Richard's Kingdom

The United Kingdom has a hung Parliament. The 2010 general election left the Conservatives as the largest party however they are 20 seats short of an overall majority. Therefore a coalition Government must be arranged.
The prospect of a government of national unity* – a coalition including both the Conservatives and Labour – is conspicuous by [...]

I voted for the Tories in 1997. It was my first ever election, I was 18, and the Conservatives had been in power my whole life. I knew nothing about politics and I educated myself about neither the parties’ policies nor the local candidates. I voted Tory because I feared the unknown: the huge change [...]

Over the last two parliaments the British state has grown ever more authoritarian. Personal liberty has been sacrificed on the altar of public opinion for political ends. The false dichotomy of privacy versus security has been used repeatedly to justify robbing us of the former while failing to deliver the latter. Billions of pounds have [...]

The Digital Economy Act 2010 is now law. Last week thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, watched the tragedy unfold on Twitter and via the live stream from Parliament (starts at 20:51:25). Many of those people were seeing the internal mechanisms of the British political system for the first time. Their reaction was almost universally one [...]

Despite massive public opposition the Digital Economy Bill was voted into law last night. Here’s how Sheffield MPs behaved:

Constituency
MP
Party
At 2nd reading?
At 3rd reading?
How they voted

Attercliffe
Clive Betts
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Brightside
David Blunkett
Labour
No
No
ABSENT

Central
Richard Caborn
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Hallam
Nick Clegg
Lib Dem
No
No
ABSENT

Heeley
Meg Munn
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Hillsborough
Angela Smith
Labour
No
No
FOR the Bill

Frankly, I’m appalled. Any illusions I had about Britain being a representative democracy have been shattered. [...]