Politics & campaigns.

This is not a party political site and not very partisan in any way. My emphasis has tended to be on the quality of debate and campaigning, and especially on the need to appreciate represtentative democracy (government through elected representatives whose own views matter), and to be sceptical of the claims of vox pop, "the people", social media, Crowd Wisdom, and "direct action".

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3 riffs 4 a bolder Toryism

I shall be in Manchester promoting my new book, Mr Cameron's Makeover Politics: Or why old Tory stories matter. Here are three brief messages I am pitching to the media. Read more...

Published

04 October 2009

Financial regulation and risk (2)

Here is a bit more on the conundrum of regulating financial risk when you know you shouldn't, really. My message is that regulators should aim to encourage market-driven self-regulation. Read more...

Published

24 September 2009

Financial markets should be free (ideally)

The less we regulate banks and financial firms, the safer we will be. Those of us that want safety, that is. (That would be me: I am morbidly timid.)  Here's 10 bullet points saying why. Read more...

Published

21 September 2009

BBC is nearly history now

The BBC won't survive the next five years without massive changes. It'll get (or keep) a lot less licence fee. It is much weaker than it ever has been. It is likely to be privatised. Read more...

Published

20 September 2009

RDN on Plimer, Paltridge, Monbiot and climate change

The latest climate change row concerns a book by the "denier", Ian Plimer (an Australian geologist) and its most public critic, climate "alarmist", George Monbiot (of the Guardian). George seems to be winning hands-down at the moment. It happens that another Australian, Garth Paltridge, has also produced a climate change book, and it is sceptical rather than refusenik. I hope my review of the books, below, shows how they are both bad. Read more...

Published

16 September 2009

Libya and lying about “The Scottish decision”

Sending Mr al-Megrahi home to Libya has produced one of the most interesting muddles and mysteries of our time. I don't think we can trust anyone in authority to tell us what they really think. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Read more...

Published

02 September 2009

Protest shouldn’t break the law

I'm due on the BBC's The Big Questions show in the morning. One of the subjects is protest and in particular the Climate Camp. If you save the planet, can you break the law? Read more...

Published

29 August 2009

Voter (and non-voter) humbug

The current storm about MPs and their allowances, and the cry for Parliamentary reform, contain big dollops of humbug. Since we Brits are quite well-governed, this matters, a bit. Read more...

Published

06 June 2009
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