Greater Birmingham needs a Super PAC

Published as a opinion piece on The Chamberlain Files. My colleague Paul Dale wrote at length yesterday about the ideas being discussed in recent contributions to the localism debate from Labour Party heavyweights in a series of lectures and pamphlets. He ended on a weary note, that devolution was always a day away, because he’s heard […]

Hurricane Benefits Street: a perfect Twitterstorm

Published as a opinion piece on The Chamberlain Files. I suggest Benefits Street has achieved what Jon Bounds has termed 0.7 Morans. The ‘Moran Scale’, much like its Richter or Beaufort equivalents, is a means by which Mr Bounds suggests we can measure the strength of a ‘Twitterstorm’. Over to Mr Bounds: It’s an attempt to give a […]

Millennials need HS2

A post for the Chamberlain Files HS2 Week Special where I argue while speed, time and capacity are important, the greatest argument for HS2 is through its generational legacy. There’s something the silverbacks complaining about HS2 need to realise: HS2 isn’t actually for you. For the first time in the post-war period, the Baby Boomers (that’s ‘46-’64 […]

Disco has last laugh over the EDL demo

Published as a news item for The Chamberlain Files. Brighton four-piece Let The Machines Do The Work and the English Disco Lovers teamed up to make the most of last month’s (other) EDL demonstration in Birmingham to produce a satirical picture of the protestors. Let The Machines Do The Work debut video for single “Let Me […]