Hansard Society in the Media

Dr. Ruth Fox writes in The Huffington Post about Europe

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:21:00 GMT

Dr. Ruth Fox, the Hansard Society's Director of the Parliament and Government Programme has written a piece for The Huffington Post about Europe. It is titled: Europe: Adding a Democratic Crisis to an Economic One? Dr. Fox wrote,

"Britain may have wielded its first ever veto in defence of the financial institutions in the City of London last week but an even bigger national, indeed universal interest, was also at stake: the very concept of parliamentary democracy itself."

To read more please click here.

Dr. Andy Williamson on BBC Newsnight commenting on Government's new Your Freedom website - July 1, 2010

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:21:00 GMT

Dr. Andy Williamson, the Hansard Society's Director of Digital Democracy, took part in a discussion on BBC2’s Newsnight talking about the Government's new Your Freedom website. The site allows citizens to suggest laws that they would like to see repealed and for others to comment and vote on their ideas. Dr. Williamson argued that while the principle behind the website is worthwhile and to be encouraged, it will inevitably suffer from "too much noise" created by people's individual obsessions. He asserts that engagement through digital platforms such as this is an important development for our representative democracy but adds that, as the Hansard Society’s Digital Dialogues project shows, if it is to work then submissions must be acted upon and the process made clear and transparent to the participants.

To watch, follow this link to the programme on the BBC iPlayer. The package assessing the Your Freedom website starts at approximately 36 minutes in.

Dr. Ruth Fox writes in PublicService.co.uk on the new coalition agreement

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:21:00 GMT

Coalition government: lessons from near and far - PublicService.co.uk, Monday 24 May 2010 - Dr. Fox looks at the new coalition deal from a comparative perspective and suggests that too much detail in the agreement could hamper its efficacy.

Why positive action is needed for equality in the Welsh Assembly

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:56:00 GMT

Article in response to our new report Has Devolution Delivered for Women? including comments from Dr. Ruth Fox - Wales Online / Western Mail, Tuesday May 25 2010.

Worthing Mock Election results show varying outcomes

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:29:00 GMT

Report on the differing outcomes in Mock Elections of two local schools in Worthing, West Sussex - Worthing Herald, Thursday 13 May 2010

E-voting is more reliable - 13 May, 2010

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 09:12:00 GMT

Dr. Andy Williamson, Director of Hansard Society's Digital Democracy Programme has written about the voting system in the UK for Local Government Chronicle, saying that it is out of date and needs updating. Andy said:

"It seems blindingly obvious in this digitally enabled age of IT-led process transformation that we should be able to register, vote and count those votes so much more efficiently and reliably if we use the right tools and develop better processes to support them. "

Read the full article here

The future of eDemocracy

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:31:00 GMT

Dr. Andy Williamson - keynote speaker at the European eDemocracy Conference
Director of Digital Democracy, Dr. Andy Williamson, gave a keynote address at the European eDemocracy Conference in Krems, Austria. The speech, entitled 'Embedding Citizens at the Heart of Democracy' took a challenging look at how digital democracy initiatives have failed to engage citizens in a climate of individualism, government technocracy and risk aversion. It set out some routes to overcome these problems such as allowing solutions to emerge from both government and civil society through effective partnerships that can help overcome the distrust felt. The speech will be available to read here shortly, in the meantime Andy answered five questions on the future of eDemocracy in this short video:

http://vimeo.com/11559689

The Hansard Society and the 2010 General Election

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:14:00 GMT

The media has been eager to hear our experts' views on various issues over the course of the 2010 General Election:

Chaotic polling problems lead to calls for e-voting - BBC Online, Friday 7 May 2010. Dr. Andy Williamson comments on electronic voting in the wake of voter anger over not being able to vote in some areas.

Dr. Ruth Fox on the political parties' options following the General Election (YouTube clip) - Bloomberg TV, Friday 7 May 2010

Cameron may ignore guidelines and claim victory - The Guardian, Wednesday 5 May 2010

No magic number for Conservatives in election - Reuters, Wednesday 5 May, 2010

What's Trust Got To Do With It?

