Alas, but despite the positive reviews from some for The Gods that Failed, I found it a book that was long on rhetoric about how awful much of the world is, but rather short of evidence to back-up the arguments and even skimpier on solutions.
First, the good bits of the book: it’s a lively and passionate account of not only the financial markets but also much of modern life, looking widely at things that have gone wrong. Despite having come out in 2008 and so being written before much of the recession, it does not read like a work …
The allegations made against Zac Goldsmith highlight three areas of electoral law where the law leaves considerable latitude for interpretation and where the usual clarity that comes from an accumulation of case law is missing because of the paucity of cases that have considered the issues.
The first area is the question of reusable materials. If, for example, a local party buys some clipboards they may end up getting used over several elections and also outside of elections for activities such as street stalls. What therefore should the cost be to an individual campaign of using the clipboards? Calculations involving …
Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate:
Why should a political party restrict itself to fighting public elections? Why not also take part in the myriad of other elections that exist, including those for directors of companies?
Instead of complaining from the sidelines about how a council behaves, we fight elections to change its decisions and methods. The same logic could apply to companies, hospital trusts, housing bodies and may more, all of which – like the bodies we fight elections for – have significant power over communities and individuals.
The decision to schedule the planned referendum on AV for the same day next Spring as other elections are due has two primary arguments in its favour: turnout and cost.
The record of combining elections is that it increases turnout for the election type which traditionally has the lower turnout without depressing turnout for the other. Similarly, combining elections reduces costs as, for example, polling stations only have to be open for one day rather than two separate days.
The turnout factor is hard to estimate for a referendum/public elections combination but working out the likely costs is much easier and in …
Nick Clegg has been giving a speech at the think-tank Demos today, setting out his vision for what this Parliament should achieve – and what the Liberal Democrats should get from it.
The heart of the argument is in this early section:
Now that the Liberal Democrats are in government, liberal ideas are being deployed directly. What you are seeing is liberalism in action. And I can tell you that as Deputy Prime Minister, my liberal instincts are stronger than ever. Our goal is clear.
By the time of the next election, on 7 May 2015, Britain will be a more liberal nation.
Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site’s readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message. Today’s is quite simply, still, the best headline in a Labour leaflet – ever:
Courtesy of the Hull Labour Party, from the May 2008 elections. You can’t really argue with that headline can you?
A newly published Ministry of Justice Structural Reform Plan shows that developing options for reform is expected to take from June this year until March next year.
The plan gives as a milestone the publication next March of a “draft Defamation Bill for the reform of libel laws published for pre-legislative scrutiny”.
But it gives no indication of a timetable for the introduction or passage of the actual legislation…
The Government announced on 9 July, towards the end of the second reading debate on the Defamation Bill introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC,
Britain, France and Germany have joined forces this week to call for a major toughening of the EU’s target for greenhouse gasses. They have called for the current target of a 20% cut by 2020 to be increased to 30%.
In a statement they also played up the potential economic benefits of the move, “If we stick to a 20 per cent cut, Europe is likely to lose the race to compete in a low-carbon world to countries such as China, Japan or the US, all of which are looking to create a more attractive environment for low-carbon investment.”
That’s the intriguing proposition in a pamphlet by Ben Rogers, published this week by the RSA. He starts with the case of first aid – point out how the widespread training of the public in first aid has helped supplement the core health services provided by the state – and then goes on to suggest a similar approach to anti-social behaviour:
It’s been a long established pattern of British politics that the higher you go up the social scale, the higher turnout is in elections. The 2010 general election is no exception but looking through the numbers one class dimension comes out. Overall turnout collapsed after 1997 and has since had a modest recovery, but the pattern of that recovery across the classes is far from even.
