The heat is on

There are a raft of useful articles on party politics in the papers at the minute, and great as a basis for any media lessons.

In the Times yesterday they focused on the forthcoming Queen’s speech and the likelihood that it will kick off a massive political tussle over the coming months.

See the features here and here.

Polly Toynbee in the Guardian at the weekend penned an article calling for Labour MPs to do the honorable thing and force GB to step aside.  There is a strong feeling in the Labour Party that the election may not be winnable with a new leader but the party is likely to suffer a crushing defeat if he remains in power.  Toynbee suggests that it’s still all to play for if a new person gets in.  See the article here.

Personally I have accepted that barring disaster David Cameron will be PM from May 2010 onwards, and that Labour should start preparing for life in opposition.  At the moment there is no sense of what will happen next and the worry is that the party will lose direction.  It’s happened before.  Think Labour after 1979, or the Tories after 1997.

Question Time - 15 November 2009

Our weekly politics quiz returns…

Launch Question Time for 15 November 2009

A shifting US electorate

The Washington Post has produced time slider to see how Democratic and Republican candidates have fared in presidential and congressional elections over the past 50 years. Here is the link.

Don’t mess with Texas?

For reasons that are possibly too mundane to go into I have just read the special report on Texas from a summer edition of the Economist.

It is absolutely fascinating as a means of gaining a deeper insight into a rapidly changing state, and is a treasure trove of Americana.  Did you know for instance that Texas is one of four states where whites are a minority, or that tequila was invented there?

I recommend:

Lone Star rising
The best and worst of Texas
The red and the blue
The new face of America

A Republican revival?

Once a week my students are expected to contribute something to our media sessions.  A useful way to break a double, to be sure, but these are designed to supplement learning.  I usually keep something up my sleave just in case discussion doesn’t flow—though thus far it has yet to be a problem.

Here was last week’s from the Independent’s Big Question series.

The geography of US jobs

One of my colleagues at school sent me this link at the weekend which displays a fascinating graphic of job creation and loss in the USA over the last few years.  It gives the lie to the idea that there is such a thing as a national economy, even if there is a national picture.

It also serves to explain why despite a recent upsurge in gdp, many Americans are unhappy about the state of the economy—jobs are the pain that communities feel and make sense of.  Though a note of caution here since it only gives data to July 2009.

The link is here. 

The New Conservative Policy on Europe - What Really Happened

Iain Martin has an exclusive over at the Wall Street Journal.  He has been been handed a dodgy dossier which details the Conservative leadership’s fraught decision making process as they attempted to come up with the new policy. It is based on minutes of top secret meetings held in recent months and for historians offers a rare glimpse of the inner workings of the Tory high command.

Useful Politics online resources on the BBC

The BBC has launched a new online service that should make tracking politics on film easier. 

There’s also a very useful section on the various governing institutions, what powers they have, and so forth.

I also came across a section on the online archives on Mrs Thatcher.  Lots of clips and Panorama interviews that I once stored on VHS tapes. 

Rated: (5/5), based on 2 reviews

Political Studies Guide 2010

Is available as a pdf from the New Statesman website, and contains lots of useful stuff on where to study Politics as well as a guide from a number of authors about one new and one old book those interested in politics should read.

Here is the link

Rated: (5/5), based on 3 reviews

President as “bargainer-in-chief”

It was perfect timing when I came across this article today, on the ‘behind the scenes’ role being played by Obama in passing health care reform.

Media Monday Motown

This week for our American Politics media sessions we have been looking at a quite fascinating article about industrial decline in the USA. This tells us a lot about where power lies in America and is a useful basis for considering the extent to which America does really live up to the ideals it proclaims to stand for.

Rated: (5/5), based on 1 review

Copenhagen Countdown: Richard Black reports

Ricahrd Black, the BBC News website’s environment correspondent, regularly writes on the political moves surrounding the approach of the UN Climate summit. Essential reading for all those studying Global Political Issues. Take a look here

Who’s that guy?

