The Birmingham Brief archive Contensis: http://www.contentmanagement.co.uk http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/index.aspx?SyndicationType=2 2013-05-20T08:57:19Z Deborah Walker

Information on The Conservative Party, Europe and a Referendum

2013-05-16T11:34:00Z 2013-05-16T11:07:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/16-05-13The-Conservative-Party,-Europe-and-a-Referendum.aspx Thomas Straw

Information on Italy's new left-right government: not the 'normalisation' of the country's politics as yet...

2013-05-09T16:21:00Z 2013-05-13T10:38:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/09-05-13Italys-new-left-right-government-not-the-normalisation-of-the-countrys-politics-as-yet.aspx Nathan Johnson

Local elections will be held today in 34 councils, for 2,362 seats in 27 county councils and seven mainland unitaries. There are also two mayoral elections. Gains and losses will be measured in terms both of seats won and which parties have overall control of which councils.

2013-05-02T16:08:00Z 2013-05-03T07:29:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/BirminghamBrief0105.aspx Kabir Ganguly

From the Empire State Building to the pyramids, members of the global autism community shone a lens on autism this week by lighting many iconic landmarks in blue. This was in celebration of World Autism Day, which is a global initiative instigated by the United Nations to help raise awareness. It marks the start of autism awareness month.

2013-04-05T12:11:00Z 2013-04-10T13:32:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/world-autism-day.aspx Thomas Straw

Many years ago a British politician, on learning that he was about to be appointed Minister for Transport, exclaimed: 'Some enemy hath done this!' It is not hard to see why he might have said this. The transport portfolio is often brimming over with some extremely difficult issues; and the HS2 (High Speed Rail 2) proposal is certainly no exception.

2013-01-31T09:52:00Z 2013-01-31T10:05:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/hs2-proposal.aspx Nathan Johnson

EMR has been billed as a measure to decarbonise the electricity economy whilst at the same time stopping the electricity system collapsing as old coal and nuclear power stations come off line. Unfortunately the Government is selecting policy mechanisms that give a market advantage to the electricity majors.

2013-01-09T17:01:00Z 2013-01-11T13:23:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Electricity-Market-Reform-All-power-to-the-Big-Six!.aspx Kylie Morris

New Year's Eve is traditionally a time for celebration, reflection and looking forward with optimism. As Czechs and Slovaks mark what they call 'silvestr/silvester' by popping champagne corks and setting off fireworks, some will reflect not just on the dawn of a new year, but twenty years of separate statehood.

2013-01-04T11:11:00Z 2013-01-21T12:56:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Size-Matters-Two-Decades-after-the-Break-Up-of-Czechoslovakia.aspx Nathan Johnson

On 14 November, 2012, an Israeli drone strike killed Ahmed Jabari, the head of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza. The sharply escalating violence in the aftermath of this so-called targeted killing, while particularly costly in human life, is part of a seemingly unending violent confrontation in the region: according to a timeline of the conflict, over the past almost four years (since the conclusion of Israel's ground offensive in Gaza) more than 300 Palestinians and 20 Israelis have been killed, while in the past two years, some 800 missiles have been launched from Gaza into southern Israel.

2012-12-04T12:54:00Z 2012-12-05T16:27:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Legal,-Legitimate,-and-Effective-Drone-Warfare-Grand-Illusion-or-Future-Reality.aspx Nathan Johnson

On 1 October 2012 Georgia, a small post-Soviet state on the Black Sea coast with a population of 4.6 million people, conducted its 8th Parliamentary elections since 1990. The pre-election campaign was closely watched by the West and the number of international observers monitoring the elections was allegedly the country's largest-ever.

2012-12-04T12:53:00Z 2012-12-05T16:33:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Georgias-Parliamentary-Elections-–-Democracy-in-Action.aspx Kylie Morris

In his speech to the Labour party conference this week, Ed Miliband invoked the spirit of the former Conservative leader, Benjamin Disraeli, when he set out his vision for Britain to be 'one nation: a country where prosperity is shared'. So where are the 'one-nation Tories' and where do Conservatives more generally stand on this issue?

