Sam Talbot Rice
Written by Sam Talbot Rice Wednesday, 05 May 2010 15:01
There has been much discussion of the 'game-changing' effects of the TV debates on this election campaign. It is clear already that their most significant impact has been ensuring this is a three horse race. But have they been a good thing for assessing policy? Kieron O'Hara argued on the blog after the first debate that the shift was clear - all the analysis was about the impact on...
Written by Sam Talbot Rice Wednesday, 14 April 2010 15:30
In Yes Minister parlance, being told your policies are 'bold' or 'ambitious' is normally a warning not to proceed. I'm sure Sir Humphrey would be in a state of elegant meltdown if he had to react to the Conservatives' manifesto and what are undoubtedly radical proposals for 'people power' across a whole range of policy areas. The central idea of the manifesto - building the 'Big Society' and rolling back...
Written by Sam Talbot Rice Friday, 26 March 2010 14:47
Will Cameron be a Heath or a Thatcher? That was the question posed by Fraser Nelson in his speech to the CPS last month. Education policy will be a key battleground for deciding that question - specifically, how radical or ‘transformative', to use one of the favoured political buzzwords, a Cameron government will be.
It seems that Tory education spokesman Michael Gove has the bit between his teeth at the...
Written by Sam Talbot Rice Thursday, 25 March 2010 10:18
How heartening it is to discover that there are £11 billion of savings waiting to be made across Whitehall. I am sure I am not the only one who feels weary scepticism when the old chestnuts of moving civil servants out of London, reducing expenditure on IT and cutting quangos (amongst others) are wheeled out. It is of course right and necessary that savings be made - just depressing...
Written by Sam Talbot Rice Wednesday, 24 February 2010 16:33
At last night's CPS/Big Brother Watch event on entry powers Henry Porter made the telling point about how the growth of these powers for state officials to enter homes without a warrant are symptomatic of a trend that has seen the erosion of the distinction between public, private and personal space.
As Porter pointed out, a political philosophy that believes in greater state intervention and interference breeds a culture of...
