Web Links

Use of the Internet

In terms of the Internet, the subject of politics is very lucky to have numerous sites that are useful to an A level student and beyond. What follows is a list of the particularly useful ones, but it is by no means exhaustive.

Website Description Details

The quality newspapers:

• www.guardian.co.uk: The Guardian 
   
• www.telegraph.co.uk: The Telegraph
   
• www.independent.co.uk: The Independent 
   
• www.timesonline.co.uk: The Times
   
• www.ft.com: The Financial Times

There will be copies of the papers at 161 (please put them back after you have used them), but the websites often have surveys and look at issues in more depth.

Definitely worth keeping your eye on these sites:
 

• www.tutor2u.net: Geoff Riley’s exceptional website
  Aimed specifically at A level Economics students Although this site was originally constructed for A level economists, it now has sections for politics and Business Studies students. It has just about everything! Extensive data, discussion forums, revision pieces, ‘ask the tutor’, essay plans, a chartroom, web reviews and quizzes! You can access other school websites, which often have good stuff on politics. Highly recommended!
   
• www.conservative-party.org.uk: The Conservative Party
  These are the websites of the three main UK political parties, plus a couple of others. There is a lot of information about the parties, their histories and their MPs, but perhaps more importantly you can keep up to date with their policies through these sites.
   
• www.labour.org.uk: The Labour Party
   
• www.libdems.org.uk
  The Liberal Democrats
   
• www.snp.org.uk: The Scottish National Party
   
• www.greenparty.org.uk: The Green Party
   
• www.un.org: The United Nations
  This site does have some interesting information about numerous countries around the world, both economic and political.
   
• http://europa.eu.int/: The European Union
  This is an excellent site, with numerous links to all the other institutions of the EU, telling you all you need to know about Europe.
   
• www.le.ac.uk/education/centres/citizenship/cs.html: Centre for Citizenship Studies in Education
  You may be aware that the government is very keen that UK citizens have some knowledge of political institutions and how ‘government’ works (to be ‘good’ citizens). To this end, all schools in the UK now have to teach ‘citizenship’ classes. This site was developed with these classes in mind. Of course, as AS Politics students, you will go well beyond these requirements, but this site still has some useful stuff for the AS/A2 level student.
   
• www.yougov.com: The YouGov website
  As the title suggests, this site is dedicated to getting people involved in the political process. There are articles from respected commentators and lots of surveys conducted through the website. Get involved!
   
• www.parliament.uk: Parliament’s website
  This site obviously tells you all you need to know about Parliament. In terms of your AS level, it is useful for understanding the passage of bills, the way parliament is run (through committees, for example) and, of course, links to all of Westminster’s MPs.
   
• www.ukonline.gov.uk: Government website (formerly the ‘open government’ website).
  A useful site for finding out information that, perhaps, used to be concealed by the government. Also a site that the government have created to try and get UK citizens to ‘do things’ on line, like fill in their tax return form or apply for a passport.
   
• www.cabinet-office.gov.uk: The Cabinet Office
  In unit two you will learn about the role of the cabinet office and its committees. This site will be invaluable when we get to this topic.
   
• www.number-10.gov.uk: 10 Downing Street
  Yes, the Prime Minister does have his own website, or rather those that run his office do. You will see that the fact that the Prime Minister’s office is becoming bigger and more powerful (enough to have its own website) is controversial in itself. Interesting!
   
• www.hansard-society.org.uk: The Hansard Society
  Everything that is said in Parliament is recorded by Hansard. The Hansard Society go a bit further in ‘promoting democracy’ as it says on their site.
   
• www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit: The Constitution Unit Based at the London University UC
  This ‘unit’ focuses on the issue of the constitution and, in particular, the huge changes in this area that have occurred since 1997. Our first topic in unit two, so this should be a frequently visited website.
   
• www.fabian-society.org.uk: The Fabian Society
  As the site says, this is the only ‘membership based left of centre think tank’. It is always worth looking at different views on all issues before you make your own mind up.
   
• www.civilservice.gov.uk: The Civil Service
  Clearly a useful site when studying the Civil Service. It has quite a lot of material about the reform of the Civil Service, which is the big issue in this topic at the moment.
   
• www.fedtrust.co.uk: The Federal Trust
  As the site says, this is ‘an independent think tank committed to enlightening debate on good governance’ Another good site for researching views on various issues.
   
• www.charter88.org.uk: Charter 88
  This is an independent organisation that was set up in 1988 (hence the name) whose objectives are to bring government closer to the people. They believe in electoral reform, a written constitution reform to parliament and more. It is, therefore, a good site for looking up information on a number of issues.
   
• www.greenpeace.org: Greenpeace International
  Some interesting stuff, especially on environmental issues, as you would expect.
   
• www.politics-association.org.uk: The Politics Association
  An excellent website for the student of Politics. It was set up in 1969 with the express purpose of helping teachers and students in politics. They publish numerous excellent books, many of which will be used during lessons.
   
• www.electoral-reform.org.uk: The Electoral Reform Society
  Not hard to deduce what this site will contain! A society dedicated to reform of the electoral system and, in particular, to change the voting system for Westminster to one that is more proportional. This topic appears in unit one and unit three, so this is obviously a useful website.
   
• www.tuc.org.uk: The Trades Union Congress
  Most trade unions are members of the TUC – the national body for all trade unions. There are lots of good links here for issues related to worker rights, race relations and poverty.
   
• www.statistics.gov.uk: The Office for National Statistics
  This is the government’s statistical service, formerly known as the Central Statistical Office. As one would expect, there is a lot of data on this site! Much of it is not economic in the strictest sense. There are many social statistics derived from the Census, for example.