Policy in Practice

This week has seen my voice become horse and my flatmates deafened; after two weeks off I’m back to watching political television. Not much has changed; Labour’s failures are still being exampled, the Conservatives look arrogant under pressure and the Lib Dems are meekly squeaking, yet for some reason UKIP are finding a strong platform to vocalise and the Green Party, a party gaining recognition, seem absent. Debates and hot topics have thrown up a mass of ineptitude and the Labour party have particularly disappointed; though Miliband looks more assured as party leader his content seems as sparse as past Labour promises. Two subjects have been strongly debated this week, both giving us an insight into where our future leaders may be heading. The Leveson Inquiry recommended statutory underpinning, an idea Mr Cameron seemed to support until officially suggested, so perhaps a peek into today’s press and recent by-election gives us a clue why. The Rotherham by-election saw a L...

As I listen to members of the Labour party being interviewed during their conference I cannot help but hear echoes of party politics and sound-byte rebuffing of their misjudgements. The Liberal Democrat conference was one of substance, or so it seemed from my perspective, Labour however seem to be enjoying the typical sparring match played out by media savvy politicians who thrive on reminding everyone how evil the Tories really are. But what of polcy? So far all I have heard is vague descriptions and emphatic emptiness; 'things are like this, the current policy can't work, this study says it should be this way; we are going to support their findings!' What about your own findings? Even discussions on crime are riddled with confusion, perhaps there were 7million less crimes but this was a proportionate figure in respect to a national trend established in 1995; and certainly doesn't exemplify Labours commitment to tackling serious and organised crime. It also fai...