Three reasons why Gove has been relieved of his duties

Michael Gove’s redeployment is the most significant ministerial change in the Cabinet reshuffle. Having once been seen as a future leader, Gove seems to have fallen from favour. Although often controversial and divisive, Gove leaves a significant legacy in education policy. In this blog, Mark Goodwin gives three reasons why Gove has been relieved of his duties

Regions, Territories and Relationality: Exploring the Regional Dimensions of Political Practice.

This is a postprint of an article published in Regional Studies, 2013, Vol. 47, Issue 8, pp. 1181-1190 © 2013 copyright Taylor & Francis. Regional Studies is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cres20#.UooiJLFFDcsGoodwin M. Regions, territories and relationality: exploring the regional dimensions of political practice, Regional Studies. Recent conceptual innovations in the discipline of geography have sought to establish the notion of the ‘relational region’. In opposition to the idea that regions are bounded and discrete, lying within a hierarchy of nested scales, the relational view sees a region as open and discontinuous, forged through a set of spatially stretched articulations and networks. This paper explores what this relational view might contribute to an understanding of the region's role in promoting sustainability, using the South West region of England as a case study. It concludes by arguing that regions are constituted through territoriality as well as relationality

Lost in translation? Theory, policy and practice in systems-based environmental approaches to obesity prevention in the Healthy Towns programme in England.

This paper explores how system-wide approaches to obesity prevention were 'theorised' and translated into practice in the 'Healthy Towns' programme implemented in nine areas in England. Semi-structured interviews with 20 informants, purposively selected to represent national and local programme development, management and delivery were undertaken. Results suggest that informants articulated a theoretical understanding of a system-wide approach to obesity prevention, but simplifying this complex task in the context of uncertainty over programme aims and objectives, and absence of a clear direction from the central government, resulted in local programmes relying on traditional multi-component approaches to programme delivery. The development of clear, practical guidance on implementation should form a central part of future system-wide approaches to obesity prevention

Everyone loves select committees these days, but have they really changed?

The Wright reforms have been widely credited with reinvigorating select committees. Stephen Bates, Mark Goodwin (University of Birmingham) and Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) take issue with this assumption. They found the reforms have made little or no difference to MP turnover and attendance, which are driven by the parliamentary cycle. When MPs are jostling for payroll vote positions and trying to keep up with constituency duties and votes in the Chamber, select committees are likely to suffer

For and against Brexit: a survey experiment of the impact of campaign effects on public attitudes toward EU membership

What are the lessons of the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the European Union (EU) regarding the effects of message framing? This article reports findings from an innovative online survey experiment based on a two-wave panel design. The findings show that, despite the expectation that campaign effects are generally small for high-salience issues-such as Brexit-the potential for campaign effects was high for the pro-EU frames. This suggests that within an asymmetrical information environment-in which the arguments for one side of an issue (anti-EU) are 'priced in', while arguments for the other side (pro-EU) have been understated-the potential for campaign effects in a single direction are substantial. To the extent that this environment is reflected in other referendum campaigns, the potential effect of pro-EU frames may be substantial

Parliamentary select committees: are elected chairs the key to their success?

Analysis of changes to House of Commons Select Committees

Elected chairs do not seem to have brought a new kind of parliamentarian to select committees

The Wright reforms have been widely credited with revitalising Parliamentary Select Committees. However, drawing on their research, Mark Goodwin, Stephen Bates and Steve McKay question whether the reforms have improved rates of turnover, attendance or gender balance. They write that commentators and MPs should avoid complacency in assuming that the reforms are a sufficiently powerful mechanism to drive improvement

The Remainers who now chair select committees will harry the government over Brexit

The new cohort of select committee chairs will be scrutinising the work of a weakened government, write Mark Goodwin, Stephen Bates and Marc Geddes. Nine of the 28 are women, reflecting the advantage female MPs enjoy when they stand for committee elections. The current line-up also includes some well-known figures who have clashed with their party leaderships, creating an intriguing new dynamic