2012-10-05T10:02:00Z 2012-10-04T10:25:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Wealth-inequality---are-we-one-nation,-all-in-it-together.aspx Kylie Morris

Michael Gove's recent statement on the status of GCSEs and the introduction of a new qualification – the English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBC) – have been greeted as another momentous change, but what do the reforms really mean and who is likely to win (and lose) as a result?

2012-09-28T11:00:00Z 2012-09-28T10:17:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Examining-exams-GCSEs,-the-EBacc-and-the-question-of-Equity.aspx Kylie Morris

Since the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, health services in the UK have been funded primarily through general taxation and delivered free at the point of access to individuals. However, recent decades have witnessed an expansion in the global market for health services. This has been manifest in various ways, including an unprecedented increase in the volume of patients willing to traverse national borders for the purposes of receiving medical care.

2012-02-10T16:00:00Z 2012-03-23T13:06:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/10feb12-health-tourism.aspx Nathan Johnson

2011 was a truly historical turning point – it was a year which fundamentally changed the European Union's (EU) previous assumption about the Middle East and North African (MENA) region – that the fall of Arab autocrats was not imminent and that the dictators of the region would remain the partners to cooperate with in the near future. The Arab Spring events in Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond since December 2010 have successfully challenged the institutional order. Egypt is now embarking on a long and uncertain journey towards a more democratic future. But questions remain regarding the role of the EU towards nascent democracies.

2012-02-03T00:00:00Z 2013-03-14T12:39:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Impact-of-Events-in-Egypt-on-the-EU-Can-any-lessons-be-learnt-from-the-Arab-Spring.aspx Kylie Morris

The London Olympics will undoubtedly be a spectacular success and bring with it a number of memorable sporting moments. Beyond the two weeks of action, however, it is worth reflecting on the increasingly political use of sport by a wide variety of states throughout the world. In recent years, there has been a shift from advanced capitalist states to developing, small or 'emerging' states who have queued up to stage a sporting mega-event.

2012-01-05T00:00:00Z 2012-03-23T12:04:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/05jan12-sportmegaevents.aspx Kylie Morris

Having transparent mechanisms for distribution of global aid is hugely important. It allows scrutiny to ensure money is used effectively. The global aid landscape has changed drastically with the rise of southern donors like India and China. This makes it even more important that transparency for public flows of development aid should be non-negotiable, irrespective of whether or not they are official development assistance.

2011-11-03T00:00:00Z 2012-03-23T11:08:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/building-a-transparent-system-of-global-aid.aspx Claire Hawkins

This week as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science 2011, I will be hosting the event, "Faith in the City: communities, regeneration, interaction". The event sets out to explore the way in which faith inspires and influences people to live, work and act in the diverse, vibrant urban space that is today's Birmingham. Despite Alastair Campbell stating the British "don't do God", the event is interesting to many.

2011-11-01T17:22:00Z 2011-11-01T17:20:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/1nov-faith-in-the-city.aspx Claire Hawkins

Counterfactual analysis, the art of assessing how the world might look if something had not happened, is notoriously difficult and highly sensitive to the assumptions one makes about the alternative scenarios. Forecasting the impact of a major policy reversal is fraught with similar difficulties.

2011-10-28T00:00:00Z 2011-11-01T11:52:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/28oct-EU-what-has-it-done-for-us.aspx Claire Hawkins

Rarely out of the headlines in recent months, the Bill has achieved a rather unenviable feat: it seems to have brought together an impressive array of normally uneasy bedfellows in opposition to the proposed changes. Clinicians, managers, policy makers, researchers, think tanks, charities and others rarely all agree – but all seem united in their hostility to the Bill and increasingly unafraid to voice their concerns. Even the businessman, Gerry Robinson, popped up on Panorama to tell the Health Secretary that the changes won't work and could spell the end of the NHS as we know it – that the lack of strategic planning and accountability inherent in the proposed new system was simply bad business and bad management.

2011-09-07T00:00:00Z 2011-10-07T10:44:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/7sept-health-social-care-bill.aspx Ben Hill

As Colonel Gaddafi's 42 years in charge of Libya draw to a seemingly climactic end – the dramatic scenes in Tripolil leave a series of questions that need to be urgently answered.

2011-08-23T13:54:00Z 2011-08-23T14:37:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/23-Aug-Libya-what-next.aspx Claire Hawkins

Last week thousands of young people spontaneously rioted in a number of English cities for no apparent reason. In the aftermarth of the riots there have been many calls for the renewal of public and private virtues. We appear to want to change people for the better and so improve the quality of public life.

