Centre WritePolitics
March 4, 2020

Nikolas Koch: Does Austria’s ÖVP-Green coalition set an example for Europe?

In January, Austria’s first centre-right and Green coalition between Sebastian Kurz’s centre-right ÖVP and the Green Party was sworn in. Following the FPÖ’s ‘Ibiza-gate’ scandal concerning political corruption, Austrian chancellor…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteLaw & Justice
February 24, 2020

Anahad Khangura: Our strategy must change to defeat the evolving threat of terrorism

Recently, terrorism has witnessed a gradual transition from the conventional ISIS strategy, which focused on maintaining territorial sovereignty in the Middle East, to a more global and decentralised model of…
Sam Lampier
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BB ResearchCentre WriteHelen Jackson
February 21, 2020

Helen Jackson: High and dry?: Preventing tomorrow’s “flood ghettos”

Introduction The severe flooding of last November and December, as well as recent Storms Ciara and Dennis, have brought renewed focus on whether the Government is doing enough to protect…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteJoseph SilkeTransport
February 17, 2020

Joseph Silke: More competition will be good news for taxi passengers

The days when the iconic Hackney carriage ruled the road are well and truly over. Last week, the Indian ride-hailing firm Ola launched in the capital, expanding its operations from…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTransport
February 13, 2020

Stuart Crank: Proceeding with HS2 is a historic mistake

The Conservative Party’s decisive 2019 election victory was due, in large part, to hoovering up vast swathes of the historically Labour-voting North and Midlands.  The Government now has a unique…
Sam Lampier
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BrexitCentre WriteForeign
February 4, 2020

Adrián Legaria: The roots of Euroscepticism

Across Europe, populism has surged as populist movements have used the political salience of globalisation, immigration and sovereignty to burst into the mainstream. Many scholars, such as Lukas and Benjamin…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteData & Tech
January 29, 2020

Jack Fulton: Why the Online Harms White Paper should be amended

The rate at which social media has become integrated into our lives has been astonishing. 2019 saw 45 million active social media users, or 67% of the British population; a…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTowns & Devolution
January 23, 2020

Robert Mirante: Northern Ireland: A New Hope

Over the last few days Northern Ireland has finally re-established their executive and restored devolved rule. This has been three years in the making, over many failed talks and bitter…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEconomy & FinancePolitics
January 17, 2020

Andrew Gibbons: Towards Better Policy Formulation

To succeed in the marketplace for ideas, grounding policies in economic analysis is more important than making them distinctively partisan. Good policies should be effective and durable.  While some may…
Sam Lampier
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Anvar SarygulovBB ResearchCentre WritePolitics
January 8, 2020

Anvar Sarygulov: Immediate public expectations of and priorities for the Conservative Government

The Conservatives have secured a large majority in the 2019 General Election. A significant component to their success has been winning over voters which have not traditionally voted Conservatives, particularly…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteLaw & JusticePhoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield
January 6, 2020

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield: Understanding the ‘rough sex defence’

Does UK law have a loophole that allows men to get away with hurting or killing women by claiming their harm was the result of consensually rough sex? 2019 saw…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTowns & DevolutionTransport
January 3, 2020

Luke Cavanaugh: The balancing act of northern transport improvements

In the hours after the election, news channels delivered a scene that few could have imagined in the wake of the 2017 election: a Conservative Prime Minister sweeping to victory…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteData & Tech
December 28, 2019

Hetan Shah: Time to seize the data opportunity

Many of the most successful corporations these days such as Google or Amazon are essentially data companies. While technology has reshaped the private sector, government risks getting left behind. The…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteData & TechTowns & Devolution
December 19, 2019

Nicola Yates: Cities of the future

Cities are shaped by complex, often competing, local, national and global forces. That makes it hard for place leaders, both public and private, to accurately predict and plan for the…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTowns & Devolution
December 11, 2019

Vidhya Alakeson: Power to the people

In recent years, a series of high-profile closures has put the decline of the high street firmly in the headlines. The travails of household names like Debenhams, House of Fraser,…
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Anvar SarygulovCentre WriteWelfare
December 6, 2019

Anvar Sarygulov: Labour should fix, not scrap, Universal Credit

The release of Labour’s election manifesto confirms their desire to take a sledgehammer to Universal Credit. But Labour’s crusade against Universal Credit would be a significant step backwards in how…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteTowns & Devolution
December 4, 2019

Lord O’Neill: Lost towns?

