Reading through the bullet summary of the Lib Dems manifesto I was struck at how well it aligned with the Tory proposals on political reform (smaller House of Commons). There are a number of other good proposals including per-flight instead of per-passenger flight tax, local income tax, shared parental leave (similar to Tory proposals). There [...]
Archive of posts tagged politics
Dirty Election
It looks like it’s shaping up to be a very dirty election. The latest scare tactic involving cancer treatment also raised question about how the leaflets were targeted. The Labour party seem to be working very hard to promote the image of posh Tories waxing their moustaches between looking for puppies to kick. Health care [...]
Under starters orders
It wasn’t exactly the most surprising announcement but the race is now on for who forms the next government. Anyone not registered to vote has about 13 days to make sure they are registered for the election. According to the Electoral Reform Society there isn’t much point voting as all our seats are dead certs. [...]
Who got all the laughs
As debates go the whole thing seemed more than a little sterile. The 3 would-be holders of the purse strings post election kept their points so tightly focused it almost had the air of people running through checklists. Although there was a little back and forth between the candidates, usually totally unrelated to the actual [...]
Google’s change of heart
So Google are finally having second thoughts about their relationship with China. We may see then end of google.cn as a search engine that filters search results that might embarrass the authorities. Google got a lot of stick at the time when they first created their Chinese presence. In reality they were doing what every [...]
Simon Singh
As the nights draw in again it’s time to hit the lecture circuit. Cambridge is pretty well served with public lectures as well as a number of other organisations that organises talks in return for a small donation on the day or subscription. Last night I went to the IET’s “Christmas” lecture by author, producer [...]
Are the Armed Forces being let down by government?
Well the gruby counter accusations continue over a letter sent by Gordon Brown to offer condolences to a bereaved mother. For all the heat and noise it’s generating for the papers, no doubt not helping the poor mother come to terms with her grief, it’s become a proxy for a wider debate. Frankly I’m appalled [...]
Question Time
Well the reaction quotes are in from last nights Question Time, as are the viewing figures (7.9m, easily beating the previous 3.8m water mark at the height of the MPs expenses scandal). I’m not sure I’m cynical enough to accuse the BBC of engineering the media storm on the run up to boost ratings but [...]
Policies I can get behind
I was little disappointed by David Cameron’s performance on Sunday AM. It may just be the curse of any political leader these days if to be vague enough to avoid splitting their own party or come across as uncaring hatchet men. Everyone seems keen to cut waste without actually reducing the head count. However it’s [...]
Orwell Diaries
The Orwell Diaries have been running for a little over a year now. One thing I’ve learned is his slight obsession with the egg production of his chickens as well as a few notes about living in Spain. However the last few weeks has seen more earnest reporting of the political situation in the UK [...]
