I was rather struck my Mark Thompson’s critique of the Labour Party’s current predicament – “I think Labour activists are in danger of underestimating just how damaged their own party brand already is” were the words he used. I really do not see it in those terms, and here are […]
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 […]
Today’s Daily Telegraph carries a story on rumours that the EU’s foreign minister high representative for foreign affairs Cathy Ashton might quit the position within months. It’s interesting to read this as, when reading that Lutz Güllner quit as her spokesman last month, I remarked to some friends that I […]
Folks involved in internet politics in Europe are often in awe of their counterparts in the USA, a sentiment further underlined by the Obama phenomenon. In light of that the folks behind Personal Democracy Forum, one of the biggest US conferences dedicated to politics and the internet, organised a European […]
I’m forever astounded when dealing with people outside my circle of friends and work colleagues when it comes to dealing with computers. Still today, in 2010, it’s far too acceptable in western Europe to have totally, horribly, shockingly bad computer skills and yet work every day in front of a […]
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 […]
5 days into the volcano mess and the finger pointing is starting, some of it more and some of it less well argued. Charlemagne has an elegantly penned argument of why he will not comment, while EUObserver has a summary of the rants of Europe’s politicians. Alejandro meanwhile has a […]
