Nancy Reagan - Former First Lady | A biography
Former First Lady and widow of Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan has died at the age of 94. Ronald Reagan died in 2004, and whilst many know all about Ronald, Nancy was still a force to be reckoned with...
Could Trump University Prove Donald's Achilles Heel?
The establishment in the Republican Party is desperately trying to find an issue that might derail the seemingly runaway train that is the Donald Trump campaign for the GOP nomination. Could the...
Clinton and Her Superdelegates
When it comes to the Democratic and Republican Party conventions to select their Presidential candidate, look out for the influence of the "superdelegates".
What's Behind the Rise of Donald Trump?
As the Republican Party scramble to find ways of stopping Donald Trump winning the GOP nomination, it is timely to consider how and why the Republicans have found themselves with a candidate the...
The Political Leanings Of US Religious Groups
Surveys have often shows that religion is an important aspect of an American presidential race. The electorate frequently say that it's important to have a a president with strong religious beliefs...
Freedom of Information Act set to stay
Despite Sir Jeremy Heywood describing the FOI Act as having a "chilling effect" on the government, and Tony Blair describing himself following his introduction of the FOI Act as "There is really no...
With changes afoot in terms of boundaries (equalising the size of constituencies and reducing the number of MPs to 600) and reductions in the amount of money provided to the Opposition ("Short...
Clinton vs Trump - spot the quote!
Here's the next in our series of starters you can use in your class asking students to determine which quote on screen comes from Donald Trump and which comes from Hillary Clinton. Seperate your...
A quick Super Tuesday results map
We know now that Trump (R) and Clinton (D) did pretty well on Super Tuesday's primaries and caucuses. Here's a quick visual overview from the New York Times of who won what and where.
Politicisation of the UK civil service?
The complexity of the EU referendum has certainly been muddying the waters around the relationships between ministers and their civil servants. Yesterday, the Commons Public Administration Select...
Lord Mandelson on Collective Cabinet Responsibility
Lord Mandelson, the Labour peer, has said today that he believes Ministers endorsing the Leave campaign in the EU Referendum should have been handed their P45s, because their behaviour is not in...
The world's longest filibuster finally ends
Today, South Korea's Opposition finally ended a 192 hour filibuster in their Parliament, which was intended to block an anti-terrorism bill. The Opposition finally gave up as they realised that in...
No planned changes to the Freedom of Information Act
A report out later today will recommend no changes to the workings of the Freedom of Information Act (first introduced in 2000). One suggestion was to introduce a fee schedule for FOI requests in...
Clarence Thomas (finally!) asks a question
Clarence Thomas, the conservative Supreme Court justice, asked a question in a hearing on Monday for the first time in TEN YEARS! Having got the ball rolling with one question, he then managed to...
Clinton Builds Support from the Black Vote
The Clinton campaign in 2016 seems to be building unstoppable momentum now, helped in no small part by endorsements from black political and cultural leaders. That marks a significant change in...
Michael Gove and changes to the judiciary
How much influence does the Minister for Justice have over the judiciary? This is a key element of the debate of whether politicians have too much influence over the judiciary, and therefore...
Vernon Bogdanor - lecture on the UK's 1975 EU Referendum
Here's an enrichment lecture from the venerable Vernon Bogdanor on the 1975 EU Referendum in the UK, when votes were 2 to 1 in favour of being in the EU - not quite as close as polls currently...
How the Donald could be stopped?
Donald Trump has run away with the Republican nomination battle, yet there is still plenty of time for him to trip up. This video from the New York Times explains the five ways in which the Trump...
Petty, Mean, and Deliciously Rude, yet still better than US Politics
It is not often that British Parliamentary affairs make the news in the United States, and we are quite use to have it the other way around. However, occasionally the antics of MPs in the Commons...
Democracy vs Autocracy - trends and impacts
There are some fascinating time-series charts and graphs from the Systemic Peace website, based on Polity 4 data, tracking trends in types of political systems. I've included some charts below that...