Under construction…

The Tories’ ‘chumocracy’ over Covid contracts is destroying public trust

21 November 2020   •   The Guardian

Under the cover of an emergency, the government awarded £18bn in coronavirus-related contracts during the first six months of the pandemic, most with no competitive tendering processes. Meanwhile contracts totalling £1.5bn have gone to companies with connections to the Conservative party. Call it a “chumocracy” or straightforward incompetence: it’s clear there’s been a woeful lack of transparency when it comes to how taxpayers’ money is spent.

Will the Knowledge Economy Survive the Pandemic?

19 November 2020   •   Political Insight

While many highly-skilled white collar workers have been relatively insulated from the economic impact of the pandemic, the sudden transition to remote working has challenged fundamental assumptions about the knowledge economy. Can a geographically dispersed workforce collaborate effectively? How many employees will choose to work from home permanently if their employer allows? Who will be the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of this new labour market divide?

What I Learnt About the Great Procurement Scandal: Building ‘My Little Crony’

13 November 2020   •   Byline Times

“My hope is that tools like mine can help citizens to make sense of complex and fast-unfolding stories and – above all – that greater transparency will fuel action, not apathy.”

Parties have failed voters — but they are still our best hope

12 December 2019   •   UK in a Changing Europe

“To borrow Schattschneider’s famous phrase: moving beyond the Brexit gridlock is unthinkable save in terms of parties. But with political trust falling and alienation growing, the question remains: will the parties rise to this challenge before it is too late?”

European Social Survey

• ESS-Partyfacts crosswalk: Crosswalk between ESS codes for political parties to Partyfacts ID. Allows you to merge in information from various party-level datasets (Manifesto Project, ParlGov, etc.)

• ESS cumulative dataset: R script to build a cumulative dataset from ESS rounds 1-9, with harmonized variables for vote intention, education, and social class. Also provides an example of using the Partyfacts ID to merge in information from an external dataset: in this case, I use the Manifesto Project data to add a variable for the party family.