Very apt that I find this video with Shami Chakrabarti, the Director of Liberty, discussing the Human Rights Act and terrorists. The Conservatives promise to replace the HRA with something else after the next election, and Keir Starma, former Director of Public Prosecutions says this is a bad idea.
Here is the video about the HRA and terrorist rights (first 3 minutes is most useful):
Thursday 27 February 2014
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Thursday 20 February 2014
Presidential Power - LBJ
Inspired by a recent watch of the Netflix hit "House of Cards" - a tale of dastardly political in-fighting in Congress (which was based on a BBC mini-series of the same name), here are a selection of pictures which highlight President Johnson's negotiating tactic with opponents (known as "The Treatment"):
All of which might be a good example to use when discussing Presidential Power which, like Prime Ministerial power, is concerned with the structures of power, as well as the individual circumstances and the personal characters too.
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| LBJ and Senator Russell. Picture Credit: Wikipedia |
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| LBJ in the NY Times Picture Credit; NY Times |
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| LBJ and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas Picture credit: unknown / All This is That |
Wednesday 12 February 2014
Labour Party policy
A blog post at the Economist web-site has an interesting take on Ed Miliband's political direction for the Labour Party; it notes that if successful in the 2015 election a Labour government would have a very tight limit on government spending.
Ed Miliband's policy outline seems to be (if the Economist is right) to be more power devolved to cities and Mayors, with less concentrated at Westminster. This is despite the failure of the Coalition's mayoral referendum policy in 2012.
The other theme of the Miliband policy outline seems to be a more interventionist industrial policy (i.e. control of big business) similar to the headline-grabbing proposal to limit the prices that the energy companies can charge.
In the current economic climate the public seem to be more in favour of this kind of thing than they were in previous years.
On another note, some wag at Labour party HQ has taken inspiration from Facebook's "look back" feature, and done one for David Cameron and the coalition government:
Ed Miliband's policy outline seems to be (if the Economist is right) to be more power devolved to cities and Mayors, with less concentrated at Westminster. This is despite the failure of the Coalition's mayoral referendum policy in 2012.
The other theme of the Miliband policy outline seems to be a more interventionist industrial policy (i.e. control of big business) similar to the headline-grabbing proposal to limit the prices that the energy companies can charge.
In the current economic climate the public seem to be more in favour of this kind of thing than they were in previous years.
On another note, some wag at Labour party HQ has taken inspiration from Facebook's "look back" feature, and done one for David Cameron and the coalition government:
Prime Ministerial Power
Anyone contemplating Prime Ministerial power should probably be prepared to use the reaction by the government about the flooding in the UK.
First there was a row between Environment Minister Owen Paterson, and Eric Pickles the Communities secretary about the role of the Environment Agency; Pickles had criticised its inaction and Paterson defended it. Normally this kind of thing is done in cabinet, but it is unusual for ministers in the same party to have a public row. Coalition government has seen Conservatives and Lib Dems opposing each-other over Lords Reform, the AV referendum and the Commons boundary changes, but this is different.
In addition, Cameron is leading the charge and is identifying himself with the efforts to solve the flooding problems or at the least alleviate the suffering for people.
He has visited flooded areas, and has promised "Money is no object". He is taking control of the issue and acting as a national leader (or is that "as a President"?). For instance, President Obama visited the site of Hurricane damage at the end of 2012:
As an antidote to this Buzzfeed has a compilation of politicians staring at floods.
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| David Cameron visits flooding in Staines. Picture Credit: Guardian / PA |
First there was a row between Environment Minister Owen Paterson, and Eric Pickles the Communities secretary about the role of the Environment Agency; Pickles had criticised its inaction and Paterson defended it. Normally this kind of thing is done in cabinet, but it is unusual for ministers in the same party to have a public row. Coalition government has seen Conservatives and Lib Dems opposing each-other over Lords Reform, the AV referendum and the Commons boundary changes, but this is different.
In addition, Cameron is leading the charge and is identifying himself with the efforts to solve the flooding problems or at the least alleviate the suffering for people.
