Why so many English councils are running out of money
Council bankruptcy notices have moved from scandal to pattern, driven by a decade of funding cuts colliding with legally unavoidable social…
Sarah Mitchell
451 reading now
Politics
Policy, power and elections — non-partisan coverage of how decisions get made.
186 stories
How boundary reviews redraw the political map
Four independent Boundary Commissions redraw Westminster constituencies every eight years to equalise electorates within five percent of a…
Sarah Mitchell
398 reading now
Devolution: who actually runs what in the UK
Health, schools and much else are run from Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, and a growing layer of English mayors, which makes half the UK…
Sarah Mitchell
424 reading now
Select committees: the most effective part of Parliament nobody votes for
Cross-party select committees compel evidence, embarrass the powerful and change policy without passing anything, and their strength is…
Sarah Mitchell
432 reading now
Prime Minister's Questions: what it is actually for
PMQs looks like weekly theatre, but the half-hour session forces Number 10 to brief across every department, and its real audience is the…
Sarah Mitchell
472 reading now
How a bill becomes law in the UK: the parts the diagram leaves out
The civics diagram of readings and royal assent is accurate and misleading at once, because the real shaping of law happens in committee…
Sarah Mitchell
395 reading now
How the whips actually keep MPs in line
Party discipline in the Commons rests less on blackmail folklore than on the whips' control of careers, attendance bargains and…
Sarah Mitchell
323 reading now
UK General Elections Explained: How They Work, When They Happen, and How to Vote
UK general elections happen every 5 years maximum — here's how first past the post works, how to register, and why your vote might not…
Sarah Mitchell
448 reading now
US Hits Iran With Second Night of Strikes After Trump Pronounces Ceasefire Dead
American forces carried out a second consecutive night of strikes on Iranian targets late Wednesday, with U.S. Central Command saying it…
Liam Chen
477 reading now