Comments on: Parliamentary reform: What would Tom Paine do?

By: asquith

asquith — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:17:59 +0000

Must say it’s good to see you here, Edward Vallance.

I encountered your work as an undergraduate when writing my dissertation on the legacy of the English Civil War. I was recommended your book in that regard. It’s one of the few I’ve kept from those times- I did get mightily fucking sick of the legacy of the English Civil War! But I kept my interest.

Will be buying your latest when my wages are next paid, like.

We need to get more authors & various other guests to post on here.

Also if you see Dominic Sandbrook knocking around tell him to rush up with his next book!

By: dreamingspire

dreamingspire — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:44:44 +0000

“Parliamentary sovereignty”, Ted? There isn’t any these days. You are more likely to get good results in the Lords, and that by persuasion rather than by vote. It is the elected dictatorship of the Prime Minister (not just the present one – it has been like that for quite some while) that is the problem, and it works by ensuring that Ministers are chosen on their promise to obey the PM, and discarded if they do not. ‘Collective responsibility’ means defending what the PM of the day wants.
But the PM, like kings and queens before him or her, has to be careful of an Establishment that will have him or her out if too many of them are displeased.
Today we have a clash of an ageing Establishment and the people, and no amount of tinkering with the mechanisms of government is going to fix that. You Ted, as a historian, should have seen this coming – but, equally, you, as a historian, may not be best placed to craft a solution.

By: Parliamentary Reform: What Would Tom Paine Do? « Edward Vallance

Parliamentary Reform: What Would Tom Paine Do? « Edward Vallance — Sun, 31 May 2009 07:30:26 +0000

[...] Parliamentary Reform: What Would Tom Paine Do? A slightly revised version of my post over at Liberal Conspiracy. [...]

By: Shatterface

Shatterface — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:12:13 +0000

That reminds me of Lew Grade’s comment about Raise the Titanic: ‘It would have been cheeper to lower the Atlantic.’

Parliament has hit an iceberg and the band’s still playing.

By: the a&e charge nurse

the a&e charge nurse — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:39:10 +0000

If we have been trying since 1792 yet still ended up with the current lot perhaps there is more mileage in lowering public expectations rather than raising political standards?

By: pagar

pagar — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:28:39 +0000

O/T but it would seem Nick Clegg has an unmoderated blog

http://nickclegg.wordpress.com/

Brave (or foolish) man, but I’ve just been over there and it’s beginning to look like a slow motion car crash.

Perhaps somebody should speak to him……………

By: Diversity

Diversity — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:27:51 +0000

It was always a bad idea to do what Tom Paine would do (his practical judgement was disastrous), but Ted Vallance is proposing doing what Tom Paine would recommend. As usual, Tom Paine would recommend the option that is right for the long term.

We need a constitutional convention under whatever name (a Speaker’s conference would do.) We need a referendum or – even better – a citizens’ assembly – to work over whatever the great and good recommend. Cameron is routinely scared of the idea; as conservatives always are. Labour shows signs of being even more scared of it; but our salavtion may be in that New Labour will have despaired of anything else after the Cabinet reshuffle goes down like a lead baloon (How do you put together a New Labour Cabinet out of MPs and Lords who are entirly scandal free?).

Incidentally, should one congratulate Ted on his choice of publisher? Little Brown is fitting.

By: david brough

david brough — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:16:33 +0000

Why don’t we fucking ask him?

http://lastditch.typepad.com/