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Category Archives: Electoral Reform
The Curse of Small Political Parties
How Fringe Factions Fuel Dysfunction in Israel and Beyond [1,097 words, 6 minutes read time] When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th 2023, they massacred 1,195 people, 736 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 79 foreign nationals, and 379 members of … Continue reading
Posted in Brexit, Comment, Electoral Reform
Tagged "Labour Party", Corbyn, elections, Gaza, israel, news, Politics, uk-politics, war-crimes
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Will Hutton at the Fringe…
John Curtis: His framing of a possible future Scottish independence referendum was not one I had previously heard: a choice between one union, in which Scotland is currently a very significant if somewhat discontented fraction, and another, in which Scotland would be a very small part. Continue reading
Posted in Brexit, Comment, Economics, Electoral Reform
Tagged "Labour Party", Economics, electoral reform, john-crace, john-curtis, keir-starmer, Politics, uk-politics, will-hutton
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Open Letter to John Cooper, MP for Dumfries and Galloway Constituency
The Reform Party which Nigel Farage leads, spell out a number of proposed constitutional changes … they say, there should be a referendum on constitutional reform. I doubt very much their enthusiasm for this will last beyond the point at which they win a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Nigel Farage is very happy to ally himself with Donald Trump, the most duplicitous individual ever to emerge in the politics of the modern era and thus his commitment to genuine democratic reform lacks credibility. Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Electoral Reform
Tagged "Labour Party", electoral reform, nigel-farage, Politics, PR, SNP
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Sunlit uplands revisited
On the edition of BBC Radio’s Any Questions broadcast immediately following the UK election on July 4th, I was shocked to hear Charlie Falconer – Lord Falconer, who I have always thought of as something of a wise owl – … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Electoral Reform, Podcasts etc.
Tagged democracy, elections, electoral reform, Fair elections, FPTP, Political accountability, Politics, PR, Ranked choice voting, uk-politics
1 Comment
Outgrow the System
A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT TRANSITIONING TO A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC SYSTEM With thanks to Reel to Real Cinema, the Stove Network and the Climate Kitchen Dumfries for providing the opportunity to view and discuss this film. There is no argument with the … Continue reading
Giving Keir Starmer a (gentle) shove…
You may have noticed that the recent Labour Party conference debated electoral reform with a proposal to remove the First Past the Post system for elections to the Westminster Parliament and replace it with Proportional Representation. 80% of the party … Continue reading
How Many Political Parties do we Really Need?
“One of the few advantages of the First Past the Post [FPTP] electoral system is that it simplifies the choices set before the electorate by the rather brutal device of limiting the number of parties which have any meaningful chance of winning seats. A proportional system inevitably brings more marginal parties into contention for seats and so has the opposite tendency. ” Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Electoral Reform
Tagged "Political Parties", electoral reform, FPTP, PR
1 Comment
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 
Kirkcudbright Fringe 2025
Three Stories from This Year’s Festival of Art and Culture Story 1: Home Truths for Home Rule: Scotland After 25 Years of Devolution Lesley Riddoch and Henry McLeish in Conversation Kirkcudbright Fringe has once again presented us with a fine array … Continue reading →