Browsed by
Author: David Herdson

Do the political classes yet understand the power of the web?

Do the political classes yet understand the power of the web?

Comments 0 Comment

Are the Arab Revolutions the first sign of its true potency? Every major new medium challenges and often revolutionises how politics is done. From the invention of printed books through to newspapers, radio and television, each has challenged the elite of the day both to adapt their skills to the new technology but also to handle how the populations respond to the increasing availability and usage of each new medium. The internet – still a very young and growing technology…

Read More Read More

What does Patten’s appointment say about the BBC’s future?

What does Patten’s appointment say about the BBC’s future?

Comments 0 Comment

Is it a holding role or a prelude to reform? The likely appointment of former Conservative Party Chairman, Governor of Hong Kong and EU Commissioner, Chris Patten, to be the next chairman of the BBC Trust is likely to be a controversial one. It’s not the first time that the senior board member has been an active politician (the very first chairman of the board of governors had only recently been a government chief whip when appointed), but certainly renews…

Read More Read More

Is Ken right about middle class expectations?

Is Ken right about middle class expectations?

Comments 0 Comment

Where will the big cuts fall? Ken Clarke’s comment that ‘the middle classes are unaware of the scale of the government spending cuts that will hit them this year’ has, not for the first time in his career, set off a bit of a political storm. It’s true that in order to make cuts of the order necessary to close the structural deficit by 2015, there’ll have to be painful decisions taken. What’s interesting is his focus on the middle…

Read More Read More

What are the implications of “votes for prisoners”?

What are the implications of “votes for prisoners”?

Comments 0 Comment

Where will the fallout from yesterday’s vote end? If the overwhelming vote in the Commons against prisoners being granted the vote is unsurprising, it is so only because in choosing between reflecting the views of the country and setting up a clash with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), they opted for the former despite the can of worms that could open up. In the past, politicians have tended to opt for a ‘hands tied’ defence. In the short…

Read More Read More

Are the NHS reforms just a sticking plaster?

Are the NHS reforms just a sticking plaster?

Comments 0 Comment

What would real reform look like? The events in Egypt might have dominated the news this week but it’s domestic politics that determines the results of elections unless British citizens or troops are directly involved. In that respect, the most significant policy debate this year so far has been around the future of the NHS. It has been said by those on both sides that the government is proposing the most radical reforms in the Service’s more than six decades…

Read More Read More

David Herdson asks: “How many Tories will vote Yes?”

David Herdson asks: “How many Tories will vote Yes?”

Comments 0 Comment

Might AV work to their advantage? Politics often boils down to a mixture of high principle and low expediency or interest. The debate on voting reform has long been a classic example of the sort. It is hardly coincidental that all three main parties have produced principled arguments that just happen to support a voting system that is particularly favourable to them. One 1997 election promise that Labour were open about not keeping was their proposed referendum on voting reform….

Read More Read More

Is it really an Ed to Ed battle for policy?

Is it really an Ed to Ed battle for policy?

Comments 0 Comment

Where does the Shadow Cabinet reshuffle leave Labour? Separating the meat from the chaff is one of the most critical skills in any form of betting and there’s certainly plenty of chaff in politics. Some events blaze briefly before dying to nothing, others are only ever distractions, a few matter. In the last two days, there’ve been three potentially big stories but only one is likely to have long-lasting implications. Blair’s reappearance at the Chilcot enquiry is already old news….

Read More Read More

Will Ed’s siren call to Lib Dems work?

Will Ed’s siren call to Lib Dems work?

Comments 0 Comment

  What’s changed since May? Ed Miliband’s call to disaffected Lib Dems to join him and Labour in opposing the government is hardly surprising: if successful, it would increase his base, split one of the coalition parties and undermine the government. That said, if he had really been serious about wanting to work with the Lib Dems, why was he – a member of Labour’s team – so cold about the idea in the post-election negotiations, as both Peter Mandelson…

Read More Read More