2011-08-18T17:06:00Z 2011-08-18T16:59:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/18aug-riots-education.aspx Ben Hill

In 2010, the former Prime Minister published a review of adult social care in which the Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) argued that the system was fundamentally broken. A year on and very little has changed to alter our pessimistic assessment. Indeed in recent weeks, this diagnosis has been reconfirmed by a number of inter-related developments, including:

2011-07-15T14:24:00Z 2011-07-15T14:23:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/23Jun-SocialCareisBroken.aspx Ben Hill

The much-touted phrase 'from nanny to nudge' symbolises the Coalition Government's aspirations to find new ways to shape the habits and attitudes of good citizenship and to spread them more widely. Policy makers hope to change our expectations of what local and national government should provide, our ideas about who might provide them, and our commitment to changing our own and others' behaviours in all areas of our lives.

2011-07-15T14:14:00Z 2011-07-15T14:11:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/12Jul-YoungPeople-publicservices.aspx Ben Hill

With thousands of public sector workers striking this week and the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister both speaking at the Local Government Conference in Birmingham the future of public services has rarely seemed a more divisive or topical issue.

2011-07-14T17:53:00Z 2011-07-14T16:55:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/26JunPublic-Servants-Reform.aspx Ben Hill

Information on Libya—100 Days On

2011-06-30T16:26:00Z 2011-06-30T16:25:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/30Jun-100DaysinLibya.aspx Amy Cory

George Osborne has doggedly fought back at critics of the government's austerity strategy, repeating the mantra that sustaining the 'policy credibility' of UK plc with financial markets and investors is the paramount challenge facing this parliament. This week the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been able to draw on an apparent endorsement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for his agenda of public spending cuts and the Coalition's broader economic policy choices. But is the IMF's 'endorsement' all that the Chancellor makes it out to be?

2011-06-09T00:00:00Z 2011-07-29T10:14:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/9-June-Cash-or-Credit-UK-public-spending-cuts-and-the-IMF.aspx Claire Hawkins

This week the coalition government announced a radical set of climate change targets which will limit the UK's CO2 emissions to 50% of their 1990 levels by 2025 and shift the emphasis of the UK's energy consumption firmly away from fossil fuels towards renewables and nuclear.

2011-05-19T00:00:00Z 2011-05-20T10:46:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/19may-carbon-targets.aspx Thomas Straw

The Munro Review into child protection policy and practice in England was published on 10 May 2011. Professor Eileen Munro's recommendations, if accepted and implemented by government, would signal a sea change for such services and for the children and families with whom they work.

2011-05-16T16:35:00Z 2011-06-10T15:35:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/16may-munro-review.aspx Ben Hill

About half of the UK population use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) during their lifetimes. Yet despite this, successive governments have appeared remarkably reluctant to engage with the regulation of these therapeutic practices, despite its stated commitment to responsive and appropriate regulation of the health sector.

2011-05-12T00:00:00Z 2011-06-30T16:24:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/12may-complementary-health.aspx Thomas Straw

Now that the dust has somewhat settled after the initial euphoria, triumphalism, gloating, and relief that followed Barack Obama's announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden, more sober analysis is beginning of the broader implications of the end of a 15-year manhunt.

2011-05-05T16:33:00Z 2011-07-27T10:09:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/5may-OBL-death.aspx Claire Hawkins

Questioning China's remarkable economic performance over the last 30 years seems to fly in the face of wisdom honed by decades of double digit growth. However, it is perfectly possible to explain China in the context of standard models of economic growth. Immigration of low-wage labour into the Eastern seaboard along with transfers of capital from Chinese Diaspora in Hong Kong, Taiwan and further afield, created the conditions for the 'miracle'.

2011-04-28T00:00:00Z 2011-05-03T10:49:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/28april-china-economy.aspx Claire Hawkins

The Department for International Development (DFID) recently published a Multilateral Aid Review (MAR), critically assessing 43 different international organisations (IOs), agencies and private groups. It has concurrently conducted a Bilateral Aid Review (BAR) of its own operations. This brief shows that both reviews indicate an important shift in UK aid policies, whereby future development assistance will be based on the UK's vision of development rather than more traditional global indicators.

