Catch21

What Do Young People Really Think of Budget 2016?

The wake of George Osborne’s 2016 budget has been rather chaotic, and the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith from his post as Work and Pensions Secretary and his widely circulated resignation letter have begun to make the government look a little shaky. Duncan Smith’s successor, Stephen Crabb, actually abolished the proposed £4.4bn of cuts which were to be made to the Personal Independence Payments…

Budget 2016: “A Budget for the Next Generation”?

By now, the dust should have settled on the 2016 budget, the latest instalment of George Osborne’s plan, but it would seem it hasn’t. A matter of hours after Osborne had held forth at Westminster, the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, spoke to the media, saying that the proposals to cut dIsability benefit were a “suggestion” and “under consultation”, and the government may back down. And, as of…

Climate Conference: No Plan B

US President Obama said at the end of the 2015 Climate Conference in Paris, known as COP21, “together, we’ve shown what’s possible when the world stands as one”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “climate justice has won and we are all working towards a greener future.” The group’s chairman, who was also representing some of the world’s poorest countries, declared “it is the best outcome…

Shelter from the Storm

It is rare, in the usually mild and rainy environment of Britain, that we encounter a storm so violent it is deemed worthy of naming. Storm Desmond (it is unconfirmed whether the storm is named after Desmond Tutu, Carrington, or indeed Dekker), has ravaged Cumbria and Lancashire and caused an estimated £500 million of damage. Now, British weather seems famed across the world for being sort of…

The news appeared this morning that the first air strikes over Syria had taken place, and we learned later that the four British Tornadoes had hit their targets: seven points in the oilfields of eastern Syria. The strikes took place only hours after David Cameron and the government won the vote last night to take this military action; the vote was won 397 to 223 after a debate lasting almost…

Verdict On The 2015 Autumn Statement

Now the dust has settled on George Osborne’s 2015 Autumn Statement, and presumably also back onto John McDonnell’s copy of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book, it’s time to work out what it all means. The media seems to be full of the U-turn (or, as it would be more accurately described, the 90 degree turn) on tax credits, and the protection of police funding. But not enough people are talking about…

The 118-Year Gender Gap

Today, I want to talk about women. I don’t do this very often; primarily because too many other things frequently annoy me. But, this week, it was revealed by the World Economic Forum, that if we continue (worldwide) at the current rate, it would take nothing less than 118 years for international gender equality to be reached. Then, before that, there was of course the UK’s vote to reinstate the…

Climate Change Policy At 21

Back in September, the Australian government produced a leaflet for teachers which taught them how to identify extremism and radicalism in their students. An example student used throughout this leaflet was an environmental activist, who was also apparently into what they dubbed, the “alternative music scene”. The Radicalisation Awareness Kit was intended to root out cases of violent extremism,…

Where Will All the Junior Doctors Go?

I recently met up with two friends of mine, and amongst other things, we talked about the future; we all have plans, and we all have decisions to make, like most students moving towards the end of their degrees. But, the future for one of my friends is somewhat different to mine, because she is a medical student. Over coffee, she told us about the recent developments around the contracts of…

SNP Conference 2015: “The Challenges of the Future”

As the delegates and supporters gathered in Aberdeen for the Scottish National Party’s 2015 conference, the mood was an intriguing one. The party has been in power in Scotland since 2007, but, with now only 200 days till the next Scottish election, in Holyrood, they are still reeling somewhat from the “no” vote to Scottish independence. They’ve had plenty of time to regroup, but the absence of…

Conservative Party Conference 2015: “And So It Begins”

The Conservative Party’s 2015 conference was bound to be rather triumphant: David Cameron has secured his longed-for majority government and the Tories are looking at the straight road of another five year fixed-term parliament. But, he actually looked even more pleased with himself than I expected him to be – and his audience of conference delegates looked rather content too – despite the three…

Labour Conference 2015: Red Flags and Risks

On September 20th, the left-wing Syriza party returned to governing Greece after winning the third round of elections in the country this year. This victory, already dampened by a 45% abstention rate, was conditioned by Syriza accepting surrender terms for a third economic memorandum between Greece and the European Union. The agreement commits the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, to many…

Green Party Conference 2015: “The Year that Change Started”

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party since 2012, began her 2015 conference speech with what must be the best line so far of this year’s conference season: “I am aware that we’re in this venue following the Liberal Democrats. We’re getting used to taking seats away from the Liberal Democrats.” The hall dissolved into the sort of self-satisfied giggling that must be fairly foreign to those…

UKIP Conference 2015: We Stand Disunited

After UKIP’s disappointing performance in the results of May’s general election, (4 million votes, or 12.6%), gaining only one MP despite all the panic – and indeed gleeful anticipation – about their rise, you’d think they would be a little cowed when they collected at Doncaster racecourse on the 24th September. But, the UKIP conference 2015 has proved an even stranger and enthusiastic spectacle…

Liberal Democrat Conference 2015: The New Opposition?

Tim Farron made his first conference speech as party leader at the end of a rather tepid few days: the Liberal Democrats’ stint in government ended in May with a stunning fall from fifty-six MPs to just eight in one night. The 2015 general election, Clegg’s subsequent resignation and the pundits’ talk of the party’s demise, cast an uncertain light on this year’s conference in Bournemouth. Yet,…

Tory shortlist for 2016 London Mayoral Election

We are less than a year away from the Mayoral Election which is to be held on the 5th of May 2015, and Boris Johnson will no longer be able to run for re-election for a third term as he is now a Member of Parliament for Uxbridge as of May 2015. The Conservatives announced their shortlist of candidates who will  compete to be the Tory candidate in the mayoral election next year in the hopes of…

What has this summer been like for the Liberal Democrats?

As we all know the Liberal Democrats did not do so well at the 2015 May General Election. The Liberal Democrats lost 49 seats, they went from 57 seats in 2010 to 8 in 2015. In this catastrophic loss, the Lib-Dems lost several ministers such as : the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, Business Secretary Vince Cable and Energy Secretary Ed Davey. The 8 seats kept by the Lib-Dems are: