politics

Image thanks to Evening Standard The latest fad for taking photographs with ministers at suspected crime scenes is cringeworthingly wrong. The Home Secretary has been at the vanguard but there are others. I understand what they are trying to do. The images flashed across the media imply (ironically) that the Conservatives are the party of … Continue reading Nothing to see here

I try to keep an open mind but it’s hard. Apparently it is harder the better read and better educated you are, paradoxically and so perhaps the more I read and try to educate myself about different opinions the more closed I become to my own. For this purpose, and to get a better understanding … Continue reading Time for Reform?

Image thanks to Joseph Rowntree Foundation Now that the dust has settled on the 2021 elections, the government is proposing to clamp down on voter fraud with the suggested introduction of photo ID. I wonder why? After all it was a good day for the Conservative party, at least in my neck of the woods. … Continue reading Where have all the voters gone?

Image thanks to Electoral Reform Society I’ve written about the ails of our first past the post system many a time and explored the possibility of proportional representation as an alternative. I have even suggested my own ideas how PR may work in a way that gives the best of FPTP yet allows parliament to … Continue reading Our thinking about PR is wrong

Image thanks to Northumberland Gazette Ah well, the people have spoken. In Stobhill, they were only local elections but already they have been analysed inside out, backwards and forwards and projected onto the national picture. This has been a really exciting election, in my opinion, leading to very diverse political colours across the nations of … Continue reading Local Election Results – May 6

Image thanks to Represent Today, 40 million of us across the UK are able to cast our vote. In my neck of the woods there are three separate competitions, the County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Town Council elections. Each may seem insignificant, just as my vote may seem, yet added together … Continue reading What I want on election day

According to the Guardian, a recent poll suggests that ‘Almost four out of 10 voters think Boris Johnson and the Conservative party are corrupt.’ I find it amazing that the figure is so low. Day after day, new revelations of corrupt practices appear in the media yet so far they don’t seem to have stuck.  … Continue reading Complain or condone

Image thanks to StraitsTimes If there ever was a spectacular own goal it has to be the proposed set up of the European Super League. It’s flame shone mightily bright for 48 hours before a revolt by fans, the media and politicians snuffed it out. It must have been the fastest ever football competition. What … Continue reading Free market football

Image thanks to ThisIsMoney(UK) There has been much fuss about an independent review of former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s lobbying on behalf of Greensill. What will come out of the review is anybody’s guess but I am not holding my breath.  I’m left wondering why now? Why this (potential) scandal when there have been … Continue reading An independent review

I have never been one but I can imagine that being an MP is a hard job. You will be bombarded on a daily basis by people who want you to pick up their pet cause or want to tell you what a rubbish job you are doing and that their grandmother could do better. … Continue reading You have one job