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TERM BEGINS: Constitutional Reform First Past the Post Few subjects in British politics arouse as much debate as the electoral system itself. The UK’s First Past the Post (FPTP) system, in which the candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins, has long been accused of being “unfair,” “unrepresentative” and “out of date” –…
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ASYLUM.Immigration is significantly less important to younger UK voters than their elders. It does not even feature amongst younger peoples’ “Top 5” issues (discussed this in a previous post on UK Youth Issues in June, sorry.) However, when conflated with the “Small Boats” crisis, immigration has become the most incendiary issue in British politics in…
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In a moment of irritation with current Russian “negotiations” so transparently designed only to delay, while extracting maximum concessions from the Great Dealmaker, I thought that it might be useful to “game” the outcomes of the conflict. You never know… Лучше быть несчастным, зная обо всём, чем счастливым в неведении.It is better to be unhappy…
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During this vacation season it is hard to avoid taking a look at Russia’s Ukrainian War. It really is vicariously embarrassing. Last week Vlad scored an absurdly predictable win. Putin took up DJT’s invitation to rejoin the “normal” world with talks in Alaska. The chess-playing Russian dictator seems to have persuaded the “why stick to…
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Britain Can’t Make Its Mind Up. Don’t let your indecision/Take you from behind/Trust your inner vision/Don’t let others change your mind. Classic 1981 Summer fluff with exceptionally poor lip-synching from Bucks Fizz riffs on 50 years of UK indecisiveness.
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MERITOCRACY VS POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION – The tension between meritocracy and positive discrimination has shaped numerous debates in British politics since the mid-20th century, focusing on how to ensure fair access and optimal outcomes in education, employment and the conduct of public offices. Recent policy shifts, such as the government’s proposal to reserve civil service internships…
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SOFT LAUNCH It is traditional for governments to slip out news of their most depressing failures in the dying moments of Parliamentary “term” in the hope that MPs and journos alike are keener to hit the fleshpots of the Mediterranean or more exotic holiday destinations than to pursue the latest delay to HS2, or estimated…
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END OF TERM ENNUI The spigot of daily UK “news” wound down this week as Parliament headed towards recess (Commons – 22nd July, Lords – 24th July.) “The Grid” is, it seems, an effective news management system: about 75% of what we think of as news turns out to be just propaganda. The British Malaise…
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16/17 YEAR OLDS WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE at the next General Election. This will be implemented by the introduction of a new Elections and Democracy Bill which will be piloted by Angela Rayner and Rushanara Ali. Secondary legislation will also set out the necessary digital ID solutions for implementation (which makes one wonder if…
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STORMCLOUDS GATHER Hot on the heels of last week’s Welfare Reform climb-down and the forewarning of incipient rebellion gathering amongst Labour backbenchers over Education policy changes involving SEND, comes an underwhelmed reaction to the announcement of the Anglo-French “One In, One Out” illegal arrivals pilot scheme. Then a spat between the Deputy Prime Minister and…
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U-TURN IF YOU WANT TO… It turns out that watching slow-motion car crashes is not so much fun. Following the reinstatement of pensioners’ winter fuel payment just a month ago, “justified” by HMG’s sudden discovery that the economic catastrophe that they thought they had inherited from the Conservatives had miraculously cured itself, comes the inevitably…
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NEWS VS POLITICS Harold Macmillan was a wise old bird. His reply to a question about what he feared most: “Events, dear boy, events” neatly encapsulates how easy it is for politics to be knocked off course by news. Some days you set out to explain proposed NHS structural changes, you can instead get sandbagged…