But what about these voters?
There’s a chance the crisis caused by revelations of MPs’ expenses will lead to some kind of electoral reform. Some people want this to include actively bad ideas like reducing the number of elected politicians, and there is a fierce if niche debate amongst enthusiasts of different voting systems.
But I haven’t heard much about one of the biggest problems with our democracy – that increasingly, voting is an activity which is done by older and richer people. This is a self-reinforcing process – politicians of all parties tailor their policies to appeal to those who vote, and pay less heed to those who don’t.
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Who is the government really listening to?
Wow. Strong words from David Cameron yesterday. Only six years after a national poll found that over half of us felt we had “no say over what government does”, he’s today calling for “the redistribution of power from the powerful to the powerless”.
“Through decentralisation, transparency and accountability we must take power from the elite and hand it to the man and woman in the street,” he said. But why do we feel excluded from politics?
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How churnalists become friends to the BNP
The BNP is a repugnant, racist organisation that is somehow able to present itself as a legitimate political party despite having a leader with a conviction for distributing Holocast-denying literature, a London Assembly member who spouts made-up crime stories and a track-record of misogyny that could keep Jim Davidson in material for the rest of his life.
The BNP is detestable, and it knows as much – which is why the party has been making exerted attempts to rebrand itself, dressing up racism as a culture war and claiming to stand up for the white man on the street against political correctness, immigration, and all those other half-lit monsters that loom from the national press.
There’s a commonly-made argument that the BNP thrive on being ostracised, that presenting them as bigots is playing into their hands. This is rubbish, of course.
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64 words for Aung San Suu Kyi
I didn’t know that Salman Rushdie and Aung San Suu Kyi shared a birthday:
On this day, my birthday and yours, I always remember your long ordeal and silently applaud your endurance. This year, silence is impossible. It is not any action of yours, but your house arrest, which symbolizes the suppression of Burmese democracy, that is criminal. It is your trial, not your struggle, that is unjust. On this day, on every day, I am with you.
Rushdie’s message launches the Sixty-Four Words for Aung San Suu Kyi project.
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Dail Mail admits exec rewrote story to add sexism
The Daily Mail legal team made an extraordinary admission today. The newspaper was today forced to pay out £10,000 to three women because it alleged they rated their careers and figures more highly than having children. That alone is a cause for celebration after it paid out “substantial damages” last week for allegations against Tom Watson MP in an article by blogger Iain Dale.
What’s remarkable about this story is the Daily Mail’s own admission that a senior exec re-wrote the story to make it more sexist.
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Preference voting is the way out of this expenses mess
Far be it from a serial ballot spoiler to dish out advice on voting, but that’s what’s coming. For all would-be reformers out there, PR has never been an easy sell. But once the dust has settled on the Telegraph’s thrilling mini-series, that could change. Because here’s a slogan that might just catch the mood: PR gives you the power to remove your MP without voting for another party.
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How ‘anti-Islamisation’ is uniting the European far-right
post by BenSix of Back Towards the Locus
Here’s an interesting picture. On the right is Markus Beisicht of the Pro Köln movement, in the centre is Petra Edelmannova of the Czech Národní Strana and on the left is Fillip Dewinter of Belgian’s Vlaams Belang party. They’re at the Anti-Islamisation Congress, demonstrating unity against the fearsome Mosque-constructing hordes…
The Národní Strana (or, National Party) have been in the news recently, issuing a promotional ad that’s luridly blunt in its bigotry…
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Cameron promises sweeping parliamentary reforms
The Guardian today features an article by Cameron promising sweeing reforms of Parliament. An accompanying story states:
In a broad-ranging article in the Guardian, Cameron declares that he would trim back the powers of the prime minister and boost the role of parliament to win back public confidence.
Here are those reforms in brief:
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A British MoveOn – 38 Degrees – launches today
I’ve hinted in the past that a British version of the progressive campaign group MoveOn.org was in the works. Well, they finally launch today. To explain briefly, MoveOn launched about ten years ago as a petition site and then became an email-based campaigning organisation, counting over 3 million people as its members in the US. It has had huge impact on politics there, and spawned a copycat in Australia called GetUp and a worldwide group called Avaaz.org (from whom Paul Hilder blogs occasionally on LC).
Anyway, the British version is called 38 degrees, not a name I’m particularly fond of, but apparently that’s the tipping-point angle at which an avalanche begins. Unsurprisingly, 38 degrees will launch with a campaign focused on electoral change.
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Can this man unseat Nadine Dorries?
Will it take one airhead wannabe celeb to unseat another? The Independent and Sky News are reporting that “former pop singer and reality TV star” David Van Day is exploring the possibility of standing against Mid-Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries. The Indy reminds readers:
The Tory MP is said to have claimed for a New Year’s Eve hotel room and a second home allowance while only having one home. She also got taxpayers to foot the bill for a lost £2,190 deposit on a rented flat, the Daily Telegraph reported
According to news reports he plans to visit her constituency under the ‘No Expenses Party’ banner and find out if residents are receptive. We wish him all the best. Anyone who can raise awareness of Dorries’ comments and expenses is more than welcome to do so. Last week Ms Dorries also said Trident was not a weapon of mass destruction.
Anyone else willing to join the fray? After all, they’re only responding to David Cameron’s call.
Sunny adds: Nadine Dorries’ blog is back up, and fully re-worked. It looks like her blog was down so it could be upgraded, rather than libel reasons (which have not been mentioned on her blog).
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