Taking democratic reform beyond electoral reform
Next week we’ll go to polls to vote for councillors, AMs, MSPs and a new voting system for Westminster. Then we’ll all go back to our lives and forget about politics for another year or more (well maybe not the people reading this blog, but most people). Shouldn’t democracy be about more than just placing [...]
A generation’s choice
This piece first appeared on the Edinburgh Green Party blog Edinburgh’s Meadows in the spring sun are always a sight – scattered with revising students and pink cherry blossom. I imagine this was as much a part of the annual cycle of city life when my Dad studied here in the late 60s as it is [...]
A more civilised kind of politics is not ‘from another planet’
I had forgotten how civilised Scottish politics is. Last night, I was representing the Greens at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association hustings. Three years ago I stood on the same stage and argued with Harry Cole (and 2 others) about who should be next student president. If memory serves, it was a raucous affair – [...]
How Personal Autonomy can Win Freedom Back for Progressives
This election has been characterised by a remarkable focus on the personalities of party leaders, on the UK coalition and by little focus on the powers of the Scottish Parliament. I had hoped that 2007 marked the point where the Scottish Parliament was taken seriously and the extensive powers over tax, education, health, environment and [...]
On Gandhi and the green movement
This is a guest post by David Mentiply who runs the greensen blog. Gandhi prophesised that an economy built on material consumption would cause a serious threat to the environment. In recent years, many greens have sought to capitalise on this anti-industrial message. But what exactly is the Gandhian remedy and how useful is it [...]
AV Referendum: Tories Abuse History. Will History Abuse the Tories?
Britain has not always had a first-past-the-post system, and voters usually had multiple votes. Any claims that AV runs against the history of Parliament or British voting is as misleading and inaccurate as, well, most noise made by committed partisan campaigns. The open letter published by various historians which claimed AV would destroy a ‘cherished’ [...]
Tories don’t want a snap election – why I disagree with Jackie Ashley
Jackie Ashley has written an interesting piece arguing that the Tories may well want a snap general election this year. This is why I disagree. But I should be clear – I am not saying that there won’t be a general election this year, I’m just saying that the Tories don’t want one. Similarly, I [...]
Students win in Scotland through Power of Protest
Jim Hacker, the fictional Prime Minister in “Yes Prime Minister” at one point says grandiosely of the electorate “It’s the people’s will. I am their leader; I must follow them.” There is an important lesson for all campaigners in how students have managed to make fees an issue on which politicians will follow them. Last [...]
Holyrood 2011: personality politics
As you drive through Alyth, it is the yellow flashes that catch your eye – daffodils, primroses and placards. This is John Swinney country. In the small towns between Perth and the Highland Line, his name is emblazoned on yellow SNP placards in windows and gardens and on roadsides. It wasn’t always like this. Up [...]
Greenpeace activists scale Cairn Arctic oil platform
There is, perhaps, no better sign that oil companies expect prices to stay high than new drilling in places previously seen as too difficult, too expensive, or too downright dangerous. I’ve written before here about the increased willingness of companies to go into the incredibly destructive tar sands in Canada. Similarly, I’ve written about how [...]
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