The Centre for Policy Development aims to provide a space for debate and development of ideas. Users' comments are vital to this process, and we warmly encourage you to add your thoughts or experiences to articles on the site.

Our comments policy exists to ensure that this online community is inclusive and safe, as well as being a platform for lively and constructive discussion.

These are the guidelines we believe encourage participation and ensure considered responses are published.

1. We encourage spirited debate and dissent, but ask you to focus your posts on the issue, rather than attacking the individual who made a certain point. Personal attacks have no place in an intelligent debate.
2. Please respect opinions that are different to your own. We will not tolerate hate-speech, and will remove any content that other users might find offensive or threatening.
3. Please stick to the topic. We do not yet have a general discussion forum - the comment facility is intended to capture discussion related to the specific article it follows.
4. We will remove any posts that are obviously commercial or spam-like. If you wish to advertise with CPD, contact us to ask for a copy of our rate card.
5. We reserve the right to edit for clarity or length, but will always endeavour to retain the meaning and intent of the comment's author.
6. We will, when necessary, remove some posts (or parts of a post) when they are in breach of our comments policy. When only part of a post or comment is causing an issue, we may remove the troublesome chunk while leaving the rest of the comment intact.
7. Participants who seriously, persistently or willfully ignore the comments policy will have their posting privileges withdrawn.

Our overall aim is to create a pleasant and engaged environment in which you can share your thoughts and recommendations and debate the issues.

If you have any suggestions or questions about any aspect of our comments policy, please contact us.