“The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” George Burns Over the next few weeks, my MP (a newly-elected Tory) will go through the parliamentary lobby in support of a range of bills that he knows little about. Sure. He may have a few reflexive opinions on the [...]
Posts under ‘Populism’
Should local Councillors be given iPads?
It’s a good question that tells us a lot about some of the bigger issues in local government. The London Borough of Havering are doing it, and the argument for this is that it will cut printing costs. The good people at one of my favourite blogs We Love Local Government have done some sums: “…over [...]
Moonbattery
George Monbiot is here writing about the Tea Party movement in the US. He argues that the European left could learn a thing or two from the US right. It’s an odd article. It contains this sentence…. “They have been promoted by Fox News – owned by that champion of the underdog Rupert Murdoch – [...]
Is the milk out of the bottle?
Apologies for the very light posting here. Normal service will be resumed shortly – hopefully. In the meantime, can I direct you over to this post over at Left Foot Forward – well worth a read: “The election results show a total fragmentation of the political landscape. They produced, what we might call, a horrific [...]
Elections bring the best out in bloggers
I’ve tried to boil down the killer argument in the whole ‘blogger v journalist’ debate, and it runs something like this: Take the best article you’ve read in a newspaper recently. The one that was well-written and argued and the one that met a particular need that you have personally. You can be almost certain [...]
Straight answers and the Prisoner’s Dilemma
… or ‘we get the politicians we deserve, pt1′: Via Mick, this is worth a look over at the Daily Mail for people who recycle The Independent. “Academics …. found that “not giving straight answers to questions” scored an average of 8.45 when people were asked how much of a problem it was on a scale [...]
Elitism gone mad
That Matthew Taylor is so, like, out of touch. Here’s what he’s got to say about ‘Britain Thinks‘: “My slightly elitist concern that BritainThinks doesn’t encourage its participants to ask themselves whether their opinion is wanted, useful or soundly based is reinforced by the site’s slogan…. ‘if you’ve got an opinion, here’s where to stick [...]
Are we a lynch-mob who won’t vote for a bunch of ‘hangers’?
Don Paskini has a post up here that I’d like to be able to agree with. I’m very comfortable with his logic but remain to be convinced about the details of his arguments. He’s picking up on the popularity of banker-bashing and placing it beside the short-term popularity that politicians believe that they get by [...]
Climate change and the lobbyists
I meant to pick this up a few days ago – I’ve been too busy to blog as diligently as I’d like to. In the Times, Greenpeace’s Joss Garman says: “Imagine if, instead of 60 years ago, the Labour Party was trying to create a National Health Service today. The right-wing campaign to scupper the formation of [...]
Town Hall Meetings
A sketch of anti-healthcare reform protests in the US – from Rolling Stone magazine: “The threat of violence was thinly veiled: One agitator held aloft a tombstone with the name Doggett. Screaming, “Just say no!” the mob chased Doggett through the parking lot to an aide’s car — roaring with approval as he fled the [...]
