Garvan Walshe: Negotiating with Iran? Think of IRA+N(ukes).
Like the Republicans, whose didn’t find themselves on the brink of defeat either, Iran hasn’t been ‘driven to the negotiating table.’ She has options.
Mark Hoban MP: It’s time for academies to have the freedom to borrow
Over the last three years, I have had front line roles in the Treasury and DWP. I learnt a lot – not just about policies but also people and processes.
Nicholas Boys-Smith: Red tape stops us building the homes we want
Let people have they homes they want – not the homes planners think they should want.
When Len McCluskey demanded a clampdown on tax avoidance, he didn’t expect HMRC to look at Unite’s books…
It seems he thinks bashing tax avoiders should be a tax-exempt activity.
There is nothing to lose in publicly falling out with the Lib Dems over green taxes
If our Coalition partners want to explain to voters why they want to keep energy bills high, bring it on.
Alex Morton: How the Government can boost housing between now and 2015
There are plenty of ways to solve the problem – what’s needed is the political will.
Robert Halfon MP: New policies for Popular Conservatism 1) Fuel prices
Transparency in fuel pricing, cutting fuel duty and ensuring fair competition would do much to alleviate the cost of motoring.
The innocence of Andrew Mitchell
The Sunday Times reports that “a senior police officer has blown the whistle on what he claims was a conspiracy by Scotland Yard protection officers”.
Rory Stewart MP: An environment policy that is truly conservative will value small farmers
When the neo-liberal approach assesses landscape in terms of money, plants or animals, conservatism should emphasise the human.
Osborne answers one of our advance-questions about the Autumn Statement: it won’t be stuffed with tax sweeteners
This is largely unsurprising. The Chancellor won’t want voters to think that we’ve already reached the Land of Plenty.
Benedict Rogers: A Fox Trot around the globe – a review of Rising Tides
If you enjoy history, this is a book for you, for every chapter is laced with riveting historical facts and anecdotes.
Buckinghamshire County Council proposes Council Tax rise
Has the council really exhausted all potential for sharing services, for example – both with the districts and the neighbouring counties?
Heresy of the week: Everything you know is wrong – or soon will be
When change does come, we not only have to abandon our old assumptions we also have to junk our pet theories.
Four new findings from leaked Labour polling show why welfare is a Tory vote-winner
It’s the perfect political issue – morally right, financially practical and vote-winning.
In It Together: Andrew Gimson reviews Matthew d’Ancona’s penetrating account of a coalition that cannot explain itself
The book provides a feast of material – and is too canny to pretend to say the last word on its topic.