Building sub-national government
The England football team represents our multi-cultural, progressive politics of nationhood. Its anthem doesn’t
England football manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that his players must sing the national anthem at the forthcoming World Cup. We asked democracy experts for their views in response. In a series of posts on this topic, we hear how this debate raises much wider issues about belonging in a multi-cultural society, the history of English […]
If England players must sing the national anthem at the football World Cup, it should not be ‘God Save the Queen’
With the football World Cup approaching, England manager Roy Hodgson is insisting that his players sing the national anthem before each game. We asked a number of democracy experts to share their views on Hodgson’s rule. In the first of a series of posts on this issue, we find a broad consensus that while singing the […]
The dilemmas of the Scottish independence referendum for a unionist and secularist democrat
Strong secularist and unionist Norman Bonney explains how he is tempted to vote ‘yes’ for an independent Scotland to liberate himself from a system that allows Church of England bishops in the House of Lords to contribute to the making of laws not only for England but also for Scotland and the rest of the […]
As Scotland pushes for change, regional English devolution may become unavoidable
With the vote looming in September’s Scotland independence referendum, attention has finally shifted towards what the implications of independence might be for what is left of the United Kingdom. Here, Ellie Geddes of IPPR argues that the north of England should take the opportunity to make the case for a degree of devolution and range of powers, whatever […]
Financial decentralisation is already happening, and Newcastle is seeing the benefits
It is well known that the United Kingdom state is highly centralised, with local government suffering from cumulative disempowerment since its hey-day, and facing severe financial challenges under the current Government’s austerity programme. But one source of hope for the sector lies in financial decentralisation. Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes argues that it’s time […]
20 things we learned about democracy in April 2014
April 2014 is thought to be the most democratic month in human history, owing largely to the Indian general election taking place this month. In the UK, however, democracy wasn’t shown in its best light, with Culture Secretary Maria Miller resigning over her expenses, while Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage held a rather ill-tempered debate […]
Regions with regionalism: the rescaling of interests
A number of factors, but most prominently European integration, have seen Governments add a ‘regional’ dimension to their policymaking, including in many cases genuine devolution of powers to the regional level. But has this increased regional focus seen an equivalent rescaling of interest groups, such as trade unions, businesses and environmental organisations? Michael Keating argues that regions are becoming a significant […]
Tailored devolution would bring tangible benefits to cities and improve the quality of local governance
Local government boundaries very rarely correlate well with local economies, meaning that some authorities are at the mercy of political forces beyond their control. Discussing a new Centre for Cities report, Zach Wilcox argues that different local authorities can better work together by fostering formal collaborations like combined authorities, as well as through other less formal ways of […]
The government’s decision to terminate councillors’ pensions is very bad for local democracy
In last month’s budget, Chancellor George Osborne effectively scrapped pensions for local councillors, by terminating their membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. In this post Chris Game discusses the decision and, drawing on a new report from the Council of Europe, argues that it continues a worrying trend . He suggests the move further weakens local […]
10 years after NHS Foundation Trusts were created, their democratic processes are failing
The first Foundation Trusts were launched ten years ago this week, in April 2004. This new model was designed to increase the autonomy of NHS organisations and make them democratically accountable to local communities. The model may have succeeded on the former objective but on the latter they have fallen far short of expectations, argues Democratic Audit’s Richard […]
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