I have spent a lot of time in the past six years thinking about the excessive dependence of the UK economy on the performance of London and the surrounding South…
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Centre WriteEducation
November 28, 2019

James Cullimore: Illiteracy in the UK

If you’re reading this blog on your laptop or tablet, it’s probably difficult to imagine not being able to access or share information in this way. Written communication has become…
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Centre WriteTowns & Devolution
November 27, 2019

Nicholas Boys Smith: Everyday beauty

Somewhere, somehow, over the last century we dropped beauty, mislaid it, and forgot that we needed to pick it up again. The great visionaries who created the National Trust, the…
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Anvar SarygulovCentre WritePolitics
November 22, 2019

Anvar Sarygulov: Brexit Party’s Exit

The announcement that the Brexit Party will not standing in all seats that the Tories won in 2017 has been seen by some as a game-changer. However, the most significant…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteForeignPolitics
November 22, 2019

Anastasia Kourtis: A beacon of hope for liberal conservatism in Europe

Liberal conservatism is under threat in Europe. Several former communist countries, such as Poland and Hungary, have elected right-wing governments, which academics have deemed 'illiberal', and at odds with liberal…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHealth & Social CareHuman Rights & DiscriminationPhoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield
November 21, 2019

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield: Medical bias – not a woman’s world

Despite forming half of the British population, women continue to suffer from persistent and significant gender inequalities in modern medical research and practice. The impact of this pernicious erasure of…
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Centre WriteHousing & Homelessness
November 20, 2019

Dan Wilson Craw: Securing tenure

The private rental market is home to one fifth of the UK’s population, after rapid growth over the past two decades. Long regarded – and often dismissed – as a…
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Anvar SarygulovCentre WriteHousing & Homelessness
November 15, 2019

Anvar Sarygulov: Sharing the good news? The impact of shared ownership reforms

Shared ownership, where an individual buys a share of a house and then pays rent on the remaining share, has become an increasingly attractive affordable housing option, with around 200,000…
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Centre WriteEconomy & FinanceHousing & Homelessness
November 14, 2019

Mary Dejevsky: The property-renting democracy?

The idea that the so-called ‘property-owning democracy’ is, if not dead, then dying, is now almost treated as established fact. Members of the self-styled ‘generation rent’ are especially vocal, claiming…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEconomy & Finance
November 7, 2019

James Wakefield: Stock buybacks – at what cost?

Stock buybacks are growing in popularity among UK companies, likely a product of the low interest environment and uncertainty over Brexit. While it is not for the Government to instruct…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHousing & Homelessness
November 6, 2019

Bob Blackman: Homeless no more…

At the heart of the Homelessness Reduction Act was the desire to intervene in cases as early as possible, to provide vulnerable people and families with consistent, solid advice wherever…
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Centre WritePoliticsWelfare
November 6, 2019

Peter Aldous: The Conservative Party can proudly say we have turned the page on poverty

We created a National Living Wage, helping millions of people across the country; we launched Universal Credit to simplify an outdated system of welfare; and unemployment is at a record…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
November 4, 2019

Johnny Tan: Britain’s net zero target must not ignore imported emissions

Greta Thunberg recently castigated Parliament for hiding behind “very creative carbon accounting”, in order to fulfil its climate goals. By failing to account for imported emissions, Britain, along with other…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteEnergy & EnvironmentHousing & HomelessnessTowns & Devolution
October 28, 2019

Loïc Fremond: London must build smarter as well as more

London has been in the midst of an acute housing crisis for some time now. One has only to consult recent figures to grasp the situation. The housing market in…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHousing & Homelessness
October 23, 2019

Andrew Boff AM: A familial place

Families come in all shapes and sizes. But all of them have one thing in common: they need a place to live. A place to grow, play, sleep and study.…
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Centre WriteHuman Rights & DiscriminationImmigration & IntegrationPhoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield
October 21, 2019

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield: A place for faith schools? 