Amongst DEs, turnout in 2010 was 57%, still 9 points down on the 66% turnout in 1997. It was a similar picture amongst C2s (58%, still 11 points down) and C1s (66%, still 9 points …
What I think Richard under-plays is the way the party’s attitude towards the state has changed not in response to different internal ideological views gaining ascendancy but rather in response to changing external circumstances. Given the huge expansion in public spending in the middle years of the Labour government, and the big expansion of central control in the early, middle and late years of Labour government, it is hardly a surprise that many who previously instinctively reached for more public spending and new regulations
At the weekend I popped over to Camden, to film Cllr Matt Sanders talking about campaigning in Talacre Gardens. It’s a great example of what local campaigning can achieve – working with residents to protect a green space – and how leaflets are a means to that end rather than an end in themselves. That’s a theme I’ll be returning to quite often over the summer as I co-write a new edition of the ‘how to win your ward’ book for ALDC, but in the meantime here’s the film:
First published in 2008, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is a rebuttal of the traditional American emphasis on people’s success coming from the individual merit and triumph of exceptional humans as epitomised in the quote from Robert Winthorp who urged people at the unveiling of a statute of Benjamin Franklin to, “look at the image of a man who rose from nothing, who owned nothing to parentage or patronage, who enjoyed no advantages of early education which are not open – a hundredfold open – to yourselves”. Instead, Gladwell argues that although individual ability matters, it also requires three other crucial elements …
The Home Secretary has announced today that a rapid review of key counter-terrorism and security powers is underway. The review will look at what counter-terrorism powers and measures could be rolled back in order to restore the balance of civil liberties and counter-terrorism powers…
The review will look at six areas:
• the use of control orders;
• stop and search powers in section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and the use of terrorism legislation in relation to photography;
• the detention of terrorist suspects before charge;
• extending the use of deportations with assurances to remove foreign
Throws a bit of a spanner in the works of the Labour rhetoric about how awful anyone who contemplates raising VAT is:
Amid reported wrangling between No 10 and the Treasury, Lord Mandelson suggested in his memoir that Mr Brown rejected a proposal from the chancellor to raise VAT while Mr Darling quashed calls for any future VAT rises to be ruled out. (BBC)
Mandelson writes that Brown and Darling rowed over economic strategy. He “vetoed point-blank” a proposal from Darling to raise VAT up to 18% or 19%. The then chancellor then blocked a proposal from Brown to rule out
Paul Burstow, now a health minister, has a long record of campaigning for better coordination and integration between the different services which look after people’s health. So although the government isn’t talking publicly about which part of the health White Paper has been driven by whom, you can see Paul’s influence at work, as reported by The Guardian:
The sector has long pressed for the joining-up of health and social care – and the white paper seeks to promote this, particularly through the proposed new role for local government in respect of public health.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve heard several Liberal Democrat ministers talk to groups of party members about how they are finding it in government. Although the personalities and the departmental challenges vary in many ways, several common themes have come out.
One is a credit to the team behind Yes Minister; it is still the default frame of reference for talking about how the British civil service behaves and everyone says they can recognise parts of the behaviour the TV series satirised several decades ago in the current behaviour of civil servants. Not too much, but still some.
Richard Grayson (former head of policy for the party and one of the leading lights behind the Social Liberal Forum) has written a thoughtful pamphlet for Compass about the different strains of thought within the Liberal Democrats and what they mean for coalition government.
