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Media information: EMBARGO 00.01am Monday 29 June 2009
Sharia courts should not be recognised under the Arbitration Act
Sharia courts should not be recognised under Britain's 1996 Arbitration Act, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas.
According to Denis MacEoin, author of Sharia Law or 'One Law For All'?, sharia courts operating in Britain may be handing down rulings that are inappropriate to this country because they are linked to elements in Islamic law that are seriously out of step with trends in Western legislation that derive from the values of the Enlightenment and are inherent in modern codes of human rights. Sharia rulings contain great potential for controversy and may involve acts contrary to UK legal norms and human rights legislation (p.11).
Media information: EMBARGO 00.01am Monday 15 June
Honesty and truth sidelined in government policy-making says think-tank
The government is accused of sidelining honesty and truth in some of its major policy-making decisions in a new report from independent think-tank Civitas into the way that statistical evidence is collected and deployed.
In Failing to Figure, Mervyn Stone, emeritus professor of statistics at University College, London, demonstrates how 'a minister sitting at the top of his departmental pyramid' can put a blanket of confidentiality not only over all the advice he or she gets from policy-making civil servants within the department but also from any advisory committee set up by the minister (p.1). The recommendations of these committees result in allocations of very large sums of public money, and yet we are denied basic information about how their recommendations are arrived at:
- We do not know who was asked to tender for the contract
- We do not know why the successful bidder was chosen, nor why the unsuccessful ones were turned down
- It is therefore impossible to evaluate the policies adopted against alternatives
Media information: EMBARGO 00.01am Monday 11 May
New version of Empire Day in schools called for to promote social cohesion
British history and culture, taught in the English language, should be privileged in schools
A new version of Empire Day, celebrated in all schools throughout the British Empire for over half-a-century, is needed to promote social cohesion in schools today, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas.
In Disunited Kingdom David Conway argues that, if the government is looking for ways in which to promote social cohesion through schools, one promising approach would be to teach about the British Empire, and in particular the role played by colonial troops in the defeat of Fascism during the Second World War:
Media information: immediate release, 5 May 2009
From Two Cultures to No Culture
The fiftieth anniversary of one of the most celebrated lectures of the twentieth century is being marked by Civitas with the publication of a collection of essays entitled From Two Cultures to No Culture.
On 7 May 1959 C.P. Snow delivered a lecture in Cambridge entitled 'The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution'. Snow warned of a gap that had opened up between scientists and the 'literary intellectuals' that made it almost impossible for the two groups to communicate. Snow complained that literary intellectuals were not only ignorant of science but contemptuous of it, as if scientific knowledge were unnecessary for a good education. Snow believed that improvements in the teaching of science were required in order to address the world's greatest problems, and that both the USA and the USSR were ahead of Britain in that respect.
Media information: EMBARGO 00.01am Friday 20 February
Music, chess, Shakespeare, cricket and Harry Potter banned on fundamentalist Muslim schools' websites
Men are more intelligent than women, children told
Think-tank calls for vetting of Muslim schools to eliminate fundamentalists
Some Muslim schools are threatening the social cohesion of Britain by promoting a fundamentalist version of Islam that encourages children to despise the British society in which they live and to confine themselves to enclaves. In Music, Chess and Other Sins, Denis MacEoin presents the findings of his study of websites belonging to Muslim schools in Britain and their links.
Media information: EMBARGO: 00.01am Saturday 7th February 2009, marking Marriage Week UK (7th-14th February)
Marriage today: I do - if I can afford it
The recession will take a toll on marriage - but the aspiration is alive and well, finds data analysis from the independent think tank Civitas marking the first day of Marriage Week UK.
A broadminded attitude amongst the young towards other people's decisions about marriage shouldn't be mistaken for a modern indifference to getting married.
'What we have in the UK today are "traditional" personal aspirations on the one hand, with liberalised social norms on the other', commented Anastasia de Waal, Director of Family and Education. 'In short, it's a case of "I do - but I won't judge what you do".'
Media information: EMBARGO: 00.01am Friday 2 January 2009
End tax and benefit churning: let people keep their own money
Many middle-income families receive almost exactly the same amount in benefits and public services as they pay in taxes, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas.
In Individualists Who Co-operate, David Green argues that instead of taking away with one hand and giving back with another, the Government should let us keep our hard-earned income and make our own arrangements with our own money.
Media information: EMBARGO: 00.01AM Sunday 7 December 2008
Think tank calls for voters to be able to recall MPs who fail to live up to their promises and convene grand juries to indict public figures
A new report from independent Westminster think-tank Civitas is calling for measures that could lead to the recall of political leaders who fail to keep their promises.
In Total Recall: how direct democracy can improve Britain Nick Cowen argues for a range of measures, including referendums, initiatives, recalls, term limits, local charters and grand juries to restore elements of ultimate control to the people themselves, instead of full-time members of the political class.
Media information: EMBARGO: 00:01 AM Wednesday 19th November 2008
Government targets drive a wedge between doctor and patient
The relationship between GPs and patients, based on trust and professional integrity, is being undermined by the government's culture of targets, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas.
In Checking-up on Doctors, James Gubb, director of the Civitas Health Unit, and Grace Li examine the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), currently out for consultation by the Department of Health.
They accuse the framework of offering inappropriate financial incentives that can distract GPs from providing high quality personalised care for patients. 'The QOF', they say, 'should be downsized and downscaled sooner rather than later.'
Media information: EMBARGO: 00:01 AM Sunday 16th November 2008
Substandard inspections failing parents
Ofsted squandering tens of millions a year on pointless school inspections
On Wednesday Ofsted will report on the state of the nation's schools in its Annual Report. However new evidence from independent think-tank Civitas casts serious doubt over the reliability of Ofsted's verdicts on schools.
- Validity of Ofsted's school inspection judgements heavily undermined by its failure to properly investigate schools
- Inspection judgements largely determined before inspectors have even entered schools and based on information which even Ofsted admits is unsound.
Inspecting the Inspectorate, a ten-author report which includes a foreword by the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee chairman, Barry Sheerman and contributions from a practising inspector, two head teachers, a parent and a former chief inspector, arouses a crisis of confidence in Ofsted's competence to safeguard parents and children from poor quality schools.