He has visited flooded areas, and has promised "Money is no object". He is taking control of the issue and acting as a national leader (or is that "as a President"?). For instance, President Obama visited the site of Hurricane damage at the end of 2012:
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| President Obama comforts Donna Vanzant whose marina was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. On left is Governor (and Presidential hopeful) Chris Christie. Picture Credit: Latinos Post / Reuters |
Tuesday 11 February 2014
Obamacare - Good or Bad for Democrats - analysis
In brief, there was a report by the non-artisan Congressional Budget Office (which analyses government policy and spending) about the impact of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). In essence the headline is that there is a cost to the economy.
Republicans are now able to claim that Obamacare will cost jobs, and Democrats say that it won't. Analysis about the messages here from Politico.com.
Writers at the Economist are also divided - analysis here saying it is bad (paywall), and analysis here saying it isn't essentially bad for the US economy. The nub of the issue is whether you think it's a good or a bad thing that thanks to the subsidy of Obamacare Americans are able to get more free time for the same money by spending less time at work.
Although the ins and outs of the argument are too detailed for G and P students' requirements and are more appropriate for an economist, it nevertheless does highlight the problem that President Obama has with the policy and its implementation.
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| Supporters of Obamacare. Picture Credit: Economist.com |
Republicans are now able to claim that Obamacare will cost jobs, and Democrats say that it won't. Analysis about the messages here from Politico.com.
Writers at the Economist are also divided - analysis here saying it is bad (paywall), and analysis here saying it isn't essentially bad for the US economy. The nub of the issue is whether you think it's a good or a bad thing that thanks to the subsidy of Obamacare Americans are able to get more free time for the same money by spending less time at work.
Although the ins and outs of the argument are too detailed for G and P students' requirements and are more appropriate for an economist, it nevertheless does highlight the problem that President Obama has with the policy and its implementation.
Smoking in Cars
In brief, yesterday there was a vote in Parliament which has given Ministers the power to ban smoking in cars with young children.
It started with a vote in the Lords that was passed by the Labour party against the government's opposition. It then became an amendment to the Children and Families Bill which is designed to change and improve certain aspects of family law and adoption.
Full details here in this BBC article.
Interesting for G and P students because it illustrates nicely some of the ways in which Parliament does its job of calling government to account and suggesting and passing laws - government is now accepting that this power will become law before 2015 where it had previously not done so.
It also is a useful case study in the power of pressure groups - it was supported by the BMA (which has campaigned on this issue since 2011) and the British Lung Foundation, but opposed by the smoking group Forest.
As a side note - some of the opposition to the stopping of smoking in cars with children is about the invasion of civil liberties, and also the difficulty in enforcing the ban. A Guardian article from 2008 illustrates that opposition to using seat-belts back in the 1970s had similar arguments.
Here is the British Lung Foundation's ad about the issue:
It started with a vote in the Lords that was passed by the Labour party against the government's opposition. It then became an amendment to the Children and Families Bill which is designed to change and improve certain aspects of family law and adoption.
Full details here in this BBC article.
Interesting for G and P students because it illustrates nicely some of the ways in which Parliament does its job of calling government to account and suggesting and passing laws - government is now accepting that this power will become law before 2015 where it had previously not done so.
It also is a useful case study in the power of pressure groups - it was supported by the BMA (which has campaigned on this issue since 2011) and the British Lung Foundation, but opposed by the smoking group Forest.
As a side note - some of the opposition to the stopping of smoking in cars with children is about the invasion of civil liberties, and also the difficulty in enforcing the ban. A Guardian article from 2008 illustrates that opposition to using seat-belts back in the 1970s had similar arguments.
Here is the British Lung Foundation's ad about the issue:
Thursday 6 February 2014
"God" discusses political participation
In brief, Gus O'Donnell (now Lord O'Donnell) the former senior civil servant has given evidence to a Parliamentary committee civil service reform, and he discusses how party politics is in decline.
As a typical Whitehall mandarin, he doesn't give proscribe solutions but highlight problems.
Video can be found here (courtesy of BBC):
As a typical Whitehall mandarin, he doesn't give proscribe solutions but highlight problems.
Video can be found here (courtesy of BBC):
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