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By Paul Burgin [Editor's note: Brian Barder asks me to make it clear that his post to which this refers neither argued for Regional Assemblies, which he in fact opposes; nor, as suggested in a later comment, has he argued against an English…
By Brian Barder / @BrianLB On the always stimulating Our Kingdom website ("a conversation on the future of the United Kingdom", part of the OpenDemocracy network) there's an interesting if somewhat academic debate in progress about the…
By Martin Tiedemann / @mtiedemann Much has been made in recent weeks of the benefits or otherwise of primaries in choosing our elected representatives. Questions of who pays, who votes and who is left out crop up time and again. It's an…
By Peter Thomson The Scottish population is the same as the Greater London area (6.8 million) spread over an area of approximately a third of the main island of Britain. The country has excess resources in re-usable energy and on current…
By Ian Adderley I read with interest the article published yesterday calling for a codified constitution. It is clear that our current written but uncodified constitution - made up of an array of legislation, case law, and convention…
By James Hulme If the oft-quoted slogan that "all politics is local" is true, it is baffling that locally elected political leaders have such limited power over the small but crucial issues that are central to our lives and communities…
By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 This morning's New Statesman says that Tory leader David Cameron and his Mayor of London Boris Johnson are at "breaking point, with new and potentially damaging divisions over the mayor's plans for London."…
By Cherie Booth Over the last few years, as a part-time judge, I have on occasion given custodial sentences to the guilty. I have no doubt that prison is the right place for those responsible for violent or serious offences. But we can't…
By Brian Barder In his statement in the House of Commons on 10 June 2009, the Prime Minister set out a 5-point programme of possible constitutional reform: 1. Reform of the House of Lords, with 80-100 per cent of the members elected. 2…
From @LabourList Here are the most important points of the PM's statement in the House this afternoon on plans for Constituional renewal: * All MPs' past and future expenses should and will be published on the internet in the next few days…
@LabourList Editorial Every now and then, there is a point in political history where apathy becomes restlessness. It happens almost in an instant, and it is no coincidence: it is the result of the unchecked abuses of complacent power. The…
By Alan Laing We are now in the midst of a panicked bidding war in response to the rightful public outrage over MPs expenses. Increasingly, people like me are left wondering what on earth is going through the minds of the political class…
