Policy

Of late, politics and politicians have not been presented in a good light. The Leveson Inquiry has exposed politicians – even the Prime Minister – as having courted representatives from the Murdoch press; Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, is mired in controversy over whether or not he really knew his special adviser was communicating too closely with Sky employees on the BSkyB bid; Baroness Warsi, Minister without Portfolio, is the subject of a ‘sleaze’ investigation over an accommodation expenses claim. The negative news stories roll on, and feature politicians of all hues.

The new European Commission headed by President Jean-Claude Juncker has now been in post for six weeks and although it is still getting its feet under the table there have been some worrying signs for the research community.

Born Global is an open and free-to-use resource for the languages community: universities, teachers, employers, researchers, and students.

The British Academy and the Government Social Research network gathered 60 GSR members and 30 academics to discuss policy evaluation: methods, complexity and dealing with subjectivity.

For another year, the beach getaway of Bournemouth was taken over by party staffers, supporters and journalists for this year’s Liberal Democrat conference. From Vince Cable to Lord Rennard, party grandees were moving around the corridors of the Bournemouth International Centre conducting high level discussions and taking interviews with the press. And, although I imagine spirits were slightly lower this year compared with previous years, given the party’s significant losses at the general election, there was an air of confidence in the new leader Tim Farron and an interest in starting to shape future policy positions.

Do buildings understand people? Do they respond to our needs and allow us to meet shared goals such as promoting performance and productivity or reducing our energy and water demands?

The starting point for this project was a question posed by Selina Chen, who originally commissioned the report Nudging Citizens Toward Localism? published on 16th May. Does the idea of behaviour change, which is associated with the central state using robust knowledge about what affects human behaviour, run counter to the aim of limiting the power of central government and letting citizens decide matters in any way they see fit?

Many are asking why Parisians have been attacked in their own city, and by their own people. But for many years the question for those following the issues of foreign policy and religion was why France had suffered so little terrorism in comparison to other European states.