-
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
-
Meta
Dumfries and Galloway
Links relevant to this site.
Author Archives: Stephen Shellard
Post Capitalism – A Guide to the Future
I’ve finished a book, a few months ago now, by the financial journalist Paul Mason, called Post Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future. If this kind of thing interests you I would thoroughly recommend it. As a starter you … Continue reading
Posted in Books
2 Comments
The Hidden Strengths of Unloved Concrete
Well concrete may not seem like much of a subject, but Tim Harford, who normally writes for the Financial Times and hosts the excellent weekly BBC radio programme, More or Less, has a good touch with such unpromising material. It … Continue reading
Posted in Podcasts etc.
Leave a comment
Basic Income – The Finnish Experiment
Basic income – an important idea, recommended in particular by Paul Mason. This Finnish experiment will be well worth watching Will Finland’s basic income trial help the jobless? – BBC News Two thousand jobless Finns are being given a basic … Continue reading
The European Union and Democratic Balancing
The European Union and Democratic Balancing Revised 20th March 2016 Democratic balancing – a mechanism for creating a democratic balance between the European parliament and the member state parliaments of the European Union which would allow, in certain circumstances, an … Continue reading
6 Months in West Berlin
It was in January 1983 that I set out on my adventure into West Berlin. Margaret Thatcher had recently won the Falklands war; the British Labour Party was shortly to suffer one of its greatest electoral defeats in post war … Continue reading
Should the House of Lords be abolished, become more democratic, or be kept as is?
The house of Lords should be reformed. It should not in my opinion however be elected. There are a number of reasons for this. If it were elected, there would be a danger that it would, probably at some moment … Continue reading
Posted in Misc, Other Constitutional discussion
Leave a comment
Nationalism and the Rise of the SNP
Alex Salmond has pulled off a remarkable coup by leading his party to an overall majority in the new Scottish Parliament. We are told that the Labour Party designed the electoral system for the Scottish Parliament specifically to avoid this … Continue reading
Referendums and Electoral Reform
The result of the referendum on the Alternative Vote did not come as a complete surprise to this blogger. The discussion was dominated by the conservatism of the Tory/Labour political establishment whose arguments were rhetorical rather than rational. The self … Continue reading
What if…The Alternative Vote and the Iraq War
Had the 1997 UK election taken place under AV, would the UK have joined the United States in their invasion of Iraq? This may seem an odd question, for the Labour majority in 1997 was so great that it is … Continue reading
Carruchan 
Thought for the day…. [inauguration day of Donald J Trump]
“Even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked.” It’s a good day, I think, to remember these words from Mr Dylan. Should you wish to listen to them in the full glory of the original … Continue reading →