Category Archives: Politics
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The “long grass economic plan” budget
Leave a commentMarch 19, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Well, what a budget that wasn’t. It was supposed to be an election giveaway, but it wasn’t really. It was …
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The end of the Independent Living Fund is a cut too far for a decent society
3March 18, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
There is a concept, introduced by the philosopher John Rawls, called the “veil of ignorance”. Writing about distributive justice (who …
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Whither the environment in this election?
1March 17, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Has anyone else noticed the lack of any debate or attention during this election campaign on the issues of the …
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The Labour pledge card is a “no hard choices” list of incrementally more progressive Miss World statements
Leave a commentMarch 16, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I have a friend who is a lifelong Labour Party supporter. At the next election he is not only intending to …
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If our workers were more like our immigrants we would need less immigrants
Leave a commentMarch 15, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In their wonderful detailed and balanced attempt to discern the difference between myth and reality with immigration to this country, …
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Should our water companies ever really be ‘private’ companies?
Leave a commentMarch 14, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I advise you not to read this whilst eating, or even attempting to digest. The water around you is full …
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Why the SNP must hope that Labour can form a government without them.
Leave a commentMarch 13, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, when the Conservatives want to float a particularly controversial idea, but don’t want to have their fingerprints all over …
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Spending targets or Results targets? Lessons from foreign aid.
Leave a commentMarch 12, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
There is an interesting debate going on around our defence budget at the moment. Having told other members of NATO …
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Free Schools – Vive la Difference!
1March 11, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
At last we have a proper issue on which the parties are properly split. It is an important one as …
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Advice to Labour – leave the SNP alone after the election
Leave a commentMarch 10, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
What does 30 years of having little more to say to an electorate than “We’re not Thatcher, vote for us” …
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Time for the ‘Good Right’ to redefine conservatism
1March 9, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Would you like lower earners to pay less income tax? Well, we could have a consumption tax on the very wealthy. …
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How do we make “The Pinch” less painful?
Leave a commentMarch 8, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
David Willetts, or “two brains” as he was once nicknamed, came to speak at my school this week. Willetts has …
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Did we cause Mohammed Elwazi to become Jihadi John or would it have happened anyway
Leave a commentMarch 7, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Here’s some stories that might explain a current one. 1) Before I became a teacher, London was hit by four coordinated …
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Cameron the beaver dodges the debate-truck
Leave a commentMarch 6, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
David Cameron’s PPE tutor said very early on in his career that he was the brightest student he ever taught. …
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Unrealistic targets are not the way to deal with the politics of immigration
Leave a commentMarch 5, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Talk to people around the country about immigration, and they will say that it is a really important topic for …
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Critics of Nathalie Bennett don’t have a problem with women, they have a problem with incompetence
Leave a commentMarch 4, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I ought to start this by saying that I’m sure Nathalie Bennett, the Leader of the Green Party, is a …
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Government response to Jihadi John another example of how ‘hard cases make bad law’
Leave a commentMarch 3, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Often, we are faced with an extreme situation that leads to the cry that “something must be done.” Governments, or …
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£6000 tuition fees – sneaky short-term political opportunitism
2March 2, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In the end, after all the fanfare, the announcement by the Labour Party of how and why they were going …
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Fixed Term Parliament Act and chaos. One may begat the other.
Leave a commentMarch 1, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Deep within the Coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2010 was the Fixed Term Parliament Act. The …
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Left wing supply side policies – Why and how Labour CAN be socially democratic without money.
Leave a commentFebruary 28, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In a wonderful article in Prospect Magazine, the Labour peer Stewart Wood, a key advisor to Ed Miliband, has explained …
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It is constituency polls, not national polls , that matter for the Liberal Democrats.
Leave a commentFebruary 27, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In recent weeks Ryan Coetzee, the Liberal Democrats’ director of strategy, has commissioned private polling from Survation in 100 marginal …
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Straw and Rifkind – the scandal we deserved
2February 26, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
An important starting point for this blog is that few people actually understand the nature of an MP’s job and …
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Speed cameras – should Labour be exchanging our safety for a few votes?
Leave a commentFebruary 25, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Between 1998 and 2009, during the last a Labour government, the quantity of traffic rose by 15%, but there was …
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Jenny Willott’s compromises show Parliament needs to change to close the gender gap
Leave a commentFebruary 24, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Last week’s episode of the consistently excellent documentary ‘Inside the Commons’ focused on the work of the whips, who enforce …
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Reality for Syriza as the limitations on sovereignty in the Eurozone bite
Leave a commentFebruary 23, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Well that didn’t take long, did it? As Alex Salmond and Scotland would have found out had they achieved independence …
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Maybe we still need the USA to be the world’s policeman
Leave a commentFebruary 22, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In Episode 7 of ‘The West Wing’ there is an episode called “The Cold”. Towards the end of it, the …
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Je suis Dan Uzan. Any ideas how to stop that actually being so?