2011-04-21T15:27:00Z 2011-04-21T15:24:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/21apr-aid-review.aspx Claire Hawkins

Recent events in Libya and Cote d'Ivoire have once again highlighted the issue of conflict in Africa, raising the question of whether the continent is capable of addressing crises without international intervention.

2011-04-14T00:00:00Z 2011-04-18T11:59:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/14apr-conflict-in-africa.aspx Claire Hawkins

Britain had an overdose of budget announcements in 2010, from Labour's budget in March, to the Coalition's 'emergency' budget in June and then their Spending Review in October. Compared to all of this, the March 2011 Budget was a rather dull affair.

2011-03-31T00:00:00Z 2011-04-05T15:30:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/31mar-big-squeeze.aspx Reena Mandora

As the crisis in Libya unfolds and as the US, France and the UK get potentially sucked ever deeper into yet another disastrous military intervention, policy debates and decisions appear to be driven primarily by humanitarian concern. Unsurprisingly, supporters and opponents alike use the humanitarian argument—one side seeks to stop a murderous dictator from slaughtering his own people, the other is concerned about the inevitable civilian casualties and 'collateral damage' caused by airstrikes, no matter how sophisticated the military technology behind them might be.

2011-03-22T11:29:00Z 2011-03-22T15:32:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/22Mar-Libya-a-solution.aspx Claire Hawkins

Education and related services for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities are estimated to cost in the region of £5.2bn a year from a total education budget of £30.4bn. In the current climate it is no surprise that the Government would seek to reduce costs.

2011-03-10T17:02:00Z 2011-03-10T17:01:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/10mar-special-education.aspx Claire Hawkins

Many keen supporters of electoral reform and, indeed, any constitutional reform agenda which aims to strengthen processes of representation and accountability, may find it difficult to feel overly excited about the prospect of the introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV) for UK general elections.

2011-03-02T16:36:00Z 2011-03-02T16:35:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/2march-alternative-vote.aspx Thomas Straw

On Sunday, elections to the state parliament in Hamburg saw Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) take a resounding defeat with just 21.9% of the vote, a fall from 42.6% in 2008. As a result, the Social Democrats (SPD) won a landslide victory in the Landtag by a massive 48.3%, a dramatic swing to the centre-left party after ten long years in opposition.

2011-02-24T13:27:00Z 2011-02-24T16:02:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/24feb-merkel-defeat-in-hamburg.aspx Claire Hawkins

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement yesterday (1 February), that he will not seek re-election but will stay in power until the presidential elections in September to ensure a smooth transition period, is unlikely to satisfy the demand of the public for his immediate removal from power.

2011-02-02T00:00:00Z 2011-02-03T11:32:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/2feb-cairo-crisis.aspx Claire Hawkins

First came a report from the Quilliam Foundation calling for the term Islamophobia to be replaced due to the widespread confusion about what it actually means and how it should be used. Despite having been part of the social and political lexicon for almost a decade and half now, Quilliam recommend 'anti-Muslim prejudice', 'anti-Muslim bigotry' or 'anti-Muslim hatred'.

2011-01-21T00:00:00Z 2011-01-24T11:40:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/islamophobia-chris-allen-210111.aspx Claire Hawkins

On 9 January polling started in Southern Sudan in a referendum to determine whether one of the largest states in Africa will divide. The result of the referendum is so certain that the South's Independence Day has already been set for 9 July, six months after the start of polling.

2011-01-13T10:55:00Z 2011-01-13T10:53:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/sudanese-independence-13jan.aspx Claire Hawkins

Misguided, irresponsible, reprehensible – these are just some of the words used by critics to describe the latest set of releases on the website, WikiLeaks. But is this more than hurt pride and should we really care one way or another?

2010-12-09T13:50:00Z 2010-12-09T13:47:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/wikileaks-whatmakesitdangerous.aspx Claire Hawkins

The Coalition Government's proposal to cut £162 million funding for 450 school sports partnerships offers an intriguing case study of this era of new party politics and policy-making. Two points lend weight to the argument that this is a rushed decision made by an ill-informed minister, Education Secretary Michael Gove.

