Today, two MLAs, Basil McCrea and John McCallister, took their seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly under the banner of a new political party, NI21, for the first time. This is not as a product of a fortuitous duo of by-elections; instead both MLAs split from their previous party, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), to [...]
Nearly a week has passed since the latest ‘lobbying scandal’ broke; and it’s taken that long for my bile to subside. Not that I’m feeling particularly bilious about the alleged miscreants. No, what made me most nauseous was the cynical response of our political masters, with the lazy connivance of the media, so transparently seeking [...]
Once again, lobbying is making headlines this week, yet no professional lobbyists were actually involved in the scandal. Like the scandals involving Liam Fox / Adam Werrity, Geoff Hoon, Patricia Hewitt and Stephen “cab for hire” Byers before them, the recent stings on Patrick Mercer MP, Lord Laird, Lord Cunningham and Lord Mackenzie exposed what [...]
The first question from a young female hack from the Daily Telegraph in the back row of the London Stock Exchange was more of a speech about a sense of dejavu about yet another government sponsored initiative that fails to make an impact. But this time is different – or so we hope; and the [...]
Ed Miliband’s speech on Labour’s position on welfare reform feels like a long time coming. Since Labour’s election defeat in 2010, a large section of the Labour Party has been frustrated with the Labour leadership on this issue. Although there are many within the Shadow Cabinet and PLP who have been calling for a clearer [...]
View our decarbonisation target infographic here. Increasingly these days, when it comes to Parliamentary votes, every little counts. And this week’s vote on Tim Yeo and Barry Gardiner’s amendment to the Energy Bill (requiring a decarbonisation target to be written into legislation by 2014) is no exception. In fact, our analysis shows that if the 32 [...]
The Chancellor George Osborne will have breathed a sigh of relief yesterday afternoon as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published its report following a 2-week ‘health check’ on the UK economy. After Chief Economist Oliver Blanchard’s strong criticism of the UK’s austerity programme in recent months, many commentators had expected that yesterday’s report would not [...]
When something terrible happens, our first reaction can occasionally be to talk about it to as many people as possible. We call our family to make sure they’re ok. We text our friends. Now, we post on Twitter. We express ourselves. That’s fine. It’s natural. It’s a coping mechanism of sorts. Mass tweeting and Facebook [...]
As predicted in a blog by an Edinburgh office colleague yesterday, the Scottish Government has today published a paper claiming that Scotland’s economy has everything to gain from the country being independent. This is in stark contrast to the Treasury report published yesterday that claims Scotland a great deal to lose. At the core of [...]
MHP set to draw new lines in the sand with Riyadh Metro appointment There was a real buzz around the MHP offices today, as we were able to officially announce our appointment to provide global strategic communications support for Riyadh’s planned Metro system. As the largest public transport project currently in development anywhere in the [...]