Author Archives: Thomas Byrne

Building Schools for the Future – Its flaws and how the coalition should respond

Despite claims to the contrary from the Labour party, it is simply not true that the scrapping of Building Schools for the Future was a breaking of a promise made by George Osborne not to cut the totals of capital spending. A … Continue reading

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Making the case for “Rape Case Anonymity” of accused defendants case

The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976, which first introduced anonymity for complainants, also provided for anonymity for defendants: apparently for the purpose of providing equality between complainants and defendants, and to protect potentially innocent defendants from stigma. However, this provision … Continue reading

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Vote Conservative to save our constitution

LORD NORTON OF LOUTH “I spend half of each week in Hull teaching about the British constitution and the other half in Westminster trying to save it.” The Conservative Party, despite myths to the contrary, has always been a driver … Continue reading

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Localism isn’t possible without local democracy

Our pervasive love of the news bite, the news headline, the edgy quote could be the downfall of our local news – up to half of the 1300 local and regional newspaper titles could close in the next five years … Continue reading

Posted in Big Society | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The only joker on Lords’ reform is Jack Straw

New Labour share remarkable similarities with Old Labour in that they’ve never been prone to widespread theoretical debate. Indeed, the ongoing prevarication and confusion over House of Lords reform is veering perilously close to being farcical. The idea that this … Continue reading

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