"The crisis is an opportunity to sweep away the rotten postwar settlement of British politics. Labour is moribund. But David Cameron has a chance to develop a "
red Tory" communitarianism, socially conservative but sceptical of neoliberal economics"
[more inside]
posted by doobiedoo
on Feb 15, 2009 -
22 comments
The Tax Gap - "
The Guardian will examine the extent of tax avoidance by big business, day-by-day over two weeks. We are naming more than 20 major British companies, and analysing their secretive tax strategies to ask: are they paying their fair share?".
posted by Gyan
on Feb 4, 2009 -
34 comments
A
biased shadow of its
former self, a
waste of money dominated by
champagne socialists, a victim of
media fragmentation, a
political pawn or still the
trusted heart of the UK's (and, arguably, the world's) broadcasting world? As
scandal after
scandal threatens to undermine confidence in the BBC and the voices calling for the dissolution of the licence fee gain a more
cohesive platform, can the BBC survive, - is it
the solution or the problem, and can the British public really afford to let it die the
death of a thousand cuts?
On the day after the BBC announces it will put every UK
publically owned oil painting online and the Director General talks about the BBC's "special responsibility" to culture in the UK, what should the role of the BBC be and, perhaps more importantly, what should it cost?
posted by MuffinMan
on Jan 29, 2009 -
50 comments
It's a year since the untimely
death of
Chris Lightfoot. He had a remarkable
combination of political commitment and technical expertise that led him to develop sites
such as
WriteToThem and
Pledgebank for the splendid political and social
software group,
MySociety.
His political writing brings a sharp and sarcastic wit to bear on such subjects as the
Iraq war, and
ID cards.
There are also some good
rants.
A sad loss to British society.
posted by crocomancer
on Feb 11, 2008 -
6 comments
Two recent reports on immigration in the UK, a published
study on its economic effects, and an expert panel
report on its and public service consequences, paint very different pictures. Not that the press need logic or evidence: they
made their minds up about those
Poles a long time ago, like people did about the
West Indians,
Bangladeshis and
Jews . Is a rational debate on immigration even possible?
posted by athenian
on Oct 16, 2007 -
18 comments
Tony Blair's ex-Master of Spin and closest adviser is on a media whirlwind promoting his diary. Campbell's apparently straight talking nature gives the prospects of some tantalizing insight into the inner workings of number 10 for the majority of Blair's premiership. He's not getting it all his own way, though. BBC Radio 4's John Humphrey's on the
Today Programme (
Real audio) (
MP3) was more interested in the failings of a government and political movement for which he was an architect and key player, and particularly Campbell's legacy of elevating the role of spin in British politics, even in the inner working of government, allegedly sexing up an intelligence dossier in order to make a more compelling case for war in Iraq (
See 10 ways to sex up a dossier). The Guardian, in an article titled
Did he mean me?, invited some of those named in his diaries to give feedback, or should that be biteback?
posted by nthdegx
on Jul 11, 2007 -
7 comments
Youtube user davebones goes to London demos, protests and gatherings.
His videos demonstrate the complexity of issues, calling into question the credibility of television news which tends to portray the same events in black and white terms. While his
blog sets a clear agenda, his commentary-free videos are accessible to people regardless of their viewpoint.
posted by nthdegx
on Mar 31, 2007 -
2 comments
Prime Minister's Questions is a weekly televised convention in the UK started in the 1950s during which Members of Parliament get a chance to hold their leader accountable for
his or
her actions. Sick of
boring political meetings? "PMQ" is
fast-paced,
hip,
heated,
eloquent,
insulting, and
sometimes hilarious. In fact,
the inherant humor of it is has been
well explored.
But brits aren't the only ones; "
Question Time", as it's called generically, has been adapted in
other countries as well. Yet the show often shocks Americans since
the concept of weekly
unscripted
access to leaders without giving
days of question prep-time seems like a fantasy. Of course, maybe the
alternative (0:41) is much worse.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed
on Dec 5, 2006 -
63 comments
Webcameron. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party in the UK, reaches out to the Youtube generation.
posted by greycap
on Sep 30, 2006 -
53 comments
UK politics filter:
WriteToThem.com tells you who your MP, MEPs, MSPs, and Welsh and London Assembly members are, and will send letters to them on your behalf. All you need is your postcode. It's a service of
MySociety.org, the charity behind
PledgeBank, where you can promise to do something worthwhile if other people join in (
last seen here in June — please sign up to
save Christopher Robbin). The charity's latest project,
HearFromYourMP.com, lobbies MPs to provide regular email updates to their constituents,
like this one.
posted by londonmark
on Dec 15, 2005 -
10 comments
In 2001 America
destroyed the Kabul offices of al-Jazeera with two smartbombs; officials said it was an accident. In 2003 America
destroyed the Baghdad offices of al-Jazeera with missiles; officials said it was an accident. Now, two British civil servants are on trial for leaking a memo revealing that Bush intended to bomb al-Jazeera...
at their headquarters in allied Qatar.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Nov 22, 2005 -
155 comments
Blair loses in the Commons for the first time since his election in 1997. MPs refused to pass laws allowing terrorist suspects to be jailed without trial for 90 days, and Blair's parliamentary majority of 66 turned into a minority of 31. The government has been holding back on the vote for months in an attempt to persuade their party to back the Prime Minister - they failed.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Nov 9, 2005 -
38 comments
Pledge Bank is an interesting project. Promise to do something provided others will do the same. This could help to get small enterprises started, but might work for national politics as well. For example, the
No 2 ID campaign is making
use of it.
posted by mleonard
on Jun 13, 2005 -
6 comments
Highlight of the election coverage: George Galloway is the leader of
Respect and won a historic and unexpected victory against the Blairite Oona King, on an anti-war ticket. He was then interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, an increasingly controversial interviewer well known for asking questions absurd numbers of times until they get answered - a technique which arguably backfires here. You might want to watch Galloway's
acceptance speech first.
[Windows Media. My two cents: Paxman is an egregious cock, more interested in getting his eternally righteous indignation across than any issues.]
posted by Pretty_Generic
on May 6, 2005 -
75 comments
Psephologists rejoice! The Guardian will be blogging the UK election as it happens, and there's already some comments and links to other online discussions. As the UK polls close at 10:00 pm, this means that early results and exit polls will be in late afternoon for US poll-watchers.
posted by carter
on May 5, 2005 -
223 comments