2010-12-03T13:57:00Z 2010-12-03T13:52:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/school-sports-partnerships-03Nov.aspx Claire Hawkins

Many commentators in the UK are pointing to Ireland's presence in the Euro for its current economic woes. This is somewhat misplaced. The 'Celtic Tiger' was founded on solid economic grounds. Ireland is an attractive location within the Eurozone for overseas firms due to its English speaking, well-educated, and relatively young workforce and low corporate tax rate. Without the Euro, it is arguable that the boom years may never have happened.

2010-11-25T10:29:00Z 2010-11-25T10:26:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/irish-economy-25Nov.aspx Claire Hawkins

The government's new Vision for Adult Social Care stresses the need to create 'capable communities and active citizens', fully embracing the personalisation agenda as the key way to deliver this.

2010-11-19T15:47:00Z 2010-11-19T15:45:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/personalisedsocialcare191110.aspx Claire Hawkins

The recent terror plot to transport printers containing the explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, from Yemen to Chicago synagogues has once again focused attention on the need to detect explosives reliably and in real-time. PETN is the same explosive that the so-called 'shoe-bomber' tried to set off on an American Airlines jet to Miami in 2001.

2010-11-11T16:45:00Z 2010-11-11T16:38:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/sorrel-detectingexplosives.aspx Claire Hawkins

Spending on social security benefits and tax credits – 'welfare' as it is increasingly known – represents £190 billion or around one third of government spending. When cuts in public spending are regarded as unavoidable, it is inevitable that welfare comes under pressure. The June 2010 Budget proposed measures that reduce spending by £11 billion, while the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) found another £7 billion of cuts. Radical reforms are on the horizon.

2010-10-22T11:33:00Z 2010-10-22T11:32:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/CSR.aspx Claire Hawkins

Suffolk County Council's recent decision to outsource almost all of its services to social enterprises or private companies has intensified the debate about the future of local public services.

2010-10-07T00:00:00Z 2010-10-14T14:10:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/publicservices,bigsociety.aspx Claire Hawkins

On 16th September Andrew Mitchell MP, Secretary of State for International Development, made a speech about conflict and development at the Royal College of Defence Studies. In this speech he argued that as part of the government's Strategic Defence Security Review (SDSR) there should be a reassessment of the UK's response to overseas conflict which puts development at the heart of an integrated approach that both protects the world's most vulnerable people and protects the UK from external threats.

2010-09-30T00:00:00Z 2010-10-18T15:56:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/AidandUKsecurity.aspx Claire Hawkins

I always tell my students that, when sitting an exam, they have to answer the question that has been set rather than one that they feel comfortable with. No analogy is ever perfect, but this one sums up pretty neatly the outcome of the deliberations by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which, by ten votes to four, found that the Declaration of Independence (DoI) of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.

2010-07-27T00:00:00Z 2010-10-18T15:54:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/courtofjustice.aspx Claire Hawkins

Navigating the job market can be a difficult process for those newly graduated. Expectations can quickly become replaced by a sense of disillusionment as settling for a seemingly less prestigious, and in some cases a "non graduate" role appears the only option.

2010-07-16T00:00:00Z 2010-10-12T16:21:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/employment-hope.aspx Claire Hawkins

While efforts continued to cope with the consequences of the mass violence that erupted on 9 June in the south of the small and mountainous ex-Soviet republic, including an anticipated death toll of more than 2,000 and more than 400,000 displaced persons, Kyrgyzstan's Interim Government pressed ahead with a referendum on a new Constitution on Sunday. Preliminary results indicate that turn out was around 70% of the population, with 91% voting in favour and just 8% against.

2010-06-30T00:00:00Z 2010-10-18T16:44:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Krygystan.aspx Claire Hawkins

The general election held on 6 May finally led to a new government for the UK. Eventually, because of course the election itself did not produce an outright winner and only when the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats were able to agree on the construction of a coalition could a new government be formed. The delays flowing from this have made it more difficult to predict at an early stage how the new government will act, in particular because third sector policy was not a high profile policy issue to be included in the initial coalition talks.

2010-06-25T00:00:00Z 2010-10-18T17:10:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Bigsocietyorcivilsociety.aspx Claire Hawkins

One of the campaign slogans of the Conservative Party in the recent general election was their commitment to the creation of a new 'Big Society' in Britain. This was contrasted to the 'big government' that they associated with the Labour administration, which they suggested was crowding out independent citizen and community action, and which in any event would be unaffordable in the foreseeable future given the deficit in public finances.

