Political donations transparency in Northern Ireland: progress, but not enough
Photo credit: flickr user Peter Whiddon Creative Commons license. Sixteen and a half years ago political parties in England, Scotland and Wales began naming their big donors in public. Ten…
Brexit and the Tory deal have only deepened Northern Ireland’s political crisis
The Irish Sea, this summer, feels a few miles wider. For me, it began at the count. My fellow Green candidate and I scarcely paid any attention to our own…
Labour needs to think structurally if it’s serious about deepening democracy
Labour supporters need to act if they want their leadership to support electoral reform. Image by Firdaus Latif, Flickr. The unexpected growth in Labour’s Westminster seats under Jeremy Corbyn marks…
Trump, May, and Autocratic Libertarianism
A section of the cover of Hobbes' Leviathan with engraving by Abraham Bosse, 1651. Image via Wikipedia. At first glance the fact that Donald Trump and Theresa May’s neo-Conservative agenda…
The Government’s cut to bereavement benefit will hurt those in real need
UK Government changes to bereavement benefit will hit 75% of families that rely on the scheme. Image by Helen Taylor. The death of a family member is always difficult, the…
My visit to Grenfell
March from Grenfell Tower to Kensington Town Hall on 16 March 2017. Photo by Wasi Daniju (Original Here) Samir Jeraj is Policy and Practice Officer at the Race Equality Foundation…
Dodgy climate accounting rules pose a real threat to our forests
Photo courtesy of Zak Gratton Global forests play a huge role as a carbon sink. At the same time, how we manage (or mismanage) forests and land has a major…
Youth turnout in the 2017 general election- what was going on?
Student protest in 2014. Photo credit: flickr user Chris Beckett Creative Commons license: While the opinion pollsters are still crunching the data, initial evidence suggests that there was a…
The Tory/DUP partnership could be a mixed bag for Northern Ireland
Arlene Foster, leader of the DUP. Photo credit: flickr user NICVA, Creative Commons license: If you've lived in Belfast as long as I have and hold any list of…
Trust and integrity have returned to British politics
Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Stop Trident rally at Trafalgar Square on Saturday 27th February 2016. Photo by Garry Knight, public domain. As election night progressed, I started noticing that…