MembersNEWNew in the Members’ Room: James Panton gives talks defending freedom in London and in Edinburgh ; Suzy Dean has a blog on youth engagement; Josie Appleton will be debating booze bans at Sussex University; Michele Ledda's petition against banning of a poem from the school curriculum has more than 100 signatures; Dolan Cummings writes on how anti-smokers are stubbing out liberty; Josie Appleton is discussing cities at a conference in Moscow; Manick Govinda has produced a new London exhibition. New on the Vetting Blog: Tenants turfed out for refusing to fill in forms; CRB checking tooth fairy; Children’s authors under suspicion; Flats halted because balconies have ‘view of school’. Read on… |
Local government and political engagementThis article on Open Democracy argues that Fiddling with local government won't restore trust 'Local government has recently been given the arduous task of leading the way towards “more active citizenship, empowered communities, and ultimately, the revival of democracy.” A White Paper, expected early this summer, will explain how. In the long run it is hoped that citizen involvement at the local level will lead to an increase in public confidence in the services and institutions delivering them. The way in which local government has been rebranded the solution for broader political problems such as disengagement and lack of trust in political institutions, sets the scheme up for a fall...'
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The Manifesto Club supports:Historians campaigning against 'memory laws'... 'Enlightenment is humanity's emergence from self-imposed immaturity. Dare to know! Have courage to use your own understanding!' Immanuel Kant 'What characterises man is his extreme abundance of imagination; therefore, that man is a fantastic animal and that universal history is the gigantic, continuous and insistent effort to go, little by little, putting some order into the crazy fantasy.' José Ortega y Gasset |
