Don’t reform Parliament too much
The trick is to do as little as possible about Parliament. It's supreme and supremely important and it's as good as its members are feisty and talented. That's it. Read more...
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".Page 17
Trollope, scandal and Parliament
Whenever there's an "Establishment" row one wonders why we can't have a Trollope now and where the comparisons are with The Warden and its tale of sinecures and ambition and media witch hunts and reformist humbug. The MPs' expenses row is no exception. Read more...
Jon Snow’s righteous indignation
I never quite know whether Jon Snow is genuinely quaking with rage when he cranks up the aggression from time to time. Anyway, his outrage over MP's allowances is hard to take. Read more...
The Telegraph, class enemy
"Chandalier", "tennis court", "wisteria", "lawn". How lovely to talk dirty in the age of anti-posh. The Telegraph has been pandering to the worst prejudices of the British public. It has been bashing the wholly uninteresting spending habits of our MPs. Read more...
RDN evidence to the JCHR on protest
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights is revisiting its inquiry into policing protest in the light of the G20 protest, the Iona School mass arrest and the Tamil takeover of Parliamentary Square. Here's what I sent in evidence. Read more...
Are the Tories learning from Labour’s blog blunder?
New Labour's aparatchics never understood government, let alone the blogosophere. Are the Tories really, really, learning the lessons? Read more...
A photographer, a policeman and the State
Bob Quick had to resign because his lapse in security threatened a serious state operation. Why doesn't Steve Back, the photographer who exposed him, face the same opprobrium? Read more...
Stupid policemen will need to explain themselves
Police still don't realise that they are now doing their jobs in a goldfish bowl. It's just as well there's plenty of video about when coppers seem thuggish and their bosses seem thick. Read more...
The muddle over protest: lessons from G20
The recent G20 meeting went off without much fuss and with about the right approach to protest. But we need to be much more explicit about the rights of protestors and the police. Read more...
Protestors won’t make us hate capitalism
Quite a bit of commentary suggests that extreme protest will become more common as The People feel themselves ignored by politicians who appease and bail-out capitalism. Tosh. Read more...