Long-Read

Another Brexit year begins

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on why it is not in the “remainers’” power to create a post-Brexit consensus, a discussion about the Retained EU Law Bill and Northern Ireland Protocol, plus some thoughts prompted by Frost’s hero-worship of Edmund Burke.

Austerity

The long-term effects of austerity last for generations

— Public spending cuts and the soaring cost of living will not only affect people’s lives now but could trickle down through generations.

Analysis

What do politicians really think of economists?

— Since the 2008 financial crisis, politicians from a range of parties and countries have reported losing respect for experts.

Long-Read

Brexit is slowly being discredited, but there’s still a long way to go

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis, looking at how and why even over Christmas the Brexit debate continued, and the case for caution as well as optimism in reading the most recent opinion polls.

Children's Rights

Why aren’t children allowed to vote?

— Our assumptions about what it means to be young have left millions of people disenfranchised. What if children were allowed to vote?

COVID-19

COVID in 2023 and beyond – Why virus trends are more difficult to predict three years on

— How will the coronavirus pandemic be in 2023? This question is in some ways impossible to answer, given a number of unknowns. One thing is for certain though – the pandemic is not over yet.

Voting Rights

Voter suppression: How democracies around the world are using new rules to make it harder to vote

— Laws making it more difficult to vote are being introduced around the democratic world, an expert says. They risk undermining democracy.

UK Politics

70 years of data suggest the Conservatives will suffer a big defeat at the next election

— Polling only provides a snapshot of the current moment but modelling across decades can help us predict the next election result.

Analysis

Calling politicians ‘clowns’ is a disservice to clowns

— Clowns and jesters have positively contributed to society for centuries. Calling politicians ‘clowns’ is a disservice to them.

Long-Read

Post-Brexit Britain: A country broken by lies

— Two years into full Brexit there is a palpable sense of a broken country. Last week’s dishonesty about regulation, foreign policy, and trade, continues the pattern of lies that broke it.

World Cup Qatar 2022

World Cup 2022: Who won the prize for ‘soft power’?

— Soft power is a powerful foreign policy tool. Three countries, in particular, have made the most of it at this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Immigration

Asylum claim rejections show the UK government has little understanding of what people are fleeing – and it’s costing lives

— Many asylum applications are rejected on grounds that dismiss the dire situations in applicants’ countries of origin.

Cost of Living Crisis

Universal free school meals would make a huge difference to the cost-of-living crisis

— Widening access to free school meals would be an investment in England’s children.

Long-Read

There is a better Brexit strategy available to Labour

— With Labour looking like a government in waiting, the understandable caution of its Brexit policy faces calls to be bolder. Actually, it just needs to be more imaginative, Professor Chris Grey argues.

UK Politics

Six reasons Britain’s impending voter ID law is a bad idea

— Controversial new voter ID rules are due to affect local elections in May 2023 despite warnings from officials that there isn’t enough time.

Long-Read

Our politics is incapable of responding to the failure of Brexit

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on why despite last-ditch attempts by Brexiters to redefine ‘success’, the public view has settled that Brexit has failed. But for now, our politics is incapable of responding to the failure of Brexit.