The subtlety of some of Richard’s views mean you have to read the whole piece to do them justice, but a flavour of his interpretation of the so-called social liberal versus economic liberal difference is given by these extracts:
One other point needs to be made about the supposed social-economic liberal divide is that for the vast bulk of the party, the issues concerned in the debate are not pressing. In a thoughtful blog, party activist and thinker Iain Sharpe said of a speech I gave in Newcastle in February 2009, ‘I wince a little when I read Richard Grayson’s reference to “two approaches” to Lib Dem policy, “Orange Book” and “social liberal”.’ Iain went on to say, ‘This makes me feel more uncomfortable as I, and no doubt many other Lib Dems, don’t fall neatly into either camp, and don’t find them mutually exclusive.’10 On that basis, I think Iain was right to criticise what I said. I am certainly clear that such a divide does not exist for most members. As I shall argue below, the party is relatively under-factionalised. Indeed, ‘Orange Bookers’ are a very small section of the party, probably a much smaller section of the party than New Labourites were in their party – and they were never large in number. However, as labels for the directions from which much policy initia- tive has come, I defend the terms. While the party’s policy and principles have been broadly social liberal, a clear policy drive has come from the direction of The Orange Book…
How then does this narrative help us to under- stand the way in which the coalition has been greeted within the Liberal Democrats? Why has there not been more internal opposition? In the first place, we must not underestimate the extent of tribalist knuckle-headed Labour opposition to a deal with the Liberal Democrats. John Reid and David Blunkett were the tip of an iceberg in a party where many despise ‘the Liberals’. Such people lining up to tell the media that a period of opposition would be best for Labour was a terrible disappointment for those Liberal Democrats who were openly calling for a deal with Labour.
In contrast, the leadership has been able to put forward an argument, which finds much favour in the ranks, that the party is getting much from the coalition deal. All are agreed that the Conservatives offered much more than anybody would ever have imagined. As Polly Toynbee said of the coalition agreement, ‘There are policies here that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling adamantly, and wrongly, refused to contemplate so wedded were they to New Labour’s rigid caution, triangulating themselves to death.’ That not only involves major constitutional reform but also a strong green strand and the sweeping away of some Labour legislation which posed threats to civil liberties. The leadership has been able to claim some success in the budget on matters as such as capital gains tax.
The most contentious section is where Richard argues that,
What the party still does not seem to recognise, or at least accept as a problem, is that the coalition can also be best understood as the preferred option of a leadership grouping which since it took over the party has consistently sought policies which will reduce the role of the state and steadily take a centre-left party to the centre- right. The major debates in the past two to three years have seen the small Orange Book tendency in the party steadily whittling away at broadly centre-left policies on, for example, the level of public spending, the level of income tax and roles of local government in education.
What I think Richard under-plays is the way the party’s attitude towards the state has changed not in response to different internal ideological views gaining ascendancy but rather in response to changing external circumstances. Given the huge expansion in public spending in the middle years of the Labour government, and the big expansion of central control in the early, middle and late years of Labour government, it is hardly a surprise that many who previously instinctively reached for more public spending and new regulations as the solution to problems now see both as having gone too far and a different emphasis needed instead.
The previous Labour government had a habit of taking as gospel views from senior members of select professions. Whilst many professions were instinctively seen as self-interested dinosaurs when speaking up for their professions, both senior police and senior military were however often treated as if unimpeachable experts.
It’s been a welcome sign from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the new government that senior military are seen as they should be – often expert, certainly experienced but by no means infallible and often to be questioned. That’s the right attitude, but it’s one that is clearly ruffling some feathers …
Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate:
In many states in the US people register themselves as “Democrat” or “Republican” (with also various options for “Independent” etc.) when they join the electoral register. These lists can then be used by the parties to hold primaries or caucuses to select candidates, letting only registered supporters of the party to take party. Open primaries* where anyone can vote are also held in some places, but if you only want your party’s supporters to vote in a primary then wrapping registering your …
The excellent Jack of Kent legal blog has the full details of the brewing story in Hackney, where the council had already been accused of wrongly excluding the manifesto of the Conservative Party’s Mayor candidate, Andrew Boff, from the booklet sent to the public. (The Mayoral elections in Hackney have similar rules to those for Mayor of London, whereby all candidates submit artwork which is then collected in a booklet and sent out to all electors.)
In addition, Hackney Council is now accused of repeatedly misinforming members of the public, telling them that in fact not only was there no …
Today the Treasury’s Spending Challenge website, which asks for ideas on how to save public money, has been opened up to the public. Last month it was launched to those who work in the public sector but now everyone is being invited to contribute.