Only the 33rd most powerful man in Washington DC who is not called Obama or Biden.

So says GQ magazine (of all places) in their much anticipated DC power 50.  Believe it or not this was one of the buzz topics in the American capital when I was over there recently.  Hardly surprising in the most power obsessed city on earth. To paraphrase Michael Heseltine who was commenting on the ranking order of seats in Cabinet, everyone says it doesn’t matter to them, but of course it does.  Terribly.

Rated: (3/5), based on 2 reviews

Off with their heads…

...but keep the body.

Well that seems to be the message in relation to the House of Lords by the former judge Thomas Bingham in the Jan Grodecki lecture.

In short, Bingham argues that a way out of the constitutional impasse is to change the powers of the Lords so that it acts merely as a revising rather than reforming chamber.

The idea has some merit, I think.  But perhaps only as a short term measure until Parliament can come to some sort of agreement about how to get the thing elected.  A sort of Stage 2 as it were.

Explaining the differences between Left and Right

I came across this incredible graphic which might help students understand the essential differences between “left” and “right"…

Nuclear Warheads - Who Has Them - and How Many?

A neat pdf download from the Times which illustrates the current portfolios of nuclear warheads around the world.

BNP Membership by Constituency - Interactive Map

The Internet leak of the BNP’s 2009 membership list has had the newspapers scurrying to produce analysis of the data on the list…

Return of the Thick of It

The Thick of It returns this weekend with an eight week run on BBC Two and I for one cannot wait! The foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker has a new Secretary of State to deal with. Fans of In The Loop and earlier series of the Thick of It can now organise their Sunday nights until Christmas! Here is a preview article from the Independent.

The Internet and a Liberal Society

It’s one of the great dilemmas of the liberal society - how far do we tolerate intolerance? Two stories over the weekend raise this question - the continuing debate over the BBC’s decision to invite BNP leader Nick Griffin onto ‘Question Time’, and Jan Moir’s Daily Mail column on Stephen Gateley’s death. Channel 4 News linked these together in a piece on freedom of expression, although there is a qualitative difference. Even as a panellist on Question Time, Griffin is subject to questioning and debate by fellow panellists, chairman Dimbleby and the studio audience. If his views are repellent, they can be attacked, challenged and dissected. Jan Moir, on the other hand, has a well positioned newspaper column to express her views, uncluttered by the need to constantly refine or explain them to challengers.

Rated: (5/5), based on 1 review

Who Would You Like to Hear at the 2010 Politics Teacher National Conference?

We are putting our speaker invitations together for the annual Politics Teacher National Conference on Wednesday 16 June 2010 at the British Library.  In recent events we’ve had some terrific external speakers join us during the day, including Phil Cowley, Anthony King, Peter Riddell, Matt O’Connor, Diane Abbott & Michael Portillo.

But who do you suggest we ought to invite for 2010?  Is there someone who you’d really like to meet, but there just never seems to be an opportunity?

Please let us have your suggestions by completing this very brief online form.  We will do our best to secure an acceptance from the most popular speaker suggestions:

Complete the speaker suggestion form

Gun crime debate

It’s not so much the graphic and the info on the decline in support for gun control in America, it’s the readers’ comments that are worth looking at.  I particularly like the British v American stuff, as if that had anything to do with it: why does a comment on American society and politics by a non-native invite criticism of that person’s country?  Touchy! 

Global Issues and Anarchism

For those of you studying A2 Political Theory and A2 Global Issues there is a potentially interesting programme called ‘The Enemy Within’ being screened this evening at 8pm on Channel 4 which draws comparisons between ‘modern’ British jihadists and 19th Century ‘Victorian’ anarchists.  The idea is obviously controversial and has attracted comment in a number of today’s papers.

The Independent carries an excellent article entitled ‘Blood, Rage and history - The World’s First Terrorists’ and explores the issue of whether this anarchism bears any relationship to the jihadists who bob the very same targets today.

