Conservatism: A Philosophy of Inequality?

Conservatism is often described as a philosophy of inequality, Dean Blackburn writes. Whereas socialists and social democrats are concerned, above all else, with achieving egalitarian objectives, conservatives, it is argued, are committed to preserving disparities of wealth and status. In a recent article,  which has been published by Political Studies (see link below), I challenge …

Public Opinion/Public Policy

According to Abraham Lincoln, “public opinion is everything.”  A massive industry now exists to measure public opinion – organisations like YouGov, Gallup, and Ipsos MORI, as well as companies devoted to organising focus groups to test everything from instant soup to the policies of major political parties.  And that is without mentioning informal (and misleading) …

The Chinese in Britain

In The Great Gatsby (1926), obscenely rich philistine Tom Buchanan obsesses over the latest racial theories, not least a book entitled The Rise of the Coloured Empires, by “this man Goddard.”  This was a thinly-disguised reference to a popular work of 1920, The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy by the American writer …

The Cost of Marriage

How much money do you need to get married these days?  According to The Guardian (7/8/2010) the wedding day alone is said to cost the average British couple £21,000 (up from £12,000 in 2003) and tales circulate of newlyweds hawking their wedding presents on ebay in order to recoup marital expenses.  And that is without …