“Was 2010 the internet election? It was the first, but the internet alone didn’t win the election, and politicians need to avoid the pitfall of broadcasting without listening Last week a couple of hundred people involved in internet politics met to discuss the impact of the internet on the UK...
So we have a Tory-Lib Dem coalition. Masses has been written about all the pros and cons of this, and I may return to some more themes in a later post. But for the moment I want to focus on the constitutional reform issues that have been thrown up over...
This is not a post about election systems. It is a post about the pattern of election results in the UK general election on 6th May 2010. The thinking here is still rather vague, but I think there’s something to it. The best that UK political commentators ever seem to...
As coalition negotiations endure between Tories and Lib Dems there’s much bemoaning the chance to reform the UK’s election system supposedly missed by Tony Blair in the years immediately after 1997. If only Blair had been bold then, we would not be in the mess we’re in today goes the...
I’ve talked to a number of friends, in the UK and elsewhere, about the need for a new election system in the UK. Most of my friends are politics nerds, yet I have been astounded by the lack of clear thinking about the pros and cons of the alternative sorts...
As the debate about the composition of the UK’s government continues, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on my personal and professional involvement in the election – as webmanager for 12 Labour candidates. Here are the 12, and how they did. I’m happy to be working with a whole group...
EU Member States are obliged by the European Union to make available the data on recipients of Common Agricultural Policy money by 30th April each year, with data from the preceding year. Today is 1st May and Defra has put this message on its CAP payments website: Due to the...
OK, maybe I am a bit a pedant, but saying you are a ‘fan’ of a politician on Facebook is a bit different than saying you ‘Like’ that individual. Yet with Facebook’s change of vocabulary, liking the person is what you’ve got to do and I’m not a fan of...
Seems that BIS has had a re-think and reckons that the UK should still provide some scholarships to the College of Europe in Bruges, as reported in today’s FT. This is an issue that I first covered here on 29th January this year, so the change of heart has also...
There’s something deeply wrong with the ‘debate’ currently going on about the future of the BBC, and I think it boils down to the essential question: what is the value of public service broadcasting? Two themes dominate the debate at the moment. The first is a kind of cost-benefit analysis,...
OK, the UK has some difficulties due to the financial crisis and is struggling out of recession, but does Cameron really reckon that people think the place is “in a complete and utter mess” as he has termed it in today’s speech that’s supposed to be part of his fightback...
I have a problem. A serious problem. I’m beset by some kind of political depression. It’s not because I fear the result of the UK’s forthcoming general election – even if Labour wins there will be scant optimism. The battle is about who cuts what, when – aside from occasional...