David Laws - Böcker

Conflict, Improvisation, Governance presents a carefully crafted and edited collection of first hand accounts of diverse public sector and non-profit urban practitioners facing the practical challenges of "doing democracy" in the global/local context of the interconnected major European city of Amsterdam and its region. The book examines street level democratic processes through the experiences of planning and city governance practitioners in community development, youth work, public service delivery, urban public administration, immigration and multi-cultural social policy. These profiles and case studies show widely shared challenges in global and local urban environments, and new, "bottom-up," democratic and improvisational strategies that community members and public officials alike can use to make more inclusive, democratic cities.

Conflict, Improvisation, Governance presents a carefully crafted and edited collection of first hand accounts of diverse public sector and non-profit urban practitioners facing the practical challenges of "doing democracy" in the global/local context of the interconnected major European city of Amsterdam and its region. The book examines street level democratic processes through the experiences of planning and city governance practitioners in community development, youth work, public service delivery, urban public administration, immigration and multi-cultural social policy. These profiles and case studies show widely shared challenges in global and local urban environments, and new, "bottom-up," democratic and improvisational strategies that community members and public officials alike can use to make more inclusive, democratic cities.

When David Cameron and Nick Clegg stepped out into the rose garden at No. 10 to launch the first coalition government since the Second World War, some doubted whether the coalition could survive a full term - or even a full year. Five years later, this bold departure for British politics had weathered storms, spending cuts and military strikes, rows, referendums and riots.In this compelling insider account, David Laws lays bare the inner workings of the coalition government from its birth in 2010 to its demise in 2015. As a key figure at the heart of government, he witnessed first-hand the triumphs, the tantrums and the tactical manoeuvrings.Now, he brings this experience to bear, revealing how crucial decisions were made and uncovering the often explosive divisions between and within the coalition parties. Honest, insightful and at times shocking, Coalition shines a powerful light on perhaps the most fascinating political partnership of modern times.

Acclaimed as one of the sharpest political intellects of his generation, David Laws saw his ministerial career nosedive before it had begun when, after only seventeen days as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he was forced to resign when unintended breaches of parliamentary expenses rules came to light. You can't keep a good man down, however, and he returned to government, where he was also responsible for the implementation of the coalition agreement and planning the Lib Dems' strategy in the run-up to the 2015 election. David began writing a diary in March 2012 and continued writing it throughout his ministerial career and up to the 2015 election, which devastated the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.Frank, acerbic, sometimes shocking and often funny, Coalition Diaries chronicles the historic Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government, offering extraordinary pen portraits of all the personalities involved, some of whom were cast aside at the election or put to the knife after Brexit, while others are active in today's government.

In June 1916, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener set sail from Orkney on a secret mission to bolster the Russian war effort. Just a mile off land and in the teeth of a force 9 gale, HMS Hampshire suffered a huge explosion, sinking in little more than fifteen minutes. Crew and passengers numbered 749; only twelve survived. Kitchener’s body was never found.Remembered today as the face of the famous First World War recruitment drive, at the height of his career Kitchener was fêted as Britain’s greatest military hero since Wellington. By 1916, however, his star was in its descent. A controversial figure who did not make friends easily in Cabinet, he was considered by many to be arrogant, secretive and high-handed.From the moment his death was announced, rumours of a conspiracy began to flourish, with the finger pointed variously at the Bolsheviks, Irish nationalist saboteurs and even the British government.Using newly released files kept secret for almost 100 years, former Cabinet minister David Laws unravels the true story behind the demise of this complex figure, debunking the conspiracy theories and revealing the crucial blunders that the government and military sought to cover up. The result is the definitive account of an event that shook the country and which has been shrouded in mystery ever since.

Thedefinitive, insider history of the often turbulent political relationshipbetween the Liberals and Labour. Naturalallies or fierce competitors? For the past century, Britain’s two majorcentre-left parties have co-existed in sometimes harmonious but more oftenfraught duopoly, from the 1903 agreement that a prominent Liberal complainedwas ‘nursing into life a serpent which would sting their party to death’ to the1976–77 pact that gave us the phrase ‘turkeys voting for Christmas’ and beyond,to the failed negotiations that led to the controversial 2010–15 LibDem–Conservative coalition.Charting100 years of British political history, Serpents, Goats and Turkeys exploresthe formal and informal arrangements that have existed between the parties,covering electoral deals, support for minority governments, formal pacts andfull coalitions. What have been the overlaps of policy and ideology, and wherehave the parties been most divided? What explains the periods of co-operationbut also the unwillingness or inability to work together for any significanttime?Inthe wake of the 2024 ‘Loveless Landslide’, former coalition Cabinet ministerDavid Laws also draws on unpublished records and private diaries from the pastthirty years of Lib–Lab wrangling to consider the likely options in the eventof a future hung parliament. Should the parties work together? Would they beable to? And what are the prospects for voting reform? The answers to suchquestions will have major implications for British democracy and the future ofour politics.