The Political Calendar 2015
Every upcoming political event for the next term! It includes elections from across the globe, party conferences, UK Political events and much more. Use it as your companion guide for the next...
Advice from my Politics Teacher to You
When I was a student of A Level Politics, my Politics teacher gave us all some very important advice. It is this advice which made the study of A Level Politics, that bit easier and fully allowed...
Cameron's first Commons defeat
David Cameron's Conservative government suffered its first Commons defeat of this Parliament yesterday, over the so-called "purdah" rules which restrain government in the run-up to an election, or...
Labour leadership election - How the Alternative vote works
As we close in on the date (September 12th) when the new Labour leader will be announced, those of you who may not have learned election systems yet might be wondering why, if more people vote for...
Labour leadership contest - who would do what?
All eyes will be on the outcome of the Labour leadership election announced this coming Thursday. So who are the 4 candidates and what exactly do they stand for? Here is a suggested lesson activity...
Updating your UK Constitution Knowledge
Earlier this summer The Independent published an ebook containing information about the current state and nature of the UK's constitution. The book contains summaries of the key texts and documents...
What makes a good President?
Here is a great starter activity to get A2 students following the US Politics option back into the swing of things.
The Impact of a Heartbreaking Photo
The heartbreaking photo of a drowned Syrian toddler (linked to here - please be aware of the distressing nature of the image) has almost single-handedly this week changed the view of the public and...
10 Minute Quiz for your New AS students
Here's a 10 minute activity to include in your first (or second) lesson with brand new students to Government and Politics.
Why is Iowa so important?
All eyes were on the US Presidential hopefuls who all turned up to the Iowa State Fair in recent weeks. Why is this sparsely-populated homogeneous state so important in the electoral process?
Kanye West Wing
Kanye? Really? The successful rapper announced in his acceptance speech at the MTV awards that he wanted to run for President in the 2020 race. So what would a Kanye campaign look like?
Where Next for Labour if Corbyn Wins?
An "insurgent" left-wing candidate looks set to win the leadership of the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn is the front-runner to be voted Labour Party leader on 12 September 2015, reflecting a surge in...
Lords Legislation Log-Jam
There is a great piece by the BBC today on the challenges facing David Cameron in ensuring that his legislative agenda does not get scuppered by the Lords, where the Conservatives no longer have a...
The left-tilting Labour Party
A fascinating YouGov survey tracking voting preferences in the Labour leadership contest, reported in The Economist, shows how Labour is increasingly heading to the left.
Quick quiz for your returning A2 students - while you were away...
Here's a quick 10 minute quiz on government and politics news from the UK and the US during July and August 2015 intended as a quiz for your returning A2 students in their first lesson back. If...
The 2015 General Election: How It Unfolded in Ten Minutes
A superb teaching resource from Sky News! Great as an introduction to teaching the background to the actual 2015 results!
The Birth of New Labour - Revisited
Ed Miliband has a tricky job. His electoral credibility seems to depend on being able to simultaneously demonstrate that he is serious about deficit reduction, but also concerned to protect the...
By-elections usually produce psephological anomalies. Their dynamics tend to favour smaller parties, where the small scale of the contest is more in line with their resources, and given their...
After the Referendum - A Union More Disunited than Before?
A high level of political participation in the Scottish referendum, unheard of in recent national and local elections, together with a sizeable proportion of that country's population indicating...
Catalan Regionalism - The Catalan Consulta
The 11th September, known as La Diada in Catalonia, marks the commemoration, reaching its tricentenary in 2014, of the end of the Spanish War of Succession, which resulted in centralised rule from...