By Will Straw

The Labour No campaign has recently published an 8-page leaflet which is being distributed around the country. The centre-piece of the leaflet, which does not contain a single positive reason for retaining first-past-the-post, claims to provide “Ten reasons to say … No to AV“. Left Foot Forward examines each point in turn.

By Michael Edwards

One of the strangest things about the current ‘Big Society’ debate is the absence of any historical perspective, as though ideas about civic participation were invented in 2010 rather than two thousand years before when Aristotle launched the first conversation about the rights and responsibilities of citizens, a conversation that has been embellished by an unbroken line of thinkers and activists ever since.

By Dimi Reider

Late on Friday night, a Palestinian militant scaled the fence of the settlement of Itamar, south-east of Nablus. He made his way to one of the homes and climbed in through an open window. The first room he encountered was a nursery. He paced in and plunged a knife into a sleeping three-year-old toddler. Still unnoticed, he made his way to an adjacent bedroom, where he found and slayed an 11-year-old boy; then, finally arrived at the master bedroom, where he stabbed and killed the parents along with a four-month-old baby girl.

By Mary Creagh

The Sustainable Development Commission held its final summit on Tuesday March 1st, just days before its abolition by the government. The previous day ministers put their new sustainable development strategy online – no press launch, no fanfare. Their strategy rings with ideological hollowness and demonstrates the lack of vision for sustainability in government. They have a plan for cuts but no plan for the environment.