The Disraeli Room

The Disraeli Room is a hub for new ideas, commentary and analysis. ResPublica's blog is named after the great reforming Prime Minister of the nineteenth century, Benjamin Disraeli, and welcomes contributions from across the political, academic and professional spectrum.

The Disraeli Room

Blog Posts

  • A Story of ”the Church Militant here on earth” and the Usurers? There’s more to it than that!

    23rd August 2013

    The Church of England’s contribution to the controversial debate over payday loan companies has received a good deal of media coverage. This is of course an issue that has troubled politicians and even professional football players (in the case of Papiss Cisse and his Newcastle shirt!).

  • The Future of Community Heat: Lessons from Germany

    20th August 2013

    With so much focus on the Energy Bill and reforms to overhaul the electricity market, the provision of our heat is often relegated to the side-lines. But nearly half (44%) of the energy we use in the UK is for heating – whether this be for industry, businesses or our houses – and must therefore be just as central to discussions regarding our decentralised and low carbon future.

  • Citizen’s bid to buy back the grid: lessons from Germany

    14th August 2013

    The city of Berlin has just become adorned with posters and billboards communicating the various campaigns of the major political parties. With the next General Election on the horizon (22nd September), much is on the agenda and much is at stake, not least the future of Germany’s Energiewende – literally ‘energy turnaround’ or ‘energy transition’ – that will see the continued phase-out of nuclear power stations and growth of renewables in the next decades.

  • Promoting Good Investment through the Church

    5th August 2013

    In recent weeks, the church and its investments have dominated the headlines. Archbishop Justin has spoken of his desire to harness our resources to compete loan sharks out of existence. He has also welcomed ResPublica’s new report on Holistic Mission: Social action and the The Church of England – a report which shows how much the C of E is doing to promote the common good, but also highlights how much more we could do if our resources were better stewarded.

  • Community Energy: lessons from Germany

    5th August 2013

    The Department for Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) call for evidence on ‘community energy’, which closes today, sets out a series of questions regarding the capacity of the sector, and the various barriers faced by communities across the country who wish to become collective producers of their own energy.