Electoral reform could be key to winning the Makerfield by-election (and the next general election)
Electoral reform could be key to winning the Makerfield by-election (and the next general election) – politicalbetting.com
Earlier on this month I speculated that the left wing and right wing blocs in this country might end up forming pacts to ensure their side win the next general election, here is the first iteration.
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Sorry to miss the last thread but busy in the sun all day..
You'd need to combine that with some fairly independent QC people, on a bonus based on successfully identifying corners being cut.
The best option of all is the simplest. Act of Parliament approving a route, squashing all planning/environmental stuff, setting agreed compensation ratios for the properties compulsorily purchased etc. Then simply offer a 50 year build and operate licence to the highest bidder - they get to build it at their expense, then get the revenue from it until a specified date. The sooner it's open, the sooner they start earning. The more it costs to build, the less profitable it is for the company in question. If no one bids, then we've successfully answered the question "is it worth building this thing anyway", and we should give the whole idea up.
I am tired and emotional after saying goodbye to Mo Salah and Andy Robertson.
Interesting claim by Farage.
1) does this signify a movement away from his previous pro-Putin remarks?
2) it also seems to imply that he had no intention of declaring this £5 million pounds.
I don't know why the Greens are having so much trouble with this. Just because they've now won their first ever by-election, doesn't mean that they now have to fight hard in every by-election going.
Save the effort for a seat they have a chance in. Meanwhile keep on working the target areas they've already identified for the next GE. Get their by-election candidate to concentrate their campaigning on the single ward in the constituency that is most promising for the Greens at future local elections.
The "it was Russia" thing ... smells of BS, but frankly, who cares ?
Particularly satisfying that he passed Verstappen on the way.
If you're going to do the thing, do the thing. Don't make a plan to do the thing that will be aborted by the next majority government.
Though IIRC Greece has(had?) a system wherein changes to the electoral arrangements took effect at the elections beyond the next. Not sure if that had a timeframe on it, as they went through a period of rapid elections.
But yes to what? Burnham has actually said he favours AMS rather than actual PR (eg STV etc) iirc.
The only time in recent years that Labour got serious on this was the Jenkins report which came up with AMS+ iirc???
I have a copy gathering dust on the shelf of Vague Promises.
Because it wasn't a Labour manifesto commitment it will be easy for the Lords to block and delay. And then, because the process will only have been started two years into the Parliament, it doesn't take much delay to then mean a new system will be hard practically to introduce, in terms of defining new constituency boundaries, etc, even if it is statute by the next GE.
The Greens are unusual in that they often let reality intrude on their political demands, rather than asking Burnham for something he can't deliver they will ask him for something he won't deliver. Much more practical.
I do get the argument for doing this well in advance in that in theory it means the people making the decisions won't know how it will affect them personally, so they'll have to think about what is the best system. But this only works if you have a way to actually hold the next FPTP government to the decision. This isn't possible in the (unreformed) British system because it has pretty much no meaningful checks and balances except norms and propriety. If Farage gets a majority off 25% of the vote I don't think it's rational to expect him to respect norms and propriety.
Regime change
Stop Iran’s nuclear weapon potential
Stop Iran’s support of proxies who fight Israel
Destroy all of Iran’s ballistic missiles
(Not close Strait of Hormuz)
Score at the moment
US 0 Iran 5
Regime change
Stop Iran’s nuclear weapon potential
Stop Iran’s support of proxies who fight Israel
Destroy all of Iran’s ballistic missiles
(Not close Strait of Hormuz)
Score at the moment
US 0 Iran 5
And at the same time, Ukraine targeted the oil export terminal in Novorossiysk, very soon after Reuters reported it had been fully repaired. This shows that Ukraine is not being pressured to hold off on targeting Russia's oil export infrastructure (or, at least, it feels able to resist any such pressure).
Instead the pressure ramps up another notch.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c332ljdkd81o
Once you pick a system (doing this consists of saying "we want the constituency link so it'll be AMS like Scotland") and schedule a referendum you can go right ahead and get to work on the boundaries. If the voters say no then you can just not use the boundaries they were halfway through designing.
But maybe you're right, if you designed an organization with the goal of maximizing normalcy bias it would look something like the House of Lords.
Separately, its not always a good idea to put all the risk on private sector partner, especially if its risk outside their control. Because they will have to charge you a huge amount to cover that risk.
I expect that we will find out, because I expect them to try.
Next: water.
That disposes of most of the risk at a single stroke, the only remaining risks are ones the contractor should be able to control (eg having good enough engineers not to gold plate everything, not getting ripped off on cost plus subcontracts, etc).
I take your point about the wider benefits (although it's unclear to me that making Birmingham into a London suburb is actually a real benefit to either London or Birmingham), but if it's not paid for itself in ticket revenue alone in 50 years time, it wasn't worth doing, wider benefits or not.
He's not one of the best 10 drivers on the grid on pace and ability.
(Israeli politics would be worse under FPTP. There are lots of different voting blocs.)
F1: well, my bet was comically, awfully wrong. And the other guy I was thinking of backing was Hamilton, who had a great race. Hard to be mad, though, given how entertaining Canada was.
Some terrible luck out there, though. Russell, Norris, Lindblad.
Its army and air force are also in pretty poor shape and may well mutiny in the event of an invasion.
Whether that makes it a good idea is a very different question but it's very unlikely that the regime couldn't be toppled if the Yanks go for it.
(Hard to see how any of his plans can be based on anything much given he's presumably not had much contact with the levers of power)
The main ones who suffered in the 19th Century were the poor in major cities whose homes were demolished by the tens of thousands to make room for the new railways to reach city centres.
Many marmalade-infused toast crumbs expelled across the nation I imagine.
A line carrying 28 trains every hour with 1000 passengers on each day in day out would not.
The whole thing is a total tragedy, and waste of human life.
Last PM to have a clear opportunity to reform the electoral system was Blair. It doesn't seem to have interested him.
https://x.com/colmoedavis/status/2058689215781589489?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
Okay he might lose the election after but if the voting system has already changed, how is there ever going to be a majority to remove it?
If you lock your wife and your dog in the boot of your car and come back 2 hours later to release them only your dog will be pleased to see you.
Also I am so glad you finally learned what the quote button is.
Peter Kellner being interesting on why the Makerfield poll may understate Labour. Interesting analysis.
https://kellnerp.substack.com/p/what-is-the-state-of-play-in-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2975369&post_id=199108587&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1mnpci&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
And it is legal as Parliament is sovereign.
Whether it is a good idea is an altogether different question, but it would hardly be an aberration.
They also introduced voter ID, was that in the 2019 manifesto?