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Domestic Policy, Possibilities 5th February 2019

Beyond the Roundabout

Milton Keynes, built as an overspill town, has many achievements to claim – the roundabout, concrete cows, pretending to be New York in that scene from Superman 4. However, it also faces many urban design challenges, including an abundance of cars and a lack of access to public transport. Milton Keynes is a monument to Harold Wilson’s public planning of the Open…

Domestic Policy, History and Strategy, Possibilities 25th January 2019

Towards Federalism? Part Three

Part One Part Two The Politics of a Federal UK While it’s fun to imagine structural alterations to the UK’s constitutional arrangements, there must of course be a point to this tinkering. Aside from rationalising the present devolution settlement and addressing the problem of inadequate local government accountability and provisioning, these federalising changes could go some way towards calming some of the…

Domestic Policy, Possibilities 23rd January 2019

Abolish Landlords

I spend a lot of time talking with my mum. Sometimes when I’m at the tills, our conversations spin around in my head, oftentimes out of sheer bewilderment, but there’s a modest kind of genius that can only come from parental discourse in your mid twenties. About two months ago, during one such conversation, she made a bold statement – so bold,…

Domestic Policy, History and Strategy, Possibilities 23rd January 2019

Towards Federalism? Part Two

Part One Part Three A Federal England The most profound line in “Withnail & I” comes when Withnail brandishes the keys to his uncle’s country house and declares ‘free for those who can afford it, very expensive for those who can’t.’ It’s a line which, of course, reveals much about British life and the invisible network that holds together the class system:…

Domestic Policy, History and Strategy, Possibilities 21st January 2019

Towards Federalism? Part One

Part Two Part Three The Decline and Fall of Local Government It is commonly observed that the most consequential politicians are not always prime ministers, but most people would perhaps be surprised to learn that arguably the most influential and famous politician in the UK during the mid-1870s was the mayor of Birmingham. During his tenure as mayor from 1873 to 1876,…

Domestic Policy, History and Strategy, Possibilities, Realities 14th January 2019

Left Monarchism?

As parliament returns from recess and the regular news cycle finally trickles back towards to normality, we have been given a welcome reprieve from one element of the discourse which gripped the political classes over Christmas. Namely, the seemingly perennial and exhausting argument over whether the Left should make the abolition of the monarchy a priority as an incoming government. I’m no…