The British Social Attitudes Survey has found that 52% of Brits are atheist or do not belong to any religion. In this era of plummeting religious belief, it is worth…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHousing & Homelessness
October 16, 2019

Polly Neate: The social solution

Conservatives have always understood that for families to thrive, secure foundations are essential. A sense of belonging, investment in your own community, a stable place to raise children – these…
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Centre WriteHuman Rights & DiscriminationLaw & Justice
October 15, 2019

Jennifer Twite: Isn’t there more to conservative DNA than punishing people who commit crimes?

In her first words at the podium at the Conservative Party conference, Home Secretary Priti Patel established the theme of her speech in no uncertain terms. “Today, here in Manchester,…
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Centre WriteHousing & Homelessness
October 9, 2019

Alex Morton: Righting homeownership

A rare consensus in British politics today is that the UK is facing a housing crisis. The precise causes of this crisis are more controversial. One argument frequently – and…
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
October 7, 2019

Georgia Hardisty: Tackling food waste at the point of production

Food wastage, that is food lost by deterioration or discard, has both a financial and social cost, not to mention its contribution to global hunger. To emphasise the sheer magnitude…
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Centre WriteLaw & JusticePhoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield
October 4, 2019

Phoebe Arslanagic-Wakefield: The new PM should reverse family law legal aid cuts

Legal aid is, to its deep misfortune, a niche issue whose principal advocates are the judiciary and legal professionals. The sweeping cuts of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of…
Sam Lampier
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Centre WriteHuman Rights & DiscriminationImmigration & Integration
October 4, 2019

Bethany Morris: Football: the bridge between asylum seekers and integration

The life of an asylum seeker can often feel like a vacuum.. The memories of traumas such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse, torture and the deaths of loved ones…
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Centre WriteEconomy & FinanceHuman Rights & Discrimination
October 3, 2019

Virginia Crosbie: Through the glass ceiling

Women are becoming the most powerful force in US politics. Three of the most influential US activists – Cecile Richards, Alicia Garza and Ai-jen Poo – have launched ‘Supermajority’, with…
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Centre WriteEconomy & FinanceSam Robinson
September 26, 2019

Sam Robinson: The self-employed savings crisis: more than just money?

The rise of self-employment in the UK has been remarkable. Since 2001, self-employed people have gone from accounting for 12% of the labour force to over 15% today, with 1.5…
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Centre Write
September 25, 2019

Duncan Exley: Rebuilding the British dream

One of the key dividing lines between Leavers and Remainers is that the former are more likely to feel that their — and their country’s-best days are behind them. A…
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Centre WriteTowns & DevolutionTransport
September 20, 2019

Peter Wilson: Yorkshire, infrastructure & future devolution

On Yorkshire Day (1st August) this year, Boris Johnson sent the following message to us Yorkshire folk saying, “I know there’s wide support for more devolution here and we must…
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Centre WriteHealth & Social Care
September 19, 2019

Claudia Martinez: Getting it right for the NHS: Next steps for the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made the NHS one of his top priorities. In his nine weeks in office, Johnson has already pledged £1.8 billion to fund capital works and…
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Centre WriteHuman Rights & Discrimination
September 18, 2019

Lord Holmes: Accessing talent

I lost my sight at the age of fourteen. Ironically, one of the most challenging aspects was the fact that people immediately stopped seeing me. The attitudes of those around…
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
September 17, 2019

William Nicolle: The new PM could improve on the Common Fisheries Policy by creating a market-based system for fishing quotas.

