Eric Pickles and Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law

You’re hopefully aware by now that the government is slashing back the money provided to local councils to cover council tax benefit., The Tories are returning to the familiar ground of forcing everyone to pay regardless of ability as a way to drive up the fear of poverty. But for councils, this could be a massive problem: if everyone must pay something, what happens when many genuinely can’t?

Surviving life in two cultures

One of the debates about the Church and Christian life that recurs in Soul Survivor is the difference between trying to expand Christian Subculture and actually taking Jesus’ messages of love, justice, forgiveness, etc to the people. Its a critical debate on one level, especially for a church so laden with its own peculiar culture that is butting up against many other cultures.

UK Riots: Hopelessly Violent?

This has certainly proven to be a year of unrelenting, if deeply contrasting uprisings, and it shows no sign of abating, with India the latest to enter the fray with anti-corruption protests that saw more arrests than our riots did. If its possible to make objective comparisons between the #ukriots and all the other uprisings of recent months, then I intend to do it.

Alter-Globalisation after a 10 year pause

One of the things that has caught my attention most about the Spanish uprising in particular is the relative familiarity of the tone of the protests. Almost exactly a decade after the peak of what became known as the alter-globalisation movement, we find a movement picking up almost exactly where we left off.

Reflections on Democracy Camp

Its been over a week since Democracy Camp disappeared itself, to return at a late date. Three nights spent camping in a square in York taught us a whole range of lessons, but was broadly a success. The final output of the camp, the Library Square Declaration, can be found on the camp website.

Start Wearing Purple: the road to Voting Reform

I originally started writing, and abandoned, a blog post by a similar name on about 8th May 2010. That its taken this long to actually sit down and write about the shock-arrival of a new movement on the erstwhile-boring topic of electoral reform (now called voting reform, cause at least people might know what that is!). Time has moved on since the heady days when Take Back Parliament were visible in half of all outside shots on TV.

Its all gone a bit quiet

This post, as much as anything, is designed to tell everyone that I am in fact still alive. I just haven’t felt a lot like writing lately, but in the last week I’ve really started to feel the urge to get this thing moving again. There’s plenty to talk about and plenty to reflect on; a new government means a new set of challenges, and with the summer approaching, there are many new possibilities.

Who cares about “the argument” anyway?

One of the worst trends I’m seeing in politics right now is a complete disconnect between any sort of debate and the actual, practical outcome. Take for instance Climate Change; major companies are admitting they should be doing something, but doing worse than nothing. Or the Robin Hood Tax campaign, where party leaders are sure its the right thing to do, but cannot bring themselves to place it in their manifestos. Have we reached a point where debate is meaningless?

Labour vs Obama: Joining or Participating?

Whilst reflecting on some of my encounters thus far since announcing my support for Labour at the next General Election, I’ve found my mind wondering back to Barack Obama’s campaign two years ago. One of the key components to the strategy he used was mobilising the grass roots of communities, rather than simply his party membership; a campaign based on Participation, rather than creating and utilising party members.

General Election 2010: Declaration of Support

With a General Election now looming, probably only 2 months away, it seems now is the time for people to come out and state publicly who they are endorsing at these critical elections. I’m a firm believer that democracy works better when a secret ballot is accompanied by open debate amongst politicians, citizens and observers alike. And so today I’m announcing my support for Labour at the 2010 General Election.