So all eyes on Norwich North later today as they decide who will replace Ian Gibson who resigned after he was deselected. The polls are suggesting a good win for the Conservative candidate Chloe Smith, but I think it'll be close and interesting - a good marker will be the turnout.
I'm not expecting minority parties to do too well, but I'm interested to see how well they do.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
The House of Lords and constitutional reform
So while we are in the worst recession in living memory, the government attempts to create a distraction by going for some populist and traditional-voter-appeasing policies - Lords reform - removing the remaining hereditary peers.
The hereditary peers should never have been removed in the first place - they provided a good check on illiberal policies and the executive, something seriously lacking since Blair's gerrymandering of the late 90s. Now they have been shown to be the least sleazy - the bad Lords are generally appointed Labour lords.
The problem here is that the Lords has become a glorified quango - a means of elected dictatorship, a bit of window dressing. There's no accountability when the people you are meant to hold to account appoint you!
However I don't see the hereditary peers returning, so we have to look one way - to democracy. I don't want to see a carbon copy of the Commons. The Lords has to be a chamber of experts and local politicians - I'd like to see elected mayors sitting in the Lords, as well as other elected "experts" - although how an "expert" is determined for election is difficult, since you have the regulating the regulator problem.
It really is an open-ended question, but whatever happens, it must be more accountable. At least there's one good speck in this bill - the ban on protests outside Parliament that have been affront to British liberty for too long would be ended. However it's just a small part of the bill, and not one everything else should rest on.
Britain constitutionally needs a renegotiation of the EU arrangement and a localist agenda to devolve power as locally as possible, with each budget-setting authority raising its own funds. This is more important than the issue of the Lords.
The hereditary peers should never have been removed in the first place - they provided a good check on illiberal policies and the executive, something seriously lacking since Blair's gerrymandering of the late 90s. Now they have been shown to be the least sleazy - the bad Lords are generally appointed Labour lords.
The problem here is that the Lords has become a glorified quango - a means of elected dictatorship, a bit of window dressing. There's no accountability when the people you are meant to hold to account appoint you!
However I don't see the hereditary peers returning, so we have to look one way - to democracy. I don't want to see a carbon copy of the Commons. The Lords has to be a chamber of experts and local politicians - I'd like to see elected mayors sitting in the Lords, as well as other elected "experts" - although how an "expert" is determined for election is difficult, since you have the regulating the regulator problem.
It really is an open-ended question, but whatever happens, it must be more accountable. At least there's one good speck in this bill - the ban on protests outside Parliament that have been affront to British liberty for too long would be ended. However it's just a small part of the bill, and not one everything else should rest on.
Britain constitutionally needs a renegotiation of the EU arrangement and a localist agenda to devolve power as locally as possible, with each budget-setting authority raising its own funds. This is more important than the issue of the Lords.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Blocking Andreason is a disgrace
Marta Andreason, the former EU chief accountant (and whistleblower) turned UKIP MEP has been blocked from becoming the Vice President of the Budgetary Committee by EPP and PES MEPs who fear "scandal". Or more to the point, they fear the horrific budget being exposed by Andreason (again) and have taken to political, unaccountable means (secret ballot) to do so.
Andreason, regardless of political affiliation, is the perfect candidate for the role - she has experience and knows about, well, accounting and budgetary. She would also take the role of a committee vice president properly, holding the executive to account, the whole point of a committee. The EPP and PES, being Europhile nonsensists, want to further the EU integration and federalisation, so naturally oppose the Commission being shown up for what it is - an utterly hopeless organisation. They are also enemies of accountability - they blocked her on political lines, not meritocratic lines - a real disgrace to democracy, which again is seriously lacking in the EU, even its supposedly democratic chamber.
Andreason, regardless of political affiliation, is the perfect candidate for the role - she has experience and knows about, well, accounting and budgetary. She would also take the role of a committee vice president properly, holding the executive to account, the whole point of a committee. The EPP and PES, being Europhile nonsensists, want to further the EU integration and federalisation, so naturally oppose the Commission being shown up for what it is - an utterly hopeless organisation. They are also enemies of accountability - they blocked her on political lines, not meritocratic lines - a real disgrace to democracy, which again is seriously lacking in the EU, even its supposedly democratic chamber.
Banking regulation
First of all, I apologise for not posting in a while - although exams are over, life has been hectic.
David Cameron hits the right notes with the briefing for his speech on regulatory reform. Having already been told by Osborne that the FSA would be scrapped, we have an idea of how banks would be regulated.
It makes sense for the central bank to regulate - it knows how much banks are borrowing, knows what the economy is doing, and so on - after all it has to set interest rates every month. Not only this, but we are told that the Bank of England warned the FSA about the risks taken, but the FSA took no action - incompetence.
