Cassilis

Welcome to week 4 on the Think Tank Roundup and we're back on the domestic front for most of this weeks selections. As ever, your feedback is welcome and if you spot something you think I should flag here let me know via email.

Compass

• Lest you think I ignored Neal Lawson's merry band at Compass last week for any ideological reasons, it's just their output is such that they could merit a weekly roundup on their own! Still, worth a look this week is a piece on 100+ leading figures from "centre-left, civil society and from all corners of the UK" rallying behind Livingstone's campaign for a 3rd term as London Mayor - "London is a fairer, more tolerant and sustainable city because of Ken Livingstone and all that is put in jeopardy unless we act".
• Also on Compass this week a paper on the 'democratisation of the workplace' - "People are becoming more autonomous, they want to self-manage their lives and are throwing off the shackles of deference. But power cannot be switched off when they clock on. People have a right to influence how their workplace is run"

Institute for Public Policy Research

• A couple of very interesting papers from IPPR on the wider implications of devolution for UK politics. The first, from Strathclyde Professor John Curtice, looks at the implications for the union of the 2007 Holyrood elections that installed Alex Salmond as First Minister. Curtice points out that "there is little support within England for ending the Union or for the creation of an English Parliament - which only 22 per cent support. But.. the English do want something done about the perceived inequities of devolution, such as the public spending disparities between England and Scotland and Scottish MPs voting on English matters." Curtice argues that this isn't a big political issue at the moment but has the potential to create real tension in the future.
• The second paper, by Michael Kenny, argues that the government have failed to properly "engage with the growing sense of English identity, and in particular needs to address the position of England within a post-devolved UK as part of its plans for future constitutional reform"
• IPPR also hosted the Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne speaking on 'Managed Migration and Earned Citizenship' - the topic that caused such a row last week. There's an MP3 of Gordon's speech and the subsequent Q&A session.

The Heritage Foundation

• Quick one here giving you an American take on the Lisbon Treaty - Sally McNamara spells out why the US should be concerned about the treaty and it's implications for the 'special relationship' and EU-US relations in general - "If there was ever a time for the White House to become unnerved about further European integra­tion, this is it. The Lisbon Treaty is like no other. It spells out the central political goal of ever-closer union, which will ultimately distance London from Washington."

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