My thoughts on life, the universe and everything
UK – National
Politics in the United Kingdom
Labour imagining things in Feltham and Heston
Dec 16th
On the night of December 15th, 2011, it was announced that Seema Malhotra had been elected as the new MP for Feltham and Heston and the newest member of parliament for Labour. This was a by-election that was caused by the untimely death of Alan Keen, who had been the MP for that constituency since…
GMB and Unite don’t know what a majority is
Nov 18th
As many of you will know, trade unions are in uproar about the changes to public sector pensions that the Coalition want to make because of the economic slowdown. The PCS, which is a large public sector union, has produced a list of those groups who support the industrial action being taken on November 30th.…
The use of Unparliamentary Language
Nov 2nd
If you watch coverage the House of Commons, or even an edition of Prime Ministers questions, you will notice that debates can (occasionally) get quite heated. For some, it can be seen as a source of entertainment, but there needs to be limits. Politicians must maintain a certain level of professionalism and give the appearance…
Dorries defeated
Sep 8th
To be honest, the result wasn’t surprising given the strength of feeling on the matter, which I mentioned in my previous blog post. Nadine Dorries‘s amendment about abortion counselling failed at the voting stage, with 118 Ayes and 368 Noes. It was a crushing defeat that came after some spirited and controversial debate. Some people…
The Dorries Amendments
Sep 5th
Nadine Dorries is a Conservative MP with a distinct set of views on a range of matters. Most recently, she tabled a set of amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill that have a focus on abortion. This follows on from an Early Day Motion sposored by Therese Coffey (and supported by Dorries). Many…
Riots cause social media clampdown?
Aug 16th
It’s undeniable that social media has changed both society and the lives of many people. It has created new jobs and removed the need for others. It has a huge number of positive aspects, but it was shown in a bad light recently thanks to the rioting and looting. It was (repeatedly) reported that people…
In response to Sunny Hundal
Jul 4th
In this post on the Liberal Conspiracy blog, Sunny Hundal looked at the results of a recent YouGov poll, which asked questions about the strikes in addition to the regular ones about voting intention and leader approval. He concluded that more people blame the government for the strike action that took place on June 30th…
Inverclyde’s importance
Jul 1st
On June 30th, 2011, it was announced that Iain McKenzie had been elected as an MP in the Inverclyde by-election. I understand that news about PMQs and the performance of Ed Miliband is more important in the eyes of the media. However, any by-election at this time is a key opportunity to test the success…
Strikes that no-one wants
Jun 29th
Over the past few days I have taken a keen interest in the public sector pension negotiations and the news of the upcoming strike action. My two previous posts about this subject are here and here. As I have said before, the groups involved in this situation are entitled to the right to strike and…
A policy speech without policy
Jun 26th
Policy is important. A political party can have a raison d’etre, but if it has no detail or any proof of how it can live up to what they say, it will always be difficult for them to get elected. In election times, appropriate marketing can cover up the holes for a certain amount of…
