The Political Quarterly

The Political Quarterly publishes an annual book, alongside journal issues. Recent books in the series include:

	Reassessing New Labour: Market, State and Society under Blair and Brown - Patrick Diamond (Editor), Michael Kenny (Editor)
	The Progressive Tradition: Eighty Years of The Political Quarterly - Andrew Gamble (Editor), Tony Wright (Editor)
	Options for Britain II: Cross Cutting Policy Issues - Changes and Challenges- Varun Uberoi (Editor), Adam Coutts (Editor), Iain McLean (Editor), David Halpern (Editor)

For details about all books in the PQ series, click here

Bernard Crick Prize awarded at the Orwell Prize, Church House, London, 17 May 2011
Co-editor of The Political Quarterly Andrew Gamble was delighted to award the Bernard Crick Prize for best article of 2010 to Norman Birnbaum for his piece “American Progressivism and the Obama Presidency”.

Read Norman Birnbaum’s award winning article here and his CV here.

Andrew Gamble with Norman Birnbaum

*******************************

Highlighted Article

What are MPs for?
After the expenses scandal, it is time to ask what Members of Parliament are for. The traditional formal arguments are inadequate as they fail to engage with what MPs actually do. A typology is useful in illuminating the different ways in which MPs see their role: as Lickspittles, Loyalists, Localists, Legislators, Loners and Loose Cannons. Current trends in the performance of these roles can be identified, raising questions about the nature of politics and the vitality of Parliament.

Click here to read the full article by Tony Wright, editor of The Political Quarterly and former Cannock Chase MP.

Roy Hattersley will be joined by Kevin Hickson, Louise Ellman MP, Peter Kilfoyle and Stephen Twigg MP on Friday 17 February at the University of Liverpool for a discussion of the article “In Praise of Social Democracy”.

This follows on from the very successful event at the House of Lords in October 2011 when Hattersley was joined by John Denham MP, Helen Goodman MP and David Walker (Guardian).

The paper was recently discussed by David Miliband MP in the New Statesman and you can read the original article written by Roy Hattersley and Kevin Hickson for free here.

Both authors have since written responses to David Miliband's essay - read Roy Hattersley in the Guardian, and Kevin Hickson, together with Pete Redford, in the LSE Politics and Policy blog.

Robert Page and Kevin Hickson write more in the New Statesman and Kevin Hickson is included in the Fabian Society blog.

*******************************

Feminizing Politics

On Friday 4 November a group of activists, journalists, experts and politicians participated in our Feminizing Politics workshop. The purpose of the day was to discuss and analyse the disappointing progress of women into positions of political power in the UK. The event was jointly sponsored by the Centre for the Study of British Politics and Public Life at Birkbeck and by the Political Quarterly. Read more here.

**********************************

The PQ Annual Lecture Series
Recent annual PQ lectures are available to download as videocasts:

- 2011: David Miliband - Why is the European Left Losing Elections?
Videocast of the 2011 lecture
Read the article

- 2010: Ian Blair - Policing: Continuity, consensus and controversy
Videocast of the 2010 lecture
Read the article

- 2009: Tony Wright - Is there a way forward to bridge the divide between politician and voter?
Videocast of the 2009 lecture
Read the article

In Defence of Politics
Matthew Flinders’ inaugural lecture at the University of Sheffield in 2010 was published as an article In Defence of Politics in issue 81:3 of The Political Quarterly and was met with great acclaim. Matthew’s research on the re-working of Bernard Crick’s book of the same title has been commissioned by the BBC and will form the basis of three programmes to be broadcast on Radio 4 in September 2011. The programmes are entitled, ‘In Defence of Politics’, ‘Rethinking Politics’ and ‘In Praise of Politics’ and will hopefully be co-ordinated with a series of events organised by the Political Studies Association and the Hansard Society that will promote, challenge and develop Professor Flinders’ arguments. Click here for further information