Leave a commentFebruary 21, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
We’re going to have to get used to this, you know. We may find, over the next year or two, …
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UKIP: The first hundred days – lazy, ignorant and vacuous broadcasting
2February 20, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
About 6 years’ ago, whilst on playground duty, I was approached by a year 11 (equivalent to a fifth former …
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Conservative welfare policies are too easily badged with “nasty party” to win them an election
3February 19, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Margaret Thatcher’s lasting legacy to the Conservative Party seems to be that when they say “long-term economic plan” many people …
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Miliband’s plan for high quality apprenticeships makes sense
Leave a commentFebruary 18, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Monday was a great example of the importance of defining what you are talking about. Ed Miliband gave a speech …
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Successfully bashing the Conservatives is not necessarily a successful week for Labour
Leave a commentFebruary 17, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
At first glance, it looks like Labour had a very good week last week. Starting off by pointing out the …
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Obamacare and putting principle before politics.
Leave a commentFebruary 16, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
There was a fascinating story told by David Axelrod, who was a Senior staffer in the Barack Obama White House …
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Grexit could be the human solution
Leave a commentFebruary 15, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
At the end of an outstanding article by Hamish McRae on whether it would really matter if Greece left the …
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Robert Halfon and the use of ‘Patronage-for-quiet’
1February 14, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In the middle “Inside the Commons” – a wonderful documentary by Michael Cockerell currently showing on Tuesday nights on BBC2 which …
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More paternity leave isn’t about the money – it requires a massive culture change
Leave a commentFebruary 13, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
There has been much kerfuffle this week about Labour’s plans to double paid paternity leave to four weeks (doubling …
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Ed Miliband and Stanley Fink – allegations without evidence are an abuse of Parliamentary privilege.
2February 12, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
First of all, full disclosure. I know Lord Stanley Fink. I have known him for sixteen years. I know his …
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Labour’s tuition fees discussions are like watching a slow-motion car crash
1February 11, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, political parties do things that are actually hard to watch, so utterly amateurish and nonsensical are they. Trying to …
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Government’s policies favour older people for a good reason…and it’s not what you think
Leave a commentFebruary 10, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Let’s start with a fact. Older people are more likely to vote than younger people. Ergo, policies that benefit older …
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Time for Ed Miliband to show he understands Profit.
3February 9, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
The debate around Labour’s relationship with the business community at the moment is about many things. One could say it’s …
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FPTP encourages Greens to be unrealistic in their demands.
Leave a commentFebruary 8, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
The rise in the fortunes of the Greens, both literally with their soaring membership, and politically with their strong opinion …
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Can you campaign against fuel poverty AND oppose fracking at the same time?
2February 5, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Last week, MPs voted overwhelmingly against a bid to have all fracking suspended. However, this was not without controversy. Tessa …
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Why it makes sense not to include the DUP in the TV Debates
Leave a commentFebruary 4, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
It is not hard to see validity in the DUP’s claims for a place in the Party leader debates in …
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A fall in GCSE results is not a lowering of standards, and vice versa
Leave a commentFebruary 3, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, particularly with an interviewer as clever as Andrew Marr, you have to wonder if journalists are being deliberately stupid. …
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Let’s give all our children the skills to succeed
2February 2, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
This weekend, the Conservatives launched a new policy that demands that children are able to perform a variety of literacy …
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“Je Suis Charlie” – we have the right to FEEL offended but we don’t have the right not to BE offended
1February 1, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I’ve been thinking, and reading, since January 7th, about free speech. Should it really be unlimited? What does ‘offensive’ mean? …
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Phone hacking – “it all started with a knee”
1January 31, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
All great democracies need great journalists. You can’t hold the powerful to account without courage. “It all started with a …
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Syriza coalition with Independent Greeks shows Tsipras refuses to accept he can’t control Economics
1January 30, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
There’s going to be a lot to write about Greece over the next few months. The inevitable result of a …
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Andy Burnham and the NHS – lose the politics
Leave a commentJanuary 29, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
He won’t like the comparison, but Andy Burnham is going to find out over the next few months what it …
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The development of a ‘Left-Wing bloc’ could spell curtains for Cameron
Leave a commentJanuary 28, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
It must be lonely being David Cameron these days. As the furore over the TV debates show, we are developing …
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UK Party leader debates….it’s just not how our democracy works
Leave a commentJanuary 27, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
That the Party leader debates should happen seems to be obvious to everyone. But a closer look at what they …
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