Sir Bernard Crick (born 16 December 1929) is a British political theorist whose views are often summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He seeks to arrive at a "politics of action", as opposed to a "politics of thought" or of ideology. December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Politics is a process by which decisions are made within groups. ... In mathematics, theory is used informally to refer to a body of knowledge about mathematics. ... Ethics (from Greek ἦθος meaning custom) is the branch of axiology, one of the four major branches of philosophy, which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to distinguish that which is right from that which is wrong. ... An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ...

Bernard Crick was an advisor to British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock during the 1980s. Crick, in 1997, was appointed by his former student, David Blunkett (newly appointed as education secretary in the new Blair government) to head up an advisory group on citizenship education, which led to the introduction of citizenship as a core subject in the national curriculum. He authored the 2004 Home Office book Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship, which forms the basis for the new citizenship test required by all people naturalising as British citizens. The Labour Party has, since the early twentieth century, been the principal left wing political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... Rt. ... MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rt Hon. ... Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield. ... Now implemented as the Life in the United Kingdom handbook and computer-based test, the Britishness test was a hypothetical list of questions that will be posed to applicants for British citizenship. ... The Life in the United Kingdom test is a computer-based test for applicants for naturalisation as a British citizen. ...

Bernard Crick is also probably the best biographer of the novelist and essayist, Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell. His definitive biography George Orwell: A Life is the most comprehensive and objective biography of this extraordinary but often ambiguous writer. Crick sets out to examine the life of the author - warts and all - and focuses in particular on how Orwell got his books and essays published. Overall, he presents a very sympathetic portrait of his subject, giving a description of the writer's somewhat eccentric character and his struggle with poverty and initial rejection of his manuscripts. As he points out, fame only came late in Orwell's lifetime...'For most of his career he was too strapped for cash, too hard pressed earning a living by book reviewing and column journalism'. The biography also presents, in its introduction, valid insights of the biographer into Orwell's political development and political standpoint, as well as other interesting topics such as his patriotism, literary criticism and genius as an essayist and political polemicist. Crick set up the Orwell Prize for political journalism. Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950), much better known by the pen name George Orwell (pronounced ), was a British author and journalist. ... The Orwell Prize is an annual award given to writing which makes politics and political thought accessible. ...

Ideas

According to Crick, the ideologically driven leader practises a form of anti-politics in which the goal is the mobilisation of the populace towards a common end—even on pain of death. Mao Zedong of China said, "Power grows from the barrel of a gun," and Joseph Stalin of Russia said, "The Pope? How many battalions does he control?" Such views, in Crick's estimation, are anti-political, because the speaker seeks to overcome any ethics of his constituency with the threat of violence. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... (Russian: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), also spelled Josef Stalin, was the leader (Premier) of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet... The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger), who was elected at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005. ...

The "political virtues" were an important feature of Crick's classic book, In Defense of Politics; he saw them as an alternative to "ideology" or any "absolute-sounding ethic". They included but were not limited to: An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... Ethics (from Greek ἦθος meaning custom) is the branch of axiology, one of the four major branches of philosophy, which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to distinguish that which is right from that which is wrong. ...

• Prudence
• Conciliation
• Compromise
• Variety
• Adaptability
• Liveliness

Prudence, by Luca Giordano Allegory of Prudence, by Simon Vouet Look up Prudence, prudence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute (including future interest disputes) agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Criticisms

A critic might argue, however, that a "seedier underbelly" also exists. On this account, politics is the attempt to appeal to the masses by masking of one's essential self-interest—with little distinction needing to be made between forceful and peaceful attempts. No clear line can therefore be drawn between the dictator and the democrat, save that the former is given to the use of force. Feminist critics—with their motto "the personal is political"—object to his delineation between public and private spheres It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Dictatorship. ... Democracy is, literally, rule by the people (from the Greek demos, people, and kratos, rule). The methods by which this rule is exercised, and indeed the composition of the people are central to various definitions of democracy, but useful contrasts can be made with oligarchies and autocracies, where political authority...