In the News
| Published date | 01 April 2012 |
| Date | 01 April 2012 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-9066.2012.00089.x |
voters that they intended to back Johnson
simply ‘because he makes me laugh’. This
sad reflection of today’s politics is one rea-
son why the main candidates – Johnson
and his Labour rival Ken Livingstone – are
both routinely known by their first names.
It’s the Boris v Ken show, Purnell, the
author of Just Boris says, rather than the
Conservative v Labour election.
‘Boris’s evident cross-party appeal in Lon-
don has been built on personality, jokes and
cycling,’ she explains. ‘Ken cannot compete
on this all-powerful celebrity - although
tough times give him more of a chance to
shift the contest onto policy where he has
a better chance.’
She also points out that as Johnson dis-
plays less of his lovable buffoon character,
his popularity has come under threat in
London, which is still largely a left-leaning
city. ‘His unique personality showed how
celebrity can help a Tory candidate rise
above politics and win over thousands of
Labour supporters. But as he tries to be-
come more serious to increase his Con-
servative leadership chances, so has his
non-politician politician status come under
threat.’ An updated paperback version of
In the News
Just Boris was published in March to coin-
cide with the London mayoral campaign.
Unconventional Tax
Policymakers across Europe are failing to
prevent the exclusion of people living out-
side conventional families, relationships
and couples from the rights of full citizen-
ship – an effect that would be magnified in
the UK if the Conservative Party’s marriage
tax break plans come into force, a leading
social research institute says.
Non-conformity to a set of social norms
that regulate personal relationships can
result in a range of sanctions for the rising
number of people that are uncoupled, in
non-cohabiting relationships and in shared
housing, including exclusion from finan-
cial benefits and isolation from families
and communities, a study by the Birkbeck
Institute for Social Research (BISR) found.
Academics explored the changing na-
ture of intimate citizenship, the notion
that a person should be free to construct
an individual identity and develop close
relationships according to personal choice
Playing Politics
Young people are often accused of spending
too much time playing video games – but
a group of researchers at the University of
Westminster believe that simulation and
gaming could become key tools for teaching
politics in the 21st century.
On Friday 8 June, the Centre for the Study
of Democracy is hosting an all-day workshop
at the University of Westminster on simula-
tion and gaming as a teaching tool for poli-
tics and international relations. The keynote
speaker will be Professor Mary Flanagan of
Dartmouth College, author of Critical Play.
There will also be sessions looking at the
different ways that role-playing exercises,
board games and computer simulations can
be used in the Politics and IR classroom.
Richard Barbrook, one of the workshop’s
organisers along with Frands Pedersen, ex-
plained the inspiration behind the event to
Political Insight: ‘If we want students to learn
how to combine theory and practice, the
nearest thing that we can offer them to the
real thing are simulations and games. I can’t
expect my students to study Guy Debord’s
The Society of the Spectacle and then organise
their own version of the May ’68 French
Revolution!
‘This workshop will offer an opportunity
to discuss and explore how to make the
most effective use of role-play simulations,
board games and virtual simulations as edu-
cational tools,’ Dr Barbrook added.
For more information or to attend the Po-
litical Gaming and Simulations workshop at
the University of Westminster, please email
Dr Frands Pedersen (Pedersf@westminster.
ac.uk).
Celebrity Politics
Celebrity is becoming an increasingly impor-
tant part of politics, according to the author
of a new unofficial biography of London
mayor, Boris Johnson. Sonia Purnell, who
worked closely with Johnson when he was
a journalist in Brussels, believes that when
it comes to mayoral contests the celebrity
factor can – and often does - completely
overshadow policies.
In the last election in 2008 (see In Focus,
back page), the Liberal Democrat candidate
Brian Paddick was frequently informed by
Boris Johnson’s appeal in London ‘has been built on personality, jokes and cycling’, says author
Sonia Purnell. Corbis
2Political Insight
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