We all know that the Alternative Vote isn’t the panacea. It’s not going to cure all the ills of our democracy. Only true proportional representation can do that. But since it’s the best we have on offer, it deserves fair consideration on its own merits. I support AV because I believe that in a democracy, [...]
It has been an odd few days for the campaigns around electoral reform. This whole exercise, supposedly, is about making our electoral system fairer, and our Parliament more properly representative of the population. Yet both the pro-AV camp, and the supporters of First Past the Post, have been falling over themselves to demonstrate that their [...]
In a couple of months we will be taking a vote on the most basic aspect of our democracy – the way in which we elect our government. Yet one could be forgiven, over the past few days, for forgetting that such politically important matters were at stake. First we had the much trumpeted revelation from [...]
Anybody interested in the revolution in Egypt should take the time to read this interview by Parvez Sharma with an Egyptian protester: http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2011/blog1102c.htm. Being interviewed is the man previously referred to as ‘Yousry’ to protect his identity, but who now insists on having his real name – Omar – published openly (demonstrating the new sense of confidence among the [...]
“There’s always a bigger fish.” – Qui-Gon Jinn Paul Krugman on his New York Times blog notes a symptom of just how far the West has regressed in the distribution of income: so much of America’s wealth is concentrated in the top 1% of the income scale that those only just below actually feel insecure about [...]
There is not much to say about Phil Woolas that hasn’t already been said. That said, the suggestion by one of my friends on facebook that he be “dragged away by armed police at 2am, and deported to somewhere he said was safe” is perhaps worth repeating. Equally amusing is that the Tories have wheeled [...]
One of the most frequently repeated myths on the left is that we are fighting for the representation of this vast number of people who lie to the left of the Labour Party. In fact in nearly every single demonstration or large public meeting I attend I am told about this by some faux-psephologist with [...]
In the last month we’ve all heard about David Cameron’s proposed crackdown on benefit frauds. Lots has been said around the left about how these proposals are completely missing the mark in terms of where the government can be saving money if need be, but there hasn’t been much of a defense of the benefit [...]
The ever-readable Left Outside has written a response to my post from the other week on Prop 8. It’s well worth a look, but (surprise, surprise) I’m afraid I have some issues with it. His argument, as I read it, is twofold: First, in order for there to be democracy in a society, there must [...]
For the last two years or so, I have been engaging in a dastardly plot to destroy the Tory party. Yes, by writing silly outraged-liberal letters to my Conservative MP – to which she must respond – on matters she ultimately doesn’t care about, I’ll hopefully waste enough Tory time and resources to destroy the [...]