Breaking up RBS/HBOS is a welcome step too - no bank should become too big to fail, and no bank should be bailed out by the government - the economy is better off without bad banks.
However the MPC especially has to look at the prime cause of the financial crash - keeping interest rates too low for too long and encouraging over-borrowing. The only viable solution would be to allow the market to set interest rates, since it is more efficient than nine central bankers. That way, as demand for borrowing increases, interest rates are raised by banks to get a greater return and to encourage saving to build up a capital base; in the same way interest rates will fall if banks want to encourage borrowing. I know it isn't a perfect theory, but should be more efficient than the current macroeconomic consensus we have today.
David Cameron hits the right notes with the briefing for his speech on regulatory reform. Having already been told by Osborne that the FSA would be scrapped, we have an idea of how banks would be regulated.
It makes sense for the central bank to regulate - it knows how much banks are borrowing, knows what the economy is doing, and so on - after all it has to set interest rates every month. Not only this, but we are told that the Bank of England warned the FSA about the risks taken, but the FSA took no action - incompetence.
Breaking up RBS/HBOS is a welcome step too - no bank should become too big to fail, and no bank should be bailed out by the government - the economy is better off without bad banks.
However the MPC especially has to look at the prime cause of the financial crash - keeping interest rates too low for too long and encouraging over-borrowing. The only viable solution would be to allow the market to set interest rates, since it is more efficient than nine central bankers. That way, as demand for borrowing increases, interest rates are raised by banks to get a greater return and to encourage saving to build up a capital base; in the same way interest rates will fall if banks want to encourage borrowing. I know it isn't a perfect theory, but should be more efficient than the current macroeconomic consensus we have today.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
The Greed Tube
It appears that Bob Crow and the RMT are holding London at ransom again. They earn more than nurses, paramedics, teachers and dentists to sit on their backside and drive a train, but want 5% more (well above inflation) and a guarantee against redundancies.
Number one, if you take a pay rise there's less chance there won't be redundancies for obvious reasons. As well as that, we're in a recession and if demand falls, there will be redundancies, simple as.
£37k to drive a train around? They should be taking a pay cut. Privatise the Tube, see what they feel about things then. We need some Thatcherite power and conviction to beat the remaining militant unionism.
Number one, if you take a pay rise there's less chance there won't be redundancies for obvious reasons. As well as that, we're in a recession and if demand falls, there will be redundancies, simple as.
£37k to drive a train around? They should be taking a pay cut. Privatise the Tube, see what they feel about things then. We need some Thatcherite power and conviction to beat the remaining militant unionism.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Conservatives win in Wales!
By 145,193 votes to 138,852, the Tories have indeed topped the poll in Wales for the first time since 1918; even better, they'd take my constituency of Newport West.
This is a huge surprise, and is quicker than the other results that are taking ages to arrive. The whole political landscape of Wales is changing.
Even more surprising was the UKIP MEP in Wales - Wales has been generally less Eurosceptic than the rest of Britain. I remember the UKIP Wales office down the road from me, and the election poster on Chepstow Road, but otherwise I haven't noticed them that much.
Either way, the future looks different, and I look forward to it.
This is a huge surprise, and is quicker than the other results that are taking ages to arrive. The whole political landscape of Wales is changing.
Even more surprising was the UKIP MEP in Wales - Wales has been generally less Eurosceptic than the rest of Britain. I remember the UKIP Wales office down the road from me, and the election poster on Chepstow Road, but otherwise I haven't noticed them that much.
Either way, the future looks different, and I look forward to it.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Friday, 5 June 2009
And breathe
Today has been thoroughly enthralling in fact. So much has happened - we now have Lord Sugar, Deputy PM Mandelson and another Kinnock back on the Labour frontbench, but obviously sitting in the Lords (well, she couldn't win the Norwich North by-election, let's be honest). Otherwise not much to say about the reshuffle, which is practically moving the deckchairs on the Titanic - nothing will get much better.
And the county council map looks incredibly blue. It's blue, I accept, because people are unhappy with Gordon Brown. The local elections would, however, have been about local issues if the centralisation and constitutional vandalism (these unitary authorities irritate me - power to the lowest level? No, they certainly aren't), and the small matter of a general election. Might have increased turnout from 18% too.
Lord Sugar
Alan Sugar is the sort of person we need in the Lords - real world, business experience. However I can't understand why any right-minded person would take up a position in Gordon Brown's government.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
MAXIMUM wage?
Via Dizzy, apparently an MP has called for a maximum wage.
Higher incomes means more income tax, yes?
Offshore banking never looked so good.
Higher incomes means more income tax, yes?
Offshore banking never looked so good.
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