The debate on Britain's relationship with the European Union has grown stale.

In vs Out, phile vs phobe - there are plenty of characters on both sides to keep the media interested; but to the rest of us it's the same old names, the same old faces, the same old...

Crisis communications, whether political or corporate, have changed massively in recent years. Twenty-four hour rolling news, blogs and now Twitter mean that speed is critical, and leaving a vacuum - even for a few hours - can see a story escalate rapidly beyond manageable means.

Over the past five days...

Cast your mind back to late-June 2011: Ed Miliband has been leader of the Labour Party for nine months. During this time he has floundered - failing to take advantage of the Lib Dems' tuition fees furore, and ending up on the wrong side of most of the country and...

While the social and economic effects of Superstorm Sandy on the United States aren't likely to be fully known for many months or even years, the short-term political effects will be felt unusually quickly when America votes next week.

Right now, scores of strategists employed in the Presidential, Congressional, Senate...

Like two brothers who were both playing football indoors when the vase broke, neither willing to own up to taking the fatal kick, Ed and Dave stood eye to eye, each hoping the other wouldn't mention their role in the disaster.

"Let's not talk about the banks," said Ed, "I...

Much has already been written about Nick and Dave's Rose Garden Redux at a Tractor factory in Essex on Tuesday. Certainly there was enough material to fuel a thousand Parliamentary sketch columns; from the barely-concealed metaphor of big blue tractors pulling little yellow trailers; to the slightly incongruous sight of...

In the end it was not with a bang but a whipped and chastened planning minister that the conflict over planning reform finally ceased. Countryside Armistice Day shall forever now be Tuesday 27 March 2012.

After eight months and countless barbs delivered on unsuspecting casualties, the government stepped forward and...

A simple stat for you to start: there are four mentions of 'rural' in the Budget document released by the Treasury today (available here) and 13 for 'cities'.

Although there is absolutely nothing empirical to derive from that fact, it does serve to highlight that the budget George...

Some readers will recall that not so long ago, in the autumn of 2011, the government released its first stab at trimming down Britain's onerous planning regulations. The National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF as it became known, was seen by the coalition as a useful new weapon in its...

While some might have you believe that the biggest threat facing the countryside is the government's as yet unpublished and yet-to-be voted-on White Paper on planning (otherwise known as the National Planning Policy Framework or NPPF); in truth the biggest danger to our much-loved green spaces is the slow and...

Tomorrow, Transport Secretary Justine Greening is expected to take to the floor of the House of Commons and announce that the government is going to green light the High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) project.

The coalition's approval of the 100-mile 'state-of-the-art' train track linking London and Birmingham at a cost...

If you watch or listen to any of today's coverage of the backbench debate on fuel prices, you may be forgiven for thinking that the likely outcomes of the vote are purely political ones.

Certainly, there are a number of imponderables for the government: will they or won't they...

Broadband is the new project of choice for a quick political win.

Nick Clegg was talking about it prior to the Lib Dem conference. David Cameron got it into his conference speech, promising Brits "we'll get the best superfast broadband network in Europe". The Federal Communications Commission...

Once upon a time that question was met with ridicule; the poser rendered a fool simply by having the temerity to ask it.

But apparently not any longer; at least if you believe Mary Creagh.

Mary, for those unaware, is the shadow minister for DEFRA, and last Tuesday she...

Since I first wrote about the Battle for Planning Rights for this website just two weeks ago, the war of words on the Government's draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has steadily intensified, reaching fever pitch in the past week now Parliament has returned.

It is probably...

A war is currently being waged in Britain. It is one that threatens to tear this sceptered isle in two, turning neighbour against neighbour and friends into enemies. I refer not to the rioters and looters versus the law-abiding majority; nor to the debate over whether a Simon Cowell-less XFactor...

Here are some surprising statistics to start with:

Average wages for people working in rural communities are £4,655 lower than the national average

The average prices of a home in the countryside is 5.4 times the average annual earnings of someone working in the countryside

First-time buyers in rural...

To Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, for my first experience of the CLA Game Fair - Europe's largest countryside event. For those who have never been, the Fair is affectionately known as the "Glastonbury" for lovers of all things rural; an epithet that barely does justice to the scale or...

This week is National Countryside Week. We know it is National Countryside Week, because none other than Prince Charles has declared this week to be National Countryside Week with the words "I hope that it will provide us all with an opportunity to celebrate the people who make...