Archive for the ‘ Politics ’ Category
Okay, after my little rant about the feeble ‘No to AV’ flyer thrust through my door the other day, here’s the Alternative Vote system explained by Dan Snow. And here’s another one explaining AV from an historic perspective[ READ MORE ]
Occasionally something drops through my door that immediately makes me mad—strangely it tends to be some tripe from a political group. Today was one such day. This afternoon a leaflet dropped through (well, was shoved through) my door and a few seconds scanning it were enough to push my blood pressure up a few notches. [ READ MORE ]
The UK government is considering stopping £300m a year in aid to India. This sounds appalling doesn’t it? Until you take into account a couple of other facts. India has more billionaires than the UK. India has a thriving middle class. India’s GDP at Parity is £3.8trillions while the UK’s is $2.16[1] India’s economy is [ READ MORE ]
Well, the twists keep on coming. Today we have seen the Lib Dems open formal talks with Labour, Gordon Brown resign, and the Conservatives offer a referendum on electoral reform. Each of these moves is significant and they form a natural pattern. The Lib Dems were always going to insist on electoral reform as part [ READ MORE ]
Those who read my last post will be aware that, so far as the broader result is concerned, I got my wish — a hung parliament. This creates a very complex and interesting situation. I will preface this discussion by saying that this is hugely complex situation with many possible outcomes, I am discussing here [ READ MORE ]
Well, that’s it for me. I have submitted my postal vote for the 2010 UK election and, while it is my right to maintain silence on for whom I voted, I choose not to exercise that right in this post. On this occasion my reasons for voting as I have are mixed[ READ MORE ]
There is much to hate about the Global Warming movement, especially the politics involved. Any query is met with, ‘denialist!’, irrespective of the merit of the question. There is also a tendency to overstate the case. A Newsnight episode back at the start of December 2009 invited an ex-scientific advisor to the UK government to [ READ MORE ]
I have a suspicion that politicians, some of them at least, well, a few – there must be a few – actually do some good in the world. Watching, reading and listening to the news media and the appalling bollocks that politicians spew forth gives pause for thought though. Also, having worked with people who [ READ MORE ]
The British government’s Public Account committee (bless ‘em) are blaming old IT systems for their failure to collect all taxes due (£11.2bn apparently). But while the Department is working to improve its debt recovery, its efforts are constrained by outdated systems and it has deferred plans to invest in them due to lack of funding. [ READ MORE ]
The British National Party (BNP) are to appear this evening on a BBC broadcast of the popular Question Time programme and this has cause something of a storm in the media. This issue at hand is whether a political part that expresses views objectionable to many should be permitted such a public platform. (For the [ READ MORE ]
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