in the UK in recent years have been dominated at micro level by whether technology can render a border invisible, and at macro level as…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WritePolitics
April 30, 2020

Ollie Tinker: What should ‘one-nation conservatism’ mean in the 2020s?

One-nation conservatism has always been a relatively malleable concept. First conceptualised in 1837 by Benjamin Disraeli, it has constantly been reinvented throughout the party’s history to meet the demands of…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteForeignJoseph Silke
April 27, 2020

Joseph Silke: The start of a new approach to China?

In 2015, David Cameron heralded the elaborate state visit of dictator President Xi as symbolic of a new “golden era” of relations between the United Kingdom and China. This week,…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
April 20, 2020

Adam Kearns: The crisis in London’s public spaces

Of many lessons Londoners can take from the COVID-19 crisis, one of the more salient observations is the extent to which our community relies on public spaces. Indeed, it is…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirus
April 15, 2020

Ivan Tarkhanov: How coronavirus has propelled the surveillance society

Security measures taken to combat COVID-19 are growing not dissimilar to those taken in the aftermath of 9/11. Initially many politicians minimised or even dismissed the threat of the pandemic…
Sam Lampier
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BB ResearchCentre WriteJoseph SilkeWelfare
April 13, 2020

Joseph Silke: Separate support?

In the final days of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum campaign, the three main unionist parties promised that new powers would be devolved from Westminster Holyrood in the event of…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteCoronavirusJoseph Silke
April 12, 2020

Joseph Silke: The legacy of coronavirus shouldn’t be the expansion of the state

This week marked 100 days since the first case of disease caused by a novel coronavirus was reported by the Chinese authorities to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In that…
Sam Lampier
Love0
Centre WriteData & Tech
April 8, 2020

Catherine Anderson: Our democracy can only flourish if we reject the toxic culture of online abuse

In this period of exponential digital evolution we are living through, we are both the architects and beneficiaries of progress. Technology has undeniably, if not universally, benefitted the world: overall…
Sam Lampier
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Anvar SarygulovCentre WriteCoronavirusWelfare
April 3, 2020

Anvar Sarygulov: The Government must address the five-week wait for Universal Credit

For all the comparisons of our predicament with war, there is no military to draft people into, no war effort to support through production, no infrastructure that suddenly needs building.…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WritePolitics
April 1, 2020

Toby Williams: Conservatives must heed the call for ‘society’

The Conservative Party’s ability to adapt pragmatically to the political, economic and social landscape is often lauded by its supporters as the key reason behind its electoral successes, and derided…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEconomy & FinanceJoseph Silke
March 28, 2020

Joseph Silke: Are we heading for negative interest rates?

In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Bank of England has cut base rates of interest to an all-time low of just 0.1%. This is down further from its…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEconomy & Finance
March 26, 2020

Marco Oglietti: Trade policy in the post-Brexit era: a matter of balance?

Even though the United Kingdom officially left the European Union on 31 January 2020, negotiations regarding the future relationship between the two parties are still ongoing. Many points related to…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteData & Tech
March 24, 2020

Daniel Korski CBE: New technologies are ready to revolutionise public service delivery

Picture a world where the year 1999 and 2019 exist side by side: where just down the hall from one another, two people do the same job, seek essentially the…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHealth & Social Care
March 17, 2020

Madeleine Murphy: Minimum unit pricing for alcohol is ineffective and punitive

The Scottish Government sought to become a trendsetter with its introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in 2018. It was the policy that they believed others would follow suit…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteImmigration & Integration
March 12, 2020

Nina Oljelund: The high price of British citizenship

Citizenship is about belonging to a state and being included in the greater society. It involves receiving benefits, but also having duties. While citizenship is about inclusion, the flipside is…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHousing & HomelessnessJoseph Silke
March 10, 2020

Joseph Silke: The last thing London needs is rent controls

There aren’t many things that economists across the political spectrum agree on, but the vast majority of respected economists from all sides concur: rent controls are a terrible idea. Swedish…
Sam Lampier
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