Tag: democratic-renewal
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I’m sure all the people involved are well meaning but there is something soul destryoing about this story on the front page of the Guardian today: Lord Mandelson is set to make history by becoming the first cabinet minister from the House of Lords in modern times to answer questions in the Commons. John Bercow,…
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If there’s a problem with the Unspoken Constitution its that it barely qualifies as satire. The shenanigans surrounding MPs’ expenses, Carter-Ruck’s single handed attempt to rewrite the UK constitution to favour their client Trafigura and this torrid little paper sneaked out by the Ministry of Justice today (which patiently explains why Royal Prerogative powers are,…
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Over at Our Kingdom I’ve given my view of the new Lib Dem policy paper on British governance. Broadly I think its great; but then I did have a hand in writing much of it! That isn’t the whole story though – predictably I have an amendment to propose. Watch this space for more details.…
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Polly Toynbee is waging her war against local democracy once again, insisting that only centralised super-states can be socially progressive and blithely ignoring the fact that all the Scandinavian countries she worships so much are far more decentralised that we can even dream. This week, she has come up with the bizarre hypothesis that ‘localism’…
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An interview in the Guardian: Looking colourful in a salmon pink shirt and maroon pair of braces that contrast with his grey, brushed-back hair, Mallon claims that the mayoral model is open to abuse by the power-crazy. He realised that after meeting another mayor early in his tenure – whom he refuses to name. “I…