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Sunday, June 25, 2006

House of Lords reform

The debate continues. I hope to find time to add something different to House of Lords reform soon!

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60622-02.htm

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Lords Reform

More on Lords reform - things are beginning to move.

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60619-02.htm#60619-02_star0

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Renewable energy

I had been away at the GMB and AMICUS conferences and returned to an opportunity to advertise renewable energy.

I now buy my electricity from a renewable source but it is more expensive.

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60615-01.htm#60615-01_star0

Friday, June 09, 2006

Responses

Paul suggests putting economics and business studies on the curriculum. I'm not sure. The curriculum is already heavilly loaded. I don't doubt the importance of the subjects but it seems to me that the curriculum needs to provide the basic educational building blocks and then allow easy access to further studies.

I don't have too much knowledge of this area of policy so others might have more informed views.

The debate on funding political parties is continuing and I note a surprising contribution from Bill Morris the former general secretary of the TGWU. He is reported as saying that the link between Labour and the unions should be weakened. Personally I would be worried if we lost that link but I do think we should concentrate more on the federal nature of the Labour Party and the unions involvement on policy making rather then the financial link. 

If you ask people to fund political parties from taxation they tend to object strongly but they also feel political parties don't do enough to keep them informed. Any canvasser for a political party will tell you how exasperating it is to be told "We never see you round here" even when you have blitzed the area several times! However I think the public might be more willing to fund some political advertising via an independent body like the Electoral Commission particularly if it focussed more on local campaigns.

This is important because advertising arouses interest in the election but it is also a key part of the funding problem.

Another option would be to fund some research work for political parties but again ring fenced so that the public had confidence that it was being used for policy research. We do need to look at more innovative ways of funding political parties. This is not just a problem for British political parties but applies in most modern democracies.

The Grass Arena

I have been away and rather busy recently - my blogging has suffered as a result.

I have just added a link to John Healy http://www.thegrassarena.net/ . He is the author of The Grass Arena an autobiographical account of his life as a vagrant alcoholic.

I have known John for at least 30 years since I first met him as a probation officer in Camden. The book is a powerful account of the violence and degradation of alcoholism in its most extreme form.