Democracy, power and governance

Keith Dowding, author of 'It’s the Government, Stupid', shows that Boris Johnson’s Monday statement on the UK lockdown is only the latest example of the government tactic of blaming citizens for its own policies. …Read more

Katie Phillips, John S. Lee, Mark Casson and Catherine Casson, authors of 'Compassionate Capitalism', show how entrepreneurs in medieval Cambridge were practising social responsibility, offering lessons we can learn in relation to contemporary challenges.…Read more

Dimitri Batrouni, author of 'The Battle of Ideas in the Labour Party', looks at the Labour Party's history of splitting into factions, and the formidable task ahead of Keir Starmer if he is to successfully transform the party to face a new world.…Read more

Paul Atherton, a campaigning film-maker, playwright and artist who has been homeless since 2009, describes his experience of being homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.…Read more

Jesper Ahlin Marceta, author of the Evidence & Policy article 'The Evidence-Based Policy Movement and Political Idealism', explores the concept of evidence-based policy and whether it's a valuable political ideal for the public policy making process.…Read more

Rebecca Willis is the author of 'Too Hot to Handle? The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change' - out today. Here she explains that, despite these uncertain times, we should have faith in people to understand, accept and play their part in responding to crises, both immediate, acute health threats like COVID-19, and the slow-burn of the climate crisis.…Read more

Marius Guderjan, Hugh Mackay and Gesa Stedman look at the impact of the election, Rishi Sunak's budget and developing trade agreements and immigration policy to explore Boris Johnson's increasingly exclusive populism and explain why their account of Brexit and austerity in 'Contested Britain: Brexit, Austerity and Agency' is framed with the notion of agency.…Read more

Lisa Mckenzie, author of 'Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain' argues that, if there has ever been a time where we need a prosocial politics, education system, business model and society, it is now.…Read more

In this episode of the Transforming Society Podcast, Helen Davis, Commissioning Editor for Law at Bristol University Press, speaks to Joshua Rozenberg about his new book. They speak about the role of judges in society and how the book helps to demystify the law. Ultimately they come back to the key question that's also the title of the book... are judges enemies of the people?…Read more

Stuart Rees, author of Cruelty or Humanity: Challenges, Opportunities and Responsibilities, publishing later this year, talks about how non-violent expressions of power in music and poetry can provide a perspective that is the very opposite of top down, militaristic ways of thinking and behaving.…Read more