Blogs

From Common Sense to Good Sense

In the December issue of Prospect magazine Professor David Coleman, a demographer at Oxford University, makes a number of population projections based on migration and fertility trends. The main point of his article 'When Britain becomes "majority minority"' is about the changed ethnic composition of British population when the population may reach 77 million by 2051. Coleman notes that foreign born mothers have the highest fertility rates; linking that with standard net migration trends, he projects that white Britons will become a minority by 2066. In another projection, this would occur by the end of the century, when white Britons would make up 50% of the population.

Big Cuts, Big Society

Here we invite CCIG members and others to reflect on and intervene in the politics of the present. Right now, we are concerned with the politics of the 'Big Cuts, Big Society' agenda.

Who is choosing choice?

Everywhere these days the mantra of ‘choice’ rings in our ears. No politician can speak about education or health without choice being a key part of the message.

But, what is less often discussed is the question of who is choosing choice. It does seem that we are simply to take for granted that this idea, one that is driving change and reform across the public sector, will lead us to better public services. For in the name of this idea, we are promised enhanced ‘transparency’, openness and democracy. On the face of it, it’s difficult to see why anyone could question that all these things are simply good things.

Can we ever learn to love social workers?

Lord Laming's review of children's services in England, announced on 12^th March 2009, concluded that child protection issues in England had not had ‘the priority they deserved’ and that many of the reforms brought in after Victoria Climbie's death in 2000 had not been properly implemented. Laming referred to Social Work as a ‘Cinderella service’.

Notes on visiting Gurkhas

Having spent the past 18 months doing research on Commonwealth soldiers in the army, I thought it was time to try and explain what I’ve been up to. It’s been a strange and haunting journey involving many train rides, the odd plane, and countless lifts from army drivers who have been instructed to pick me up at stations and take me into the guarded enclaves of different bases.

Final report from Beirut

The themes raised in both these sessions were continued the following day. The local paper The Daily Star provided a surprisingly good summary. If interested it’s worth reading, but here’s a bit more detail.

Report from Beirut, Day 2

As the conference progressed, the divisions and disagreements deepened, but at the same time it was clear that shared political perspectives were not only emerging but becoming enriched by the conversations. First the disagreements, inevitable – and necessary – in any political gathering.

Report from Beirut

5th October. I'm here attending the conference on Arab Feminism: a critical perspective, organised by the Association of Lebanese Researchers (Bahtithat) and the Women and Memory Forum in Cairo. It started last night with a keynote by Mervat Hatem, who is president of the Middle East Studies Association, and who has written a lot about women and politics.

CCIG Writers Group

CCIG hosted an excellent writing workshop led by Rowena Murray on 16 June 2009. The audience comprised CCIG early career researchers and PhD students. The purpose was to help us write more efficiently – whatever our personal writing tasks.

Thinking about the Present

Is this a tipping point? This phrase linked much of the discussion in a workshop on Thinking about the Present, held on May 29^th at the Marx Memorial Library. A group of diversely leftist academics and activists came together to explore the dangers and possibilities of the present moment in British and global politics. Although the idea of this moment being a tipping point was a powerful organising idea, there was rather less agreement on exactly what was being tipped into what…