This two-stage launch was a smart move as it helped deal with the issue of quality of submissions that often plagues such online initiatives. By first getting in views of those who work in the public service, the Spending Challenge website has managed to keep to a minimum the number of …
Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site’s readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message. This one is from Spring last year and has been slightly updated.
After a long period of stalling, the Labour Government finally announced in spring 2009 a timetable for switching Britain’s electoral registration system from one …
Commenting on the Home Secretary’s announcement that stop and search powers will be subject to stricter conditions, Tom Brake MP (Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs, Justice and Equality) said:
This is a very welcome announcement. Section 44 was an unreasonable power, applied in an indiscriminate way.
This change strengthens our civil liberties, building on a longstanding commitment from Liberal Democrats.
When the Labour benches attacked the coalition for what they described as an obsession with defending civil liberties, it just highlighted their dangerous obsession with eroding them.
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty has also welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision:
Holding a public vote on changing the voting system is a radical step for the UK. But it has been done before. In 1993, my home country, New Zealand held the second of two referendums to decide how to elect MPs. An established Westminster democracy voted by a 54:46 per cent margin to get rid of first past the post (FPTP) voting and put in its place the German-style mixed member proportional (MMP) system…
Of course, the UK in 2011 will not be New Zealand in 1993 and, for that matter, AV is not a proportional voting system. But I
1) The principle of having a referendum on AV is popular with the support of 69% of the public.
2) Latest voting intentions in the AV referendum are 45% in support of AV, 32% in support of FPTP. 6% would not vote and 17% don’t know how they would vote.
3) However, support for AV is soft. We experimented by presenting people with six arguments in favour of AV, and six arguments against AV and then asking how they would vote in a referendum. This resulted in a significant drop in support for AV to 33% and a
Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, is taking part in a video question and answer session being run by Yoosk. You can add to the list of questions and vote on which ones you think he should answer using their widget:
Liberal Democrat Children’s Minister Sarah Teather today spoke to Lib Dem Voice about her campaign to put a fair start for children at the heart of the government’s reform agenda. Her first announcement is a review of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which sets out what three and four year olds should do in pre-school and nursery. Sarah said,
“Liberal Democrats have always seen education as the key to social mobility. It isn’t right that differences in social background are evident as early as 22 months and that children from deprived backgrounds are overtaken by lower-achieving children from advantaged backgrounds by …
Two Tory councillors have resigned after it emerged inappropriate emails had been sent using the council’s email system.
Former Kensington and Chelsea mayor Councillor Barry Phelps fired off a series of emails to Councillor Mark Daley, displaying black and white images of young boys with sexually suggestive captions added by Mr Phelps…
The emails were reported to the council by Justin Downes, leader of the Residents First campaign group, who had been alerted by a concerned resident.
“These were innocent images and Councillor Phelps has created sexual overtones to them,” Mr Downes said…
David Allen Tristan,
You're right in the sense that you didn't specifically call for PFI. But you did say "if you can persuade private money to provide the funding on t...
David Garlick Touted as bringing power to people.
Power brought down from Govt sounds good but power still not reaching the lowest possible levels in our Communities....
Tristan Ward @ David Allen
"PFI won’t help stop the planet burning"
Who said anything about PFI - I didn't.
The private money that is building (not enough) house...
Joey Vimsante I think the EU and UK needs to support not for profit, social media platforms that put the interest of the public, vulnerable people, young people, and nation a...
Nick Baird With regard to client-side image scanning, the danger of mission creep are real, but I have other concerns. One is whether this is truly a practical and effecti...
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Brechtian television: Leo McKern in Galileo (1964)
Good news on political donations?
Conference booked
Are Labour going to cross another red line?
David Allen 
David Garlick 
Tristan Ward 
Joey Vimsante 
Nick Baird 