Constitution
A Whole New Ball Game: A New Era for Competition and Good Governance in Football?
Aaryaman Banerji, August 2024
The governance of the men’s football industry in England has been the subject of extensive debate and speculation since the publication of the Fan-Led Review into football in 2021. The majority of the 47 recommendations made in the initial review did, in some form, make it into the previous government’s Football Governance Bill. Most notable amongst these was the prospect of an… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from CivitasFixing Human Rights Law
Dr Michael Arnheim, September 2023
Fixing Human Rights Law by Dr. Michael Arnheim, a practising barrister, Sometime Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge and author of 23 published books to date, provides an overview of what has gone wrong with contemporary human rights legislation – while suggesting ‘revocation’ by parliament is the best way forward. Focusing on the solution that any judicial decision on human rights law can be revoked… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonBBC impartiality and the problem of bias
Dr. Richard Norrie, August 2023
Dr. Richard Norrie (former director of the statistics and policy research programme at Civitas) examines bias and impartiality within BBC Bitesize and BBC Teach, the organisation’s educational output aimed at younger audiences. In this Civitas publication, Dr. Norrie uncovers examples of articles on the BBC’s educational websites that have potentially breached the corporation’s own Editorial Guidelines. According to Dr. Norrie, this content… [Full Details]
Download PDFThe failing quango state
Richard Norrie, April 2023
Dr Richard Norrie (Director of the Statistics and Policy Research Programme at Civitas) reviews the role of ‘Arms Length Bodies’ in this latest Civitas publication. £223.9 billion was spent by so-called arm’s length bodies (ALBs) in 2020, which employed 318,714 people. As a percentage of total government expenditure, that is 21 per cent. These are defined by their independence from ministers… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from CivitasUnravelling the Covid State: From parliamentary democracy to the regulatory state?
Dr Jim McConalogue, December 2021
Britain’s past and current ‘Plan B’ responses to Covid-19 marks the emergence of a new phase in the growth of ‘the regulatory state’ – a new report published by Civitas suggests – in which, crucial decision-making is outsourced to leading quangos. In this new report, Jim McConalogue finds ‘Future reforms need to recognise that the Covid-19 government decision-making process has appeared to… [Full Details]
Download PDFRadical progressive activism and the Church of England
Jim McConalogue, Rachel Neal and Jack Harris, June 2021
In a new report, researchers have set out to investigate the scale of support for ultra-progressive radical activist agendas alleging ‘systemic racism’ in English society, the understanding and use of ‘unconscious biases’ and prescribing a ‘climate emergency’ doctrine within the Church of England. As Tom Harris writes in the Foreword, this ‘complete departure from the Church’s central purpose risks making it unrecognisable to… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonThe Need For Nations
August 2020
"The greatest political decisions now confronting us concern the nation and its future. These decisions must be discussed with the utmost honesty if we are to do what is best for our country and for the world." In this classic Civitas pamphlet from 2004, the philosopher Roger Scruton argues that the nation state is the bedrock of democratic progress and that we abandon the concept… [Full Details]
Download PDFRebalancing the British Constitution: The future for human rights law
Jim McConalogue, March 2020
The Human Rights Act 1998 is claimed by its advocates to contain fundamental rights that everyone in the UK is entitled to, by incorporating the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic British law. But as Jim McConalogue writes, its 22-year history now testifies to a lawyer’s charter which disregards the fundamental rights of many people in society… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonWe're Nearly All Victims Now!: How the politics of victimhood is undermining our liberal culture
David G. Green, September 2019
Identity politics has been creeping into public discourse for many years. When the first edition of this book was published in 2006, it was already obvious that the politics of victimhood had taken hold. This second, updated edition takes stock of how it has developed since then, particularly in the preoccupation with ‘hate crime’ in recent years. Hate crimes were initially created under the 1998… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonIslamophobia: An Anthology of Concerns
Emma Webb (ed.), August 2019
In November 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims published a report proposing a working definition of Islamophobia which described it as ‘a type of racism’. Despite having received barely any public scrutiny or debate, the definition has already been adopted by local councils and political parties. This volume brings together critiques from a wide range of distinguished voices anxious about the implications… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonThe Retreat of Reason: Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Modern Britain
Anthony Browne, November 2016
For centuries Britain has been a beacon of liberty of thought, belief and speech in the world, but now its intellectual and political life is in chains. Members of the public, academics, journalists and politicians are afraid of thinking certain thoughts. People are vilified if they publicly diverge from accepted beliefs, sacked or even investigated by police for crimes against received wisdom. Whole areas of… [Full Details]
Download PDFDemocratic Civilisation or Judicial Supremacy?
