Divided government over the EU referendum
I've found it both fascinating and startling that there are such clear dividing lines on the government frontbenches over the EU in-out referendum. What are the implications of (rare) divided...
Will the EU referendum enhance democracy? Arguments for AS Politics Unit 1 essays
David Cameron has announced that the "In-Out Referendum" on the UK's EU membership will take place on Thursday June 23rd - you can find a useful timeline of EU referendum events here. This blog...
The end of South Korea's trustpolitik
One remaining thread of co-operation between North and South Korea - the Kaesong Industrial Region (the KIR)- has been snapped by Ms Park Geunhye, the President of South Korea, showing that her...
Antonin Scalia’s death – a chance for Obama to leave a legacy?
Justice Antonin Scalia, one of 9 justices on the US Supreme Court, and one of its most conservative judges, died unexpectedly aged 79 on February 13th 2016. This blog entry provides some analysis...
Mao's Little Red Book
It's 60 years on from Mao's Cultural Revolution, and 60 years since his Little Red Book of quotations became an essential item to carry in your pocket if you were a radical left-winger. There is a...
English votes for English laws "too complicated"
The Commons' Public Administration Select Committee has said that the "English laws for English votes" arrangement , introduced to try and prevent the so-called West Lothian problem, could end up...
Should the Commons be more family friendly?
An opinion poll conducted by BMG showed today that a majority of the public wants Common rules to be changed to be more family friendly and supportive to pregnant MPs. Three quarters of people...
Who are the Independent Voters in the US?
A growing proportion of US voters describe themselves as "independent" - i.e. they don't have a declared allegiance to either the Republican or Democratic Party.
Eurosceptic Parties Build on the Back of the Refugee Crisis
A useful short video piece here from Jonah Hull on the resurgence of eurosceptic political parties within the EU.
Why did Trump and Sanders win in New Hampshire?
If you want to dissect the specific stats and numbers from the New Hampshire Primary then you can do so here. However, it's perhaps more interesting to look at the reasons why Trump and Sanders won...
To what extent does climate change threaten human rights?
Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland) argues in this wide-ranging TED talk that people living in poverty are more likely to have their human rights threatened as a result of climate change,...
Vietnam - Communist or not?
Is Vietnam full of "red capitalists"? I've read quite a lot of analysis recently suggesting that Vietnam is both an authoritarian socialist state and also a state swimming in the unfettered...
Who is Marco Rubio?
The youngest candidate left in the 2016 Presidential Campaign, Marco Rubio may still be a decent bet if the Republicans want to get their man into the White House in 2016.
Analysis of North Korea's latest missile test
Earlier this week, North Korea claimed that it had successfully deployed a long-range missile, following its apparent H-bomb test in January. If reports are to be believed, both of these tests are...
Britain's right wing press
A YouGov poll published this week shows that Britons believe their press to be the most right-wing in Europe, with only 32% of people saying that the media hits the right note. The charts below...
Winston's War-Winning Words
Winston Churchill realised the importance of great speeches and even greater oratory - many of his words from WW2 are still quoted today. Churchill wrote his own speeches, and was his own...
Donald Trump Will Never be President - His Mouth is Too Small
You won't find this kind of analysis in the A Level Politics textbooks.
Measuring the impact of political advertising on TV in the US
This week's Economist contains an impressively-researched data chart, showing the relationship between the number of political TV ads (both positive and negative adverts) and the impact that those...
Civil Service statistics
How many people work in the Civil Service? Is the make up of the Civil Service fairly representative? What are their working patterns like? Find out every statistic you could ever possibly want to...
The use of social media to drive political change
Social media - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc - is increasingly being used to drive forward political change, and is worth looking more closely at especially for students of global politics.