Melanie Batley
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Melanie Batley is a political journalist and social commentator. She has written about politics and campaigning for Total Politics and Campaigns and Elections Magazine.

Melanie worked as a US political campaign advisor, and also as a researcher and media advisor for the Conservative Party in the UK. She was educated at the University of Virginia and the London School of Economics.

An American Anglophile, her interests range from campaigning and politics, to social affairs, democracy-building, children's well-being, feminism, and Christianity.

She lived in the UK for over 10 years before recently relocating with her two children to the New York area.

Blog Entries by Melanie Batley

The PM Plans to Offer Cash to Get Mothers Back to Work. What Does This Say to the Millions Who Choose to Stay Home?

(2) Comments | Posted 7 January 2013 | (17:08)

The Prime Minister announced this week that he will offer several thousand pounds worth of cash to women for childcare to help them with the return to work.

According to the Daily Telegraph, families could claim up to £2,000 per child every year from their tax bills...

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Will 2013 Be the Year the PM Gains Dominance?

(0) Comments | Posted 3 January 2013 | (17:16)

Happy New Year! Presents have been exchanged, food consumed, and relatives visited. But there's one thing the PM (Parent Motorist) still wants that Santa has yet to deliver: A solution to that dreaded refrain: Are We Nearly There?

Millions upon millions of our citizens listen to this repetitive chant,...

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100 More Reasons Why the British are Fantastic. Please Don't Blush. It's True!

(0) Comments | Posted 3 July 2012 | (11:00)

102. Lady Astor... American of origin, but converted... come on, you can't dispute her. First female MP, regardless of how it happened. Also happened to be a Tory, naturally.

103. Wallis Simpson. Again, try to argue with me. My answer is 'A B D I C A T I O...

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101 Reasons Why the British are the Best - By an American

(82) Comments | Posted 23 June 2012 | (01:00)

1. Queen Victoria
2. The Queen
3. Kate Middleton
4. Camilla Parker Bowles
5. Princess Diana
6. Prince Philip
7. Prince William
8. Prince Harry
9. Samantha Cameron
10. David Cameron
11. Prince Charles
12. Oxford
13....

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Why My Friend Boris Should and Will Win

(3) Comments | Posted 1 May 2012 | (13:45)

Take a look at the photo on the front page of the The Times this morning and you'll understand why Boris is 12 points ahead of Ken in the race for Mayor of London: That boyish and affable Boris appears to have spontaneously thrown his arm around his rival's neck...

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Samantha Brick and Whether Beauty is a Gender Issue

(16) Comments | Posted 4 April 2012 | (13:03)

If you haven't read Samantha Brick's columns in the Daily Mail yesterday and today, then you need to.

She says that from experience, being beautiful is a double-edged sword: men will lavish her with attention and praise, but women are so thoroughly threatened they will...

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Parents Need a Smack, Not Their Children

(13) Comments | Posted 6 February 2012 | (00:00)

The debate over hitting children was reignited last week when David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said that the 2004 changes to the law on smacking children were partly to blame for the social disorder during last summer's riots in London. (The Labour changes to the law...

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Private Christmas Letter to David Cameron: Happy Christmas, Doll, You've Made Us Proud

(8) Comments | Posted 26 December 2011 | (10:42)

Dear David (none of your close friends call you 'Dave', do they?),

Well, honey, we are all immensely proud of what you did at the European summit and the strategy I recommended seems to be the one you pursued. At the very least, insults from the French president...

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The Euro Summit Will be Tough For Cameron - Let's Hope He Goes for the Jugular

(11) Comments | Posted 9 December 2011 | (00:00)

Conservatives love a good row about Europe, and according to the polls, it looks like the public wouldn't mind one either.

After all, as recently as six weeks ago, didn't the Tories promise to bring back powers from the EU? Plus they said in their manifesto, "We will be...

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Mums are Upset About Dads Having 'Baby Blinkers'? It's Not His Fault

(5) Comments | Posted 3 December 2011 | (00:00)

A survey out this week by Netmums found that more than three in four women have less sex after they have children and 43% of those surveyed feel that after giving birth, their other half doesn't see them in a romantic light anymore. Half accused their husbands of 'forgetting' who...

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Time to Reconsider Whether the NHS Should be Encouraging Home Births

(5) Comments | Posted 25 November 2011 | (11:22)

An Oxford University study out today reported that first-time mothers that go for a home birth are almost three times more likely to have complications than if they had their baby at the hospital. Plus half of them end up having to be transferred to the hospital during labour.

...
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Cameron Gets it Right on Education, Despite the Rhetoric

(0) Comments | Posted 14 November 2011 | (12:49)

Today the prime minister launched an attack on 'coasting schools' and announced that the government is committed to increasing the number of free schools.

In other words, he's saying that there are a large number of state schools in this country that aren't particularly horrible but that are...

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Fox Hunting is Back in Fashion

(1) Comments | Posted 13 October 2011 | (01:00)

There is absolutely no doubt that Liam Fox is an excellent Secretary of State and MP. He's been on the front bench for some time, having earned high esteem from colleagues and constituents. But what should we make of Werritty?

Unless you're an opposition MP, most people don't care. And...

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Cameron Got so Much Right, but Shame About the Credit Cards

(3) Comments | Posted 6 October 2011 | (01:00)

When ordinary Britons woke-up yesterday morning to read the headlines that Cameron was instructing them to promptly pay off their credit card bills, the sound of chokes on cornflakes was heard throughout the land. "How dare that little Tory toff tell me off about my Visa bill?", they thought.

...
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Osborne Hits Populist Note at Party Conference

(0) Comments | Posted 3 October 2011 | (18:13)

In a speech addressing the Conservative Party Conference today, Chancellor George Osborne focused on outlining a number of steps to deal with the country's debt and stimulate growth; the two key messages that he and the Prime Minister have been emphasising during this Conference. But the announcement that will excite...

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Tory Party Conference Day 1 - It's Grim up North

(5) Comments | Posted 2 October 2011 | (19:36)

Welcome to Manchester where the rain is falling and an estimated 30,000 people took to the streets today to protest against the Government's proposed cuts to public services and pensions.

The TUC and an array of left-wingers were out in full force to welcome the Tories as they rolled...

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Mothers Should Ignore Expert Claim That Baby Classes Are Harmful

(0) Comments | Posted 29 September 2011 | (01:00)

In case middle class mothers didn't have enough insecurity about the quality of their parenting, a childcare expert has warned this week that the propensity to dedicate our energy, time and money giving them stimulation in the form of classes and activities could be counter-productive to their development.

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