Whatever hopes and dreams people may have for a “new politics” or for a different pluralist model in a world after electoral reform, the Truth is there is only one option now for those who oppose government. That is the Labour Party, if the Tories are not the principal party in Government after the next election then they won’t be replaced by Lib Dems, Greens, or one of the plethora of Left Wing Parties. That is the realpolitik.
What should be the questions for Trade Unions and the left is:-
What kind
Continue reading What next for the Labour Party?
Providing the Con-Dem coalition doesn’t volcanically explode in only a few months due to falling outs and fundamental incompatibility then there is every chance that for good or for bad the coalition will re-shape, and re-mould British politics and it could end up having a profound effect on our party structure. Particularly if voting reform happens.
I am massively in favour of voting reform, I think changing “the rules of the game” will have a massive impact on how the game is played. And a proper pluralism in our Party system,
Continue reading Some idle speculation about the future for Political Parties.
I need to start this by saying I am sure the part leaders TV debates will be very interesting. I will watch them and probably crack out some popcorn. But the truth is I do not think they will be good or healthy for our democracy.
The problem is that the TV debates will inevitably lead to a “dumbing down” of politics to the basic sound bite slogan level. Further people will, even more than they do now, make judgements based on appearances. Famously in the 1960 US presidential election John
Continue reading I’m against the TV leaders’ debates.
Yesterday the new “Supreme Court” ruled that the Office of Fair Trading was not allowed to investigate “unfair” bank charges. The court ruled that the basis under which the OFT was investigating was unlawful.
This will seem frankly astonishing to many of us, surely the whole point of the OFT is to investigate whether or not prices and fees charged by commercial enterprises are fair. And it throws up one of the important facets of civil society. Namely that there is a clear demarcation between what is right, and what is
Continue reading Supreme court decision on banking charges is wrong.
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