⚠️ This is Version 8 of this post, re-written to make it all clearer to read. For the sake of transparency the older Version 3, Version 4, Version 5 and Version 6 of the post can be found here. NOTE the major Best for Britain data update 27 November is now...
One of the consistent outcomes in my latest round of Brexit Diagrams has been to foresee a General Election as the most likely outcome of the Brexit process. “But a General Election is not an outcome!” has been the common retort from my readers. “Do any of us know how...
When Theresa May called the UK General Election on 18th April, her speech was all about Brexit and how the election was necessary in light of that. You can read the whole thing here, but a few quotes give the idea. “Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a...
Imagine you have just been thrown into a tank at a sewage treatment plant. It reeks like hell, you have nothing solid to grip, and you’re flailing around madly trying to grasp something firm to hold onto, but you never manage. That’s what it has felt like to try to...
I’ve lost track of the number of times people have defended the British First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system with the argument that because the system generally produces a clear winner (a majority for one party), the system hence avoids the need for the complicated coalition negotiations and trade-offs necessary...
Some lines have been crossed in today’s news in the UK about European Union politics. First we have Liberal Democrat (yes, you read that right, Liberal Democrat) transport minister Norman Baker having a go at an EU transport white paper: We will not be banning cars from city centres anymore...
April 2, 2001. Less than a decade ago, but the European Union looked rather different, and the careers of 3 politicians looked rather different. Enlargement to central and eastern Europe was in process at that time, and the Euro would be found in citizens’ pockets less than 8 months later....
I have respect for the UK blog Political Betting – I never bet on anything, but I like Mike Smithson’s rigourous analysis of odds. However when it comes to anything to do with the European Union reason and rigour seem to go out of the window. Take his recent rant...
“A little more than half a page of the Coalition Programme for Government deals with Britain’s relations with the European Union and, like much of the rest of the coalition deal, the EU policy combines soothing words and a mixture of Conservative and Lib Dem policy commitments. Brussels, for a...