Conference needs to value Conservative Party members

I have just booked my pass for the Conservative Party conference. Last year there was some controversy around how few real-life members attended, with the majority of events being run and packed out with public affairs professionals. I remember one … Continue reading

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Tory Modernisation Needs To Be Updated, Not Abandoned

Tory modernisation is again being questioned. Some Tory MPs and commentators are reacting to the poor local election results and consistently bad polling evidence by complaining about the Liberal tail wagging the Tory dog. But the truth is that most … Continue reading

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Democracy and the EU: How should they be related?

I spent part of last week in Brussels, pondering variously legitimacy, legislation, accountability and The Project itself. One overall theme stands out in each of these areas: namely, that no-one seems to quite know what to do. I’m only going … Continue reading

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Is it time for a Conservative Equality Bill?

Equal marriage. Parental leave. Marriage tax bonus. Adoption. Flexible working.  Childcare. These are all in or around the news recently, and are all contentious in their various ways. Rather than arguing the individual cases, I wonder if it might not … Continue reading

Posted in Quality of Life | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Ed Miliband is onto something about political parties

Ed Miliband’s speech to the Progress Conference is worth closer consideration. He seems to get that the story of the local elections was that the majority of peoples’ rejected democracy as being able to improve their lives. “In the old … Continue reading

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