2010-06-11T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T11:54:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/communityengagement.aspx Claire Hawkins

Dr Lindsey Appleyard is an author on the forthcoming report 'Home ownership and the distribution of personal wealth' for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Housing Market Taskforce.

2010-06-03T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T11:57:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/assetbasedwelfare.aspx Claire Hawkins

Since 1966, manufacturing employment in the United Kingdom has declined. In 1995, 300,973 people were employed in manufacturing in the West Midlands (Metropolitan County), but by 2008 this had declined to 153,800. Over the same period, an additional 87,481 jobs in public administration, education and health were created and 185,158 jobs in services. Yet many of these service jobs are poorly paid and only provide services for local people rather than for export.

2010-05-25T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T12:03:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/manufacturinginBritain.aspx Claire Hawkins

In a month of election campaigning the issue of international development and aid policy was barely referred to by any of the three major parties. So what will the new government mean for UK aid policy?

2010-05-20T00:00:00Z 2010-11-23T16:00:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/UKaid.aspx Claire Hawkins

Commentators are currently focused on the extraordinary Conservative-Liberal coalition, and whether it will deliver a 'new politics'. But the emerging contest over Labour's future may prove even more significant for the long-term shape of politics in Britain.

2010-05-18T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T12:15:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/afterNewLabour.aspx Katherine Whitbourn-Hammond

This week, the national political and policy landscape for the UK has changed, as demonstrated by the sight of David Cameron sharing a press conference podium with Nick Clegg. However, this changed political and policy landscape applies to UK Local Governance as well.

2010-05-14T00:00:00Z 2011-01-25T10:09:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/newpoliticallandscape.aspx Claire Hawkins

Following the third of the historic Prime Ministerial debates – staged, of course, here at the University of Birmingham – the possibility of the election producing a single-party Conservative majority government increased – though marginally – for the first time in weeks. Similarly, the likelihood of a less conclusive result reduced somewhat; presumably to the relief of those who have been predicting instability, legislative deadlock and parliamentary collapse as the probable outcomes of a hung parliament.

2010-05-04T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T14:05:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/localgvtlessons.aspx Claire Hawkins

Last night at the University of Birmingham the three leaders got to grips with the economy. The debate was long on rhetoric and short on detailed economics. The first question should have got to the heart of the problem – how were the parties going to 'fill the hole'.

2010-04-30T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T14:22:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/economydebate.aspx Claire Hawkins

Migration and super diverse societies are the new reality of the developed. The major issue is not whether or not we should be tough on migration, because we now have tough controls in place, but how we can better integrate the widely diverse communities resident in the UK.

2010-04-29T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T14:27:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/superdiversesociety.aspx Claire Hawkins

Benjamin Franklin famously said that 'in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes' and the issue of how death and taxes should be linked in future policy has provoked plenty of lively pre-election discussion amongst politicians of all parties.

2010-04-28T00:00:00Z 2010-10-12T16:15:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/deathtaxes.aspx Claire Hawkins

Professor Colin Thain is the principle investigator in an ESRC funded project on the Treasury under New Labour and an expert on the UK Treasury and economic policy.

2010-04-01T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T11:28:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/economicchallenges.aspx Claire Hawkins

Although no groups have as yet claimed responsibility for the two suicide attacks the Russian security services, the FSB, have indicated that groups linked to the North Caucasus may have been behind the bombings at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations in Moscow.

2010-03-30T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T11:20:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/Moscowmilitants.aspx Claire Hawkins

The last Budget before the General Election shows that the Treasury and Prime Minister have not agreed on a comprehensive medium-term strategy to deal with the public finances. By not giving targeted and detailed cuts in spending, the Chancellor has left all the really difficult decisions until after the General Election. It is a cautious but modest political budget.

2010-03-24T00:00:00Z 2010-10-19T11:05:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/politicalbudget.aspx James Robertson

It is widely accepted that a major challenge of the 21st century is to provide safe drinking water and basic sanitation for all, particularly in urban areas. More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.

2010-03-22T00:00:00Z 2010-11-09T10:56:00Z http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/urbanwater.aspx