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Latest Articles in 'UK'
- From the people who brought you electoral reform - 11/07/2012The government’s plans for reforming the House of Lords are in disarray. A substantial majority – 462 to 124 – in the House of Commons voted for reform but the...
- The House of Lords is a mess - 01/05/2012The House of Lords is a mess. It brings together in one place party political nominees (often former MPs), acknowledged experts on particular issues, descendants of drinking buddies of long-deceased...
- The uncertain boundary between politics and law - 24/11/2011Here is an interesting examination of the interaction between politics and law in the British political system, delivered by leading barrister (and future judge) Jonathan Sumption QC. Delivered as the...
Latest Blog Entries
- Proved right on press regulation - 18/03/2013This blog has not expected to be proved right so quickly on press regulation, but that’s what happened today. At the end of last year, when the Leveson commission published...
- Trade war over gambling - 30/01/2013International trade disputes often shine a light on odd behaviour, and the dispute between the United States and the tiny Caribbean island country Antigua and Barbuda is no exception. Originally...
- The wrong conclusion on welfare reform - 24/01/2013In his speech on Europe yesterday, David Cameron observed that Europe, with seven per cent of the world’s population and 25 per cent of world GDP, accounts for 50 per...
UK Archive
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From the people who brought you electoral reform
Posted on 11/07/2012 | 1 CommentThe government’s plans for reforming the House of Lords are in disarray. A substantial majority – 462 to 124 – in the House of Commons voted for reform but the motion to set out the timetable for the debate was withdrawn in the face of... -
The House of Lords is a mess
Posted on 01/05/2012 | 2 CommentsThe House of Lords is a mess. It brings together in one place party political nominees (often former MPs), acknowledged experts on particular issues, descendants of drinking buddies of long-deceased monarchs, and a smattering of Anglican bishops, to sit in judgement on legislation. We are... -
The uncertain boundary between politics and law
Posted on 24/11/2011 | 1 CommentHere is an interesting examination of the interaction between politics and law in the British political system, delivered by leading barrister (and future judge) Jonathan Sumption QC. Delivered as the 35th FA Mann Lecture, “Judicial and Political Decision Making: The Uncertain Boundary”, on Tuesday 8... -
Reforms to party funding can strengthen local politics
Posted on 22/11/2011 | No CommentsThe report on funding for political parties published today outlines some interesting ideas for reforming the way that politics works in the United Kingdom, improving it in some ways but possibly making it worse in others. The direction of progress is revealed by the title... -
Should we tinker with the House of Lords or leave well alone?
Posted on 20/08/2011 | 4 CommentsLetter published in the Times, 20 August 2011 Sir, Professor Bogdanor’s warnings of possible gridlock between two elected Houses in Parliament are well made but one might question the assumption that an elected chamber must be directly elected. A second chamber could be indirectly elected,... -
Why was the electoral reform referendum lost?
Posted on 10/05/2011 | 1 CommentThe referendum on the introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV) on 5 May was lost by 68 per cent to 32 per cent. This is a crushing defeat. What went wrong for the Yes campaign? The explanation can be divided into three possible families of... -
A rotten way to fight a referendum
Posted on 15/04/2011 | 2 CommentsThere is something unsatisfying about the arguments deployed by the Yes side in the referendum campaign on electoral reform. They are right that the Alternative Vote is preferable to First Past The Post, but it is not vastly preferable and will not solve all the... -
Time travel: the limits of parliamentary democracy
Posted on 25/02/2011 | 10 CommentsA forthcoming proposal to change the time zone raises an interesting question about how our parliamentary democracy represents the diverse interests of this country. Putting the clocks forward by one hour will be suggested as part of a government tourism strategy to create more jobs... -
Why are all our politicians so similar?
Posted on 08/02/2011 | 2 CommentsA common contemporary complaint is that British politicians are now all too similar. There is not enough diversity at the top. (See, for example, “The fall of the meritocracy” by Andrew Neil in the Spectator.) Andrew Neil sought to criticise the narrow educational background of... -
Should prisoners have the right to vote?
Posted on 07/02/2011 | 6 CommentsThere will be a debate in the House of Commons later this week on whether people sentenced to prison should have the right to vote. The issue comes up because the European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the current situation which is that...
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