Tag Archives: sir george young

James Fearnley

Opinion: Overplaying the power of the “people’s petitions”

By James Fearnley | Fri 5th August 2011 - 11:48 am

The e-petition mechanism to allow a new public petition service has gone live and media coverage about its merit and importance has gone mad. Let’s not over-emphasise the significance of this move and let’s not downplay the power of solid, rational argument.

I disagree with Sir George Young: this won’t give the public a megaphone as such and to say that it will is an exaggeration. What it may do is potentially provoke debate on contentious topics for which Parliament at present has neither the political will, nor the time, to dedicate to matters such as capital punishment, abortion, civil liberties …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jana
    This article started well but the conclusion is wrong. Ukraine has successfully forced the surviving elements of the once mighty Russian Black Sea Fleet to retr...
  • cim
    "The Navy’s offensive capability today is also vital for hard diplomacy" Nice euphemism. Certainly puts a new spin on recent Lib Dem calls for "diplomatic ...
  • Simon Marlow
    @Laurence Cox. I'm one of 5M+ British Citizens who live abroad. You've made the same assumption that Ed Davey did back in March ..that a chunk of British citize...
  • David Wright
    As my friend and US lawyer Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. has explained on her very informative Facebook page, Fauci has to "take the 5th" because if he says anything e...
  • Ruth Bright
    David you have got to write about some of these things. Can you do a pamphlet? Or am I showing my age here? Maybe a podcast 💛...