Blog and updates
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20 Oct 2015
The 8th Amendment and the death penalty - back on the radar
Back in June, Stephen Breyer, a liberally-minded US Supreme Court justice said that tather than “try[ing] to patch up the death penalty’s legal wounds one at a time”, what is needed is a “full...
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16 Oct 2015
Grab your diaries! Here is the debate schedule!
There are arguably important dates in everyone's life (birthdays, anniversaries, exams..) but all those pale into insignficance next to the list of dates within this blog! Yes, that is right folks,...
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16 Oct 2015
Britain and the EU - the campaigns begin
As the party conference season draws to a close, one theme that has emerged from all of them is party views and lines on the EU in-out referendum. This blog post draws together some useful...
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16 Oct 2015
From Burma to Myanmar
For students taking either the Global or Ideologies options at A2, taking a closer look at the country now known as Myanmar is a great way of applying theory to a country in transition.
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16 Oct 2015
The Lucky Left - why America grows faster with Democrat presidents
This superb Economist videographic explores an interesting piece of political economy - the fact that the US economy has experienced higher rates of economic growth under Democrat presidents. So,...
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15 Oct 2015
Half-term movies
Students (or indeed teachers!) may not want to do much written work or paperwork over the upcoming half-term break. As an alternative to traditional "work", here is my top 30 list of political...
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15 Oct 2015
Select Committee chair elections - suddenly interesting!
I don't think I can ever remember reading a prominent journalistic piece about upcoming elections to the roles of Select Committee chairs. But there is an excellent analysis this week by Mark...
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15 Oct 2015
Prime Minister's Questions - political theatre or effective scrutiny?
Jeremy Corbyn's fresh, less confrontational approach to PMQs has, in my mind, done something to move the session back in the direction of effective scrutiny rather than further down the line of...
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9 Oct 2015
Politics topical quiz - Eliminator style!
Here's this week's topical Politics news quiz in the format of our ever-popular resource called 'The Eliminator'.There are 6 questions based upon Politics news stories from this week for you to...
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9 Oct 2015
McCarthy out, Boehner in?
Last night Kevin McCarthy, the current House Majority Leader, and favourite to be the next Speaker, dropped out of the race. His campaign had experience a number of gaffes including the suggestion...
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8 Oct 2015
How much does your MP cost?
If you happen to live in Kettering, then you should be pleased to know that your MP, Philip Hollobone, only claimed £4852 in expenses last year, compared with the highest claiming MP, £264 778 by...
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6 Oct 2015
UK Prisoners and the Voting Ban
The issue of UK prisoners being unable to vote in the UK keeps on surfacing, but it looks as though an end to this on-going saga might well be in sight following a ruling today by the European...
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6 Oct 2015
Tracking Terrorism
There are some fabulous infographics and interactive data sources available online that highlight how terrorist activity has changed over time in terms of deadliness, location and general impact....
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2 Oct 2015
Read All About It! Topical News quiz for your Government and Politics Students
Here's a topical Government and Politics quiz for your students, using news stories from the past week. Hopefully, your students are regularly keeping up to date with what is going on in the real...
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1 Oct 2015
Beyond the Bike - conflict minerals and Africa
What causes civil war? There are many theories, but at the heart of many recent African conflicts has been the devastating search for minerals to fuel our purchases of electronic gizmos and our...
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30 Sept 2015
What is Trident?
Jeremy Corbyn doesn't want to replace it (and wouldn't push the nuclear button anyway). The SNP share the same view on Trident - something they can agree with parts of Labour on!So - what is...
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29 Sept 2015
What's the point of Party Conferences?
It's been said that party conferences are either intended to make politicians look and sound like "normal people" (for once) or that they just a bit pointless. Whilst the nature of conferences has...
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28 Sept 2015
Will David Cameron contest the 2020 General Election?
During the run-up to the 2015 General Election, David Cameron assured both friends and foes alike that he would not seek a third term of office. This blog post contests that the context in which...
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28 Sept 2015
US Supreme Court Cases to Watch
As the website 'The Hill', has written the US Supreme Court returns today to continue its business after the summer break. Whilst the court is still to finalise its docket, political pundits are...
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28 Sept 2015
E-Voting: Does Democracy Need Technology?
Is it time for electronic voting here in the UK? Is a manual system of polling stations and ballot boxes inconsistent with a society that has now fully embraced digital technology? Would you be...
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