Category Archives: Big Society

Published on
15 April 2011

A Privatisation Too Far?

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Political Economy, Public Policy

‘A privatisation too far’. Many would be surprised to know how Margaret Thatcher reportedly viewed the idea of privatising British Rail. Although the Thatcher administration privatised much of the national industrial infrastructure, British Rail was finally sold off by her successor, John Major. The mania for privatisation even saw Britain’s first private prison open its […]

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Published on
4 April 2011

Funding and the Arts

Posted in Big Society, Culture, Music & Art, Political Economy, Public Policy

From a Guest Blogger: Painters, writers, musicians, dancers and curators have now been put out of their anxious expectation and into the misery they foretold. The arts are being slashed and there is nothing, it seems, they can do about it. On the lips of so many public servants of all (non-creative) stripes is the […]

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Published on
30 March 2011

Charity and the Big Society

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Culture, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Public Policy, Virtue

We reported here recently on the case of Bed & Breakfast owners sued by a same-sex couple for refusing to allow them to share a double-bed at their Cornish hotel. It now emerges that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), who funded the claim, are investigating gay hotels for possible unlawful discrimination against heterosexuals. […]

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Published on
21 September 2010

Will the Pope Make Britain Sit Up and Think?

Posted in Big Society, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Education, Public Policy, Religion

Conservative Party Co-Chairman Baroness Warsi was reported last week to have pledged that the Coalition Government will ‘restore faith to the heart of Britain’. Her comments came on the eve of the first ever State Visit by a reigning Pope to Britain. During his visit the Pope spoke strongly on several occasions about the role […]

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