According to a report in the Observer, almost one person in five in the UK has consulted a counsellor or psychotherapist (Observer 1st August 2010). This is a remarkable transformation in a country which until very recently was renowned for it’s stoical bearing characterised by the stiff upper lip and disavowal of emotions. How did […]
There is a growing impetus to reform and liberalise the UK and international drug laws; these being widely regarded as ineffectual in terms of combating drug use. Those arguing for reform make several points. The first is that the existing drug laws are grossly hypocritical in that tobacco which kills a minimum of a quarter-of-a-million […]
Over the next few months as public spending cuts really start to take effect expect to hear much about services currently being run by the public sector being ‘handed’ over to the voluntary or ‘third’ sector. This idea is also in line with the government’s current rhetoric about the “Big Society” in which people and […]
Spending cutbacks are upon us. There is a debate as to the extent to what the level of the reduction in public spending should be, but reduced it will be. The question then is how do we best safeguard front-line services in heath, social care and other vital areas and still achieve a meaningful decrease […]
Over the past few decades a succession of governments in the UK have repeatedly spoken of the need to decentralise services and put them in the hands of voluntary groups and local communities in order to “empower people”; the latest manifestation of this being David Cameron’s “Big Society” pledge. Yet, apart from considerations over where […]
It is widely agreed that if there are to be cuts in the public sector they should be focused on reducing the huge levels of bureaucracy premised on regulation and compliance. But, it is important that not all regulation and compliance is discarded. The converse of heavily bureaucratised regulation is the facade of spurious ‘self-regulation’, […]
Since 1979, successive governments have robustly committed themselves either to reduce public spending and ‘roll back the state’ (Conservative) or be ‘prudent’ with regard to the public finances (Labour). In spite of this total government debt is now approximately £156 billion and the number of public sector employees is greater than ever. In Scotland, the […]
The demise of the New Labour government has perhaps witnessed the dawning of the end of an era in British politics. That era has been characterised by the attempt to systematically advance policies promoting social liberalism and economic conservatism simultaneously. Some commentators (notably Nick Cohen, particularly his What’s Left – How the left Lost its […]
The bulk of left-liberal opinion (and some libertarian right viewpoints) both in this country and internationally, is that the current laws on drugs are ineffectual in terms of combating drug use. They are also seen as quite harmful in needlessly criminalising whole groups of people, particularly those from deprived backgrounds whose prospects (and addiction) are […]
Reports of the imminent demise of the Labour Party have been greatly exaggerated. Virtually up until polling day on the 6th May, the majority of commentators had Labour staring a worst defeat than that under Michael Foot in 1983. Despite a revived Liberal-Democrat threat and a washed out, tired looking PM compounded by the disaster […]