Ok, perhaps he’s not wrong about everything, but Reuben wrote an article yesterday with which I have several significant disagreements. My main problem with his assertions stem from this cringe-worthy little paragraph:
In places like Cambridge – where they grabbed a seat last time – they seemed to get the vote of those who treated voting [...]
After 4,500 submissions and 100,000 votes, the POWER 2010 pledge has finally been revealed.
1. Introduce a proportional voting system.
2. Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state.
3. Replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber.
4. Allow only English MPs to vote on English laws.
5. Draw up a written constitution.
I, and others writing for [...]
You may have noticed that the POWER2010 campaign and its supporters have been given a fair amount of air time on The Third Estate. The response from readers and other bloggers has been mixed. Some have argued that the organisation is correct to thow open the question of fixing Britain’s broken democracy to its people. [...]
Guest post by Guy Aitchison
POWER2010 is entering the final stretch of its public vote to find the very top ideas that will fix UK politics.
With over 4,000 ideas submitted, boiled down to a list of 29 by the deliberations of a representative sample of the UK, and then opened up to the public vote, almost 100,000 [...]
Guest post by Oli Henman
How do we decide about democracy? What are the major changes that would lead to transparent politics?
Last weekend people from across the UK were given that chance- this was the moment when the key ideas that have been brought together from across the country on the POWER 2010 website were put [...]
The key headlines of the past few weeks have focused on pre-election measures and proposals aimed at trying to square the multitudinous circles of simultaneously getting the UK’s spiralling debt under control, creating a more equitable system, not cutting key public services, and reforming the financial system in a meaningful way in the midst of [...]
Two events, at each end of the last week here in London, have highlighted the real range of activities and viewpoints of the left community in this country. The 7th annual Historical Materialism Conference, held last weekend at SOAS and Birkbeck, offered a fantastic opportunity for over 700 attendees from around the world to discuss [...]
I am exceptionally lucky. All the main political parties care deeply about me. They show their love weekly with solicitous letters, cards and visits. I fully anticipate flowers soon enough. I bet most of you don’t get that.
So why the special treatment? I’m not a special person, I haven’t had a recent bereavement that can [...]
David Cameron and Nick Clegg have already written off this year’s Queen’s Speech as pointless political posturing, filled with legislation that will never see the light of day before the next general election. The implication being, neither men expect Gordon Brown to be residing at the same address this time next year. Of course, as [...]
So, Power2010 has been criticised on the grounds that it won’t have the massive reach and appeal that it’s aiming for. This seems likely to be true, but how much does it matter? I don’t think that in order to revive mass popular interest in our political system it’s necessary to have a campaign which [...]