In his first trip to Scotland, the country that lands 61% of the UK’s total fishing catch by weight, the new PM promised – flushed with rhetoric of “taking back…
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Centre WriteHenry HillTowns & Devolution
September 12, 2019

Henry Hill: Boris and the Union

If Boris Johnson is serious about living up to his chosen title as ‘Minister for the Union’, he faces an extraordinary challenge. Not only must he steer what he dubs…
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Centre WritePolitics
September 11, 2019

Helen Pluckrose: Limited extremes

Do I believe liberal universalism is being abandoned across the political spectrum? The short answer to this question is no. This sometimes surprises people because I dedicate so much time…
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Centre WriteForeign
September 9, 2019

Robert Mirante: Where’s Italy come and where the heck is it going?

Across the West, we have felt the rise of populism with the marks of Brexit and the election of Trump being the clearest examples of this. While the West has…
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Centre WriteEnergy & EnvironmentPatrick Hall
September 5, 2019

Patrick Hall: The new PM should bolster support for Nature Recovery Networks and prioritise their creation

As the PM prepared to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in August, he reaffirmed his commitment to biodiversity. One of the policy tools Johnson has for encouraging greater biodiversity in…
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Centre Write
September 4, 2019

Dr Zareer Masani: Guilty past pleasures?

As Britain prepares to leave the EU, the debate over its imperial past grows ever sharper. In some ways that’s not surprising given that the European Common Market succeeded what…
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Anvar SarygulovCentre WriteWelfare
August 30, 2019

Anvar Sarygulov: Time for action: improving transitioning to Universal Credit

By the end of 2023, more than 6.5 million people are forecast to be claiming Universal Credit (UC), yet in May 2019 only 1.8 million were. Over the next couple…
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Centre Write
August 28, 2019

Emerson Csorba: Divided, we will fall

The issue of identity politics has gained traction in Canada in recent years, just as it has in other Western nations and particularly in the case of our neighbours to…
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Centre Write
August 27, 2019

Regina Haokip: Decolonising the Curriculum

With the current lack of BAME representation in reading lists and academia, it could be argued that the UK’s education system is failing to serve its purpose - to broaden…
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Centre WriteEnergy & Environment
August 23, 2019

Megan Trethewey: Wind power is the new PM’s most effective path to net zero

During our new Prime Minister’s first outing in Parliament, he recommitted himself to meeting the UK’s ambitious net zero target, stating that his Government would “place the climate change agenda…
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Centre Write
August 21, 2019

Lord Howell: Commonwealth 2.0

The current Western preoccupation is the relationship with China. What are the Chinese giant’s true intentions as its networks snake through every continent and into the heart of Europe and…
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Centre WritePatrick Hall
August 19, 2019

Patrick Hall: Rethinking landfills – An energy source

In the wake of recent developments regarding China’s decision to no longer accept waste from foreign countries, it is time we started thinking differently about how to manage our waste,…
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Centre Write
August 16, 2019

Oliver Maddison: Why we need proportional representation for local elections

Regardless of whether you support a majoritarian or proportional electoral system for the House of Commons, one has to remember that (regardless of importance), the House of Commons isn’t the…
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Centre WriteSam Lampier
August 15, 2019

Sam Lampier: Pension freedoms and the rise of fraud

In 2015, the Government introduced sweeping changes to pensions, allowing individuals aged 55 and over unlimited access to their pensions savings without penalty. Since these reforms, approximately 1.2 million retirement…
Sam Lampier
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Centre Write
August 14, 2019

Felix Dane: A Europe comfortable with nation-states

This is the Age of Identity. In the US, conflicting visions of Americana jostle with one another. The desire to ‘Make America Great Again’ can be seen as the claiming…
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Centre Write
August 13, 2019

Asher Glynn: The case for legalising assisted dying

As politics has been dominated by Brexit over the last three years, many injustices have lingered. Under Cameron, the Conservative Party led the way for social liberalism through policies like…
Sam Lampier
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