politics

Image thanks to Manchester Evening News. Those of you who have been paying attention will have noticed that this time around, the mayoral elections were held under the corrosive first past the post system (FPTP). The government slipped the change into another piece of legislation, moving away from proportional representation, in the vain hope that … Continue reading Those Mayoral elections

Image thanks to Sky News In the words of Private Eye, this week a man in a hat gave a speech. The state opening of Parliament must be one of the most antiquated and tone deaf events in this country’s calendar of rituals. I hope they cleared the homeless tents away to let the gilded … Continue reading K-Speech

You may not have come across this information but OCSI and Local Trust have developed a quantitative measure of left behind neighbourhoods using open data.  From their own report: ‘To identify neighbourhoods that could be defined as left-behind we focused on the areas that suffered the dual disadvantage of: High levels of deprivation and socio-economic … Continue reading Left behind

Image thanks to Huffington Post This month has seen another couple of disastrous bi-elections for the Conservative Party, this time in Tamworth and in Mid Bedfordshire. Both were once very safe Tory seats, with all that entails yet have seen massive swings to Labour. As always with these things, those who lost try to second … Continue reading Two thirds don’t want it

Image thanks to i Once again the people  are on the streets protesting about the effect of fossil fuels on the climate. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist has been arrested and I wonder if this will do more to support their case or harden attitudes. Remember though that most of the benefits we take … Continue reading Not oil

Image via The Telegraph There is a common belief that all politicians lie. I’m not convinced this is true but rather all try to get their message across in a way that doesn’t hold them hostage to fortune. Our current batch, however, have taken lying to a fine art.  Hannah Arendt, the German-born American historian … Continue reading The Bigger The Lie

Image thanks to Human Window Trying to avoid reading about Russell Brand has been a full time job. Coverage of his alleged misdemeanours and inappropriate behaviours has been wall to wall. To be honest I am just not interested. Don’t get me wrong, the abuse of power is wrong and, if it turns out that … Continue reading The celebrities we deserve

Is twenty plenty? Wales seems to think so as it has introduced a blanket twenty mile per hour speed limit across the country. At least it has if you believe what the right leaning media has to say. Despite voting to support the change, the Welsh Conservatives now see it as the latest wedge issue.  … Continue reading Is twenty plenty?

Image thanks to The London Economic I never watch the Last Night of the Proms. To be frank, I can’t stand all the hubris, the faux patriotism and the flag waving. It’s not my cup of tea. This year though I have been much amused and even a little bemused by the reaction to the … Continue reading Land of Hope and Glory

According to the Daily Mail (don’t judge me as I was sent a link) ‘Civil servants face curb on working from home 'Tuesday to Thursday' as ministers draw up plans to tackle plummeting public sector productivity.’ Really? Reading the article it is peppered with words such as face, poised and pushed meaning clearly that this … Continue reading Get back to work!