The Guardian has the following to say:

Lectures on the constitution

I receieved an email today reminding me of a couple of lectures from UCL’s Constitution Unit.

What Will Cameron’s MPs Be Like?

David Cameron’s speech has set out his Tory vision more clearly than ever, and it is a clear updating of the ‘One Nation’ Toryism that once dominated in the party.  But if we are beginning to get a grip on what David Cameron is like, we also ought to be paying attention to the MPs who will be occupying his green benches after the next election.

Authoring Opportunities for Politics Teachers & Examiners with tutor2u

tutor2u is now the leading publisher of digital learning resources for Politics and we are keen to build on our rapidly-growing customer and website user base to provide even more teaching and revision support.  Here are details of how you can get involved…

Federalism: advantages and disadvantages

Readers may be aware that America operates a federal system where national and state governments are theoretically sovereign in certain spheres.  In practical terms this vertical separation of power is much more blurred, but it does mean that individual states have much more individual responsibility for policy within their territories than do the devolved regions in the UK.  The consequences of allowing states to essentially go it alone are mixed.  A magazine article in today’s Observer looks at the current crisis in California.  It is interesting, well written and contains lots of good examples for someone wishing to assess the pros and cons of America’s federal arrangements.

Blank Palin

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s (ghostwritten) autobiography is due for release next month, and has already shot to the top of the bestseller charts.

Say the Guardian:
“News of the autobiography’s release has already prompted a string of jokes by the late night talkshow hosts reminding the wider public about Palin’s shortcomings.

“Critics say that it starts out okay, it gets really exciting and then confusing, and then the last 100 pages are blank,” said comedian Jimmy Fallon.”

Tories: defining times?

The Sun may have switched its support this week by backing the Conservatives, but another of the News International stable is far from convinced that the Tories offer a definig vision of what they would do in government.

It is an old truism that oppositions do not win elections, governments lose them, but voters need to be given a clearer idea about how the Tories would have governed differently from Labour and what direction a Conservative government would take.  If this choice is not made clear, starting this week at the Tory conference in Manchester, we could see the gap between the two main parties close as the election battle gets more intense. 

See the leading article in the Times here.

Labour: a summary of old and new Labour policies

Gordon Brown, in a rather desperate last ditch bid to regain some ground on the Tories, announced a blizzard of specific policy announcements at conference this week.

The Guardian on Wednesday provided a summary. I am going to use this list to update my notes on whether Labour has abandoned its traditional principles.

The End of the Road for Brown and Labour? The Sun Says Yes!

As of Wednesday this week, The Sun has switched its support to the Conservatives. Does this signal the end of for Gordon Brown? A historical look at the mass media and voting suggests that if a party has the support of The Sun they will gain the most seats in the general election.

Supreme Court special

The Times carried a special pullout section on the new UK Supreme Court yesterday.

The same info, including a little video, can be found here on the web version.

Obama caught in the headlights?

This article from Stratfor is an interesting analysis of the complex factors Obama muct consider when making foreign policy decisions. It illustrates the weakness of the President and the consequences of indecision in Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East. It will be of interest to students of the American syllabus as well as Global Politics. You can order free intelligence reports, or even join.

Obama caught in the headlights?

This article from Stratfor is an interesting analysis of the complex factors Obama muct consider when making foreign policy decisions. It illustrates the weakness of the President and the consequences of indecision in Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East. It will be of interest to students of the American syllabus as well as Global Politics. You can order free intelligence reports, or even join.

USA: who runs government?

I’ve been like a child with a new toy today, spending hours browsing on the Washington Post’s “Who runs gov?” pages.

The site contains up to date and interesting to read profiles of the people pulling the strings of American government.  A great resource for students and teachers of American Politics.

I’ve come up with a list of 10 of the most influential politicians in the USA, some of which you will have heard of and some you won’t. 

Book review value

A quick posting to say that the book review pages are often a good source of political info, even for cash and time poor students with no intention of making a purchase.  Details of a new publication on Clinton were in the Sunday Times at the weekend and contained some fascinating nuggets.