David G. Green, March 2016
How should our laws be made and where does final power lie? This question has grown increasingly salient in recent years as the judiciary has pitted itself against Parliament in a series of harmful and absurd rulings. Many of these confrontations have revolved around the Human Rights Act, but far more is at stake. Under our constitution, the legal sovereignty of Parliament ensures that the… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonThe Return of Political Patronage: How special advisers are taking over from civil servants and why we need to worry about it
Alasdair Palmer, November 2015
The special adviser – or 'spad' – has become firmly established in Westminster folklore over the past two decades, coming to symbolise much that is questionable about modern politics. The likes of Jo Moore, who urged colleagues to use 9/11 to bury bad news, and Damian McBride, who schemed on behalf of Gordon Brown against members of his own cabinet, have lent the Whitehall caricatures of… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy From AmazonThe Problem with Human Rights Law: Is it out of control? Who is responsible? What is the solution?
By Michael Arnheim, March 2015
Human rights law has been hijacked in the UK by special interest groups seeking to advance their own rights above those of the rest of the population. The European convention has been repeatedly used in a way that weakens the government's ability to defend the country from terrorism or to deal with illegal immigrants. But, while there has been a growing clamour for this… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy From AmazonThe Demise of the Free State: Why British democracy and the EU don't mix
David G. Green, April 2014
"The great merit of this brilliant and learned book is that it locates the case for withdrawal in the magnificent British tradition of democracy, liberty and tolerance” - Peter Oborne As the UK fast approaches a crossroads in its relationship with the European Union, Civitas director David G Green contrasts the ideals that have evolved in the British political system over many centuries - best described as… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonWhat Have We Done? The surrender of our democracy to the EU
David G. Green, April 2013
Since joining the European Economic Community in 1973, we have steadily lost the power to govern ourselves. In this necessary and insightful book, David Green describes the essential qualities of the free, open and democratic British system which evolved over 1,000 years. Under our constitution, the fact that the government can be removed immediately by either the Commons or the Crown changes its behaviour… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonFeel Free to Say it: Threats to freedom of speech in Britain today
Philip Johnston, March 2013
Free speech must include the right to say things that most people don't like or find offensive, otherwise it is no freedom at all. However, Britain is steadily sacrificing its centuries-old commitment to freedom of speech simply to protect people from hearing views they do not like. In this exciting examination of the history of free expression since the 17th century, Philip Johnston… [Full Details]
Download PDFStrasbourg in the Dock: Prisoner Voting, Human Rights & the Case for Democracy
Dominic Raab, April 2011
The ruling that convicted prisoners have the right to vote has put the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg at loggerheads with the UK Parliament and, hence, the will of the British people. This was reinforced in 2011 when backbenchers of all parties rejected enfranchising prisoners in a free vote. In this forensic examination, Dominic Raab, MP for Esher and Walton, explains how the… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonTotal Recall: How direct democracy can improve Brita
Nick Cowen, December 2008
Members of Parliament have traditionally enjoyed total legislative supremacy in the United Kingdom, able to pass or rescind any law of the land. Most citizens of Britain probably think that this is still the case. However, in this worrying examination of the dilution of the sovereignty of parliament by its own members, Nick Cowen shows how they have slowly ceded their powers to ministers, government… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonEngland and the Need for Nations
Roger Scruton, February 2004
"The greatest political decisions now confronting us concern the nation and its future. These decisions must be discussed with the utmost honesty if we are to do what is best for our country and for the world." In this classic Civitas pamphlet from 2004, the philosopher Roger Scruton argues that the nation state is the bedrock of democratic progress and that we abandon the concept… [Full Details]
Reports
Democracy in England: Possible and Necessary
Hugo de Burgh with Jonathan Dibb, Laura Mainwaring, Luke Nightingale, September 2015
The Vote to Make Votes Matter: How we risk a Great British disenfranchisement
Carolina Bracken, February 2011
Trust in Me: politicians and why we hate them
Peter Briffa, November 2005
Articles for the Media
David Cameron's vast army of unelected spinners and Spads threatens British democracy
Alasdair Palmer, The Telegraph, November 2015
The House of Lords must expel Baron Sewel
David Green, The Telegraph , July 2015
Our liberty is not safe in the hands of judges
David Green, The Telegraph , July 2015