The RSA Blog

Three baby steps to direct democracy

Blog

23 Oct 2014

Rowan Conway

In his blog last week, Adam Lent talked about a crisis of representative democracy, referencing a YouGov survey in which 72% agreed with the statement: ‘politics is dominated by self-seeking politicians protecting the interests of the already rich and powerful in our society’. He eloquently made the case for political parties to  “shift away from the current highly representative approach to democracy based on strong party discipline, to one with a larger element of direct democracy”.

Leeds Empties: RSA Catalyst-supported project

Blog

20 Oct 2014

Leeds-based fellow Rob Greenland updates us on the progress of Leeds Empties, which the RSA recently supported with a £5,000 Catalyst grant.

Who gets to decide how much a disabled person is 'worth'?

Blog

17 Oct 2014

Matthew Parsfield

Disabled people have been talked about a lot this week. First, it emerged that a Conservative party councillor and the minister for welfare reform discussed whether certain disabled people were “worth the full [sic: minimum] wage,” with Lord Freud bandying around £2 an hour as a ballpark. Next, there were rowdy exchanges in Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions as Ed Miliband seemed to call for Freud's dismissal from government. #LordFreud, implausibly, has trended on Twitter for three days now. Arguments swirled on last night’s BBC Question Time as everybody condemned the minister’s language while attacking Labour’s Angela Eagle MP for using the issue as a “political football”. And yet, unfortunately, disabled people’s own voices have not been at the forefront of the public discussion.

RSA Live-streaming: GTA University Centre

Blog

02 Oct 2014

This is a guest blog from the team at GTA University Centre, Guernsey who have been live-streaming RSA events and lectures on a regular basis.  

Yes we want growth - but what do we mean by growth?

Blog

24 Sep 2014

Dave Yates (Blog)

As the City Growth Commission begins to round up there is a feeling that some of the most pertinent questions have been raised, if not quite put to bed: yet the devolution discussion and this series of reports is right there at the heart of the matter.

The next American Revolution?

Blog

21 Aug 2014

Jonathan Schifferes

When we look back on the final years of Obama’s 8-year presidency, it will appear obvious that America’s political landscape was in revolution. There is rising anger at injustice and inequality, covering a range of concerns including labour market regulation, policing, housing affordability and social mobility. But the US Federal Government is close to impotent in its ability to deliver the changes citizens are demanding.

Behind Closed Doors

Blog

19 Aug 2014

Dave Yates (Blog)

There are many different approaches to doing social research, from the long term, in depth, ethnographic field research that relies on time in the field, to the faster questionnaires that rely more on repeated opinions and comparative analysis. Whilst an ethnographic approach can be illustrative and provide context, at times you just need to knock on a few doors to reach the people you want to study.

10,000 hours or 10,000 friends? eight perspectives on talent in music

Blog

18 Aug 2014

Jonathan Schifferes

It's about time we reconsidered what we mean by talent: how it is defined, who gets identified as talented, and how they are developed, recognised and rewarded. Is talent the product of 10,000 hours of devoted practice, or the reward of cultivating 10,000 followers?

How networks help us create

Blog

14 Aug 2014

Jonathan Schifferes

This is a guest blog by Channelling Talent co-author Siobhan McAndrew.