Danny Finkelstein argues well in the Times that politics are getting more fragmented and less controlled: In his book The Long Tail Chris Anderson points out how the market for, say, books has in the past been constrained by the shop shelf space available to display. Online shopping has abolished this […]
Here is BBRU 222 hosted by a Very British dude aka Jackart. It led me to diamond geezer’s wonderful site about all things London. And the "usual gaggle of terrifyingly illiberal post from feminists". Next BBRU is hosted by Liberal England. Suggestions to britblog[at]gmail[dot]com
Eeek. According to Nick Cohen in the Observer the Cameron Conservatives are heading for the Outer Darkness: After the European elections, British Conservatives will leave the company of Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, Fredrik Reinfeldt and the other moderate centre-right leaders who gather under the banner of European People’s party. Although […]
Part of the problem with the drama of expenses/corruption among Westminster MPs is that the very role of MPs and of Parliament is under heavy erosion. Take this for example (my emphasis added): The European Union now produces four major pieces of legislation every week, and a tide of other […]
Is hosted this week by Cabalamat. Lots of links on the usual subjects (feminism, politics) plus a stirring account of the creation of compost – with plenty of pictures – from Low Carbon Lifestyle who is a significant expert on the subject. Given what is going on in Westminster, a pile of […]
For any reader still pondering on the Torture issue, I recommend the judgment by the House of Lords in 2005 on the issue of when evidence obtained by torture (or alleged to be so obtained) might be admitted in UK judicial proceedings. There are in fact seven judgments in this […]
Contrarian Brian Barder tries to put in a good word for MPs. A dirty job but someone has to do it. I agree with most of it, especially the first part where he agrees with me. But at the end comes this: … these are the people on whom we […]
My posting below on Torture has prompted various comments, some of which have come from people arriving here via my former FCO colleague Craig Murray’s site and who support strongly his insistence that Torture Does Not Work. See for example Moo: I hope you’re not seriously suggesting two things: that torture works and […]
For some bracing feminist-inclined fresh air after all this fetid Westminster stuff, swing by BBRU 217 hosted by Philobiblon. Plenty of gripping links. Not least this startling account of the way Jersey is run these days. And this angry but confused piece from Penny Red about why it’s OK – […]
Michael White at the Guardian broods on the what the headline over his piece terms "… the rightwing dominance of political blogosphere". Thus: If I understand the situation correctly, McBride got mixed up with Labour blogger and psychotherapist, Derek Draper – not always a wise move – in trying to […]