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 09:12:00 GMT

Media attention for the Hansard Society's new report on trust in politics:

Politics of Trust: what's trust got to do with it? - The Public Trust Partnership Wednesday May 5, 2010

'No' to business as usual politics - Public Service, Wednesday May 5, 2010

Dr. Ruth Fox speaks to politics.co.uk - 7 April 2010

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:16:00 GMT

Dr. Ruth Fox, Director of the Hansard Society's Parliament and Government Programme, gave her views to politics.co.uk on the "wash-up" process that proceeds the dissolution of Parliament before a general election:

"A good amount of legislation, some of which will have received limited parliamentary scrutiny, will be pushed though parliament in a very short space of time". And while - Dr. Fox says - the Government is in effect treating it as emergency legislation, "there is nothing unusual about it".

However, Dr. Fox is optimistic that, by the time of the next general election, "it might be possible for some of this to be handled differently".

For the full article:

Feature: Lost in the wash-up - Politics.co.uk, Wednesday 7 April 2010

Politicians Get Their Clicks

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:25:00 GMT

On March 30, the Hansard Society published the report Politicians Get Their Clicks which has received coverage in several online publications. Some of these have been listed below:

The twittering parties - The Great E-Mancipator, Sunday 11 April, 2010

In this general election, 'data is king' - Public Service, Wednesday 31 March, 2010

The digital campaign is more than two clicks away - UKauthorITy.com, Wednesday 31 March, 2010

Who Governs? Forming a coalition or minority government in the event of a hung parliament

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:15:00 GMT

On Thursday March 11, the Hansard Society published a new pamphlet, Who Governs? Forming a coalition or minority government in the event of a hung parliament, examining what will happen in the event of an uncertain general election result this year. The report is quoted in the following articles:

Hung Parliament: What happens? Brown can stay in power - Unison Active, Monday 26 April 2010

Past offers little comfort as hung parliament looms - Irish Times, March 17, 2010

Welcome to life under Nick Clegg - Sunday Time, March 14, 2010

Lib Dem activists face investor scrutiny - Financial Times, March 11, 2010

Parliamentary Reform Lecture Series: Jack Straw MP

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:18:00 GMT

The Hansard Society asked the three main parties to lay out their party's plans for parliamentary reform in a series of three lectures. The first lecture took place on March 9 and featured Jack Straw MP (Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice). This received some attention in the media.

Tory plan to cut MP numbers 'undemocratic' says Straw - BBC, March 9, 2010

Jack Straw: Tory plans to cut MPs are 'anti-democratic' - Telegraph, March 10, 2010

Straw accuses Cameron of 'outright gerrymandering' over boundary review - Wintour and Watt blog, Guardian, March 10, 2010

Hansard Society encourages young people to vote

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:35:00 GMT

The Scout Association has been working with the Hansard Society and Oxfam to encourage young people to register to vote. More information about the project can be found at http://www.activecitizens.net/

The events have attracted press coverage, some of which is listed below:

Oxfam and Scouts join forces to encourage young voters - Civil Society Media, Monday 15 March

Charities campaign to encourage first-time voters - Children & Young People Now, Sunday 14 March

Scouts urge young people to vote - Jakehead.com, Saturday 13 March

Scout Association urging young people to vote - BBC, Saturday 13 March

Nottingham event to encourage youngsters to vote - This is Nottingham, Saturday 13 March

Audit 2010 Media Coverage

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:53:00 GMT

The 2010 Hansard Society annual Audit of Political Engagement has received lots of coverage in the media, some of which is listed below:

Public rejects Cameron's "big society" - Left Foot Forward, Sunday 2 May 2010

Public "not sure it wants power" - PublicService.co.uk, Monday 19 April 2010

General Election 2010: Facebook and Twitter to have unprecedented impact - Telegraph, Tuesday 6 April 2010

The human factor - Scotsman, Sunday 28 March 2010

MPs' expenses scandal 'has not caused collapse in trust in politics' - Guardian, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Parliament's drift into irrelevance - Politics.co.uk Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010 01:33

Many young voters not registered, says watchdog - BBC, Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Only 22% of parents would be proud to see their child become an MP - Andrew Sparrow, Guardian, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Blunkett warns of widening gap between politicians and public - David Blunkett MP's blog, Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010

Hansard: No silver bullet - Politics.co.uk, Wednesday, 03, Mar 2010

Expenses row had 'modest impact' on MPs' reputations - Epolitix, Wednesday 3 March 2010

Move over Mondeo man - Mr Bored and Ms Mistrustful rule road in 2010 - Polly Curtis, Guardian, Saturday 27 February 2010

Lalit Modi eases fears of IPL terrorism after Englishmen wobble - Guardian, Saturday 27 February 2010 16.52 GMT