Pete Smith @ May 29, 2010 # No Comment Yet
Well, it didn’t happen after all. We finished up with a coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Quite an event for us Brits, accustomed as we are to rigid political boundaries and the centuries-old Parliamentary trench warfare of government v opposition, us v them, yah-boo-sucks Punch and Judy politics that passes for debate here. [...]
Pete Smith @ May 11, 2010 # No Comment Yet
So here we are, five days on from the General Election and we still don’t have a result. Having spent days cosying up to the Conservatives. the Liberal Democrats are now negotiating with Labour, although it’s being said that these new talks are not going as well as we might have expected given the vast [...]
Pete Smith @ May 8, 2010 # No Comment Yet
All this chatter about the first hung Parliament for 36 years, and what is to be done about it, has completely overshadowed a great event. The Green Party now has its first MP, after Caroline Lucas beat Labour into second place in the Brighton Pavilion constituency with a swing of 8.4%. Hearty congratulations to Dr [...]
Pete Smith @ May 8, 2010 # No Comment Yet
I’m just about old enough to remember the last U.K. General Election to result in a hung parliament. I was certainly of an age to vote in 1974, but sadly my memory is now too unreliable for me to remember if I actually did. Probably not, as I was still fanning the dying embers of [...]
Pete Smith @ May 3, 2008 # 3 Comments
“Crikey! When they offered me the candidacy, nobody said I might actually win!” I went to bed last night not knowing who London’s next Mayor would be, but still nursing a faint hope that all those transferable second votes would come galloping over the hill like the 7th Cavalry to save the day. I woke [...]
Pete Smith @ April 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
We came home from our Easter break to find that the offspring had taken delivery of a sturdy parcel from the Mayor of London, addressed to me personally. “DIY Planet Repairs” it says on the box, “Will you help with the repairs?”. Inside, there’s a collection of prezzies from Mayor Ken himself: A china mug [...]
Pete Smith @ March 31, 2008 # No Comment Yet
We can only hope and pray that the situation in Zimbabwe gets the right result, not only in terms of votes but what happens afterwards. The post-election unrest in Kenya could look like a vicarage tea party in comparison. Grudgingly, I have to admit to a sneaking admiration for Mugabe. He’s a very bright bloke, [...]
Pete Smith @ March 13, 2008 # One Comment
Is it time for Alistair Darling to be put out with the trash? Criticism of his performance as Chancellor of the Exchequer began as soon as he accepted the poisoned chalice of succeeding Gordon Brown last year. Yesterday’s budget, Darling’s first, has been widely condemned for not living up to its advance billing as a [...]
Pete Smith @ February 14, 2008 # One Comment
Momentum is building to put pressure on China over its ‘involvement’ in Sudan. Stephen Spielberg has resigned as artistic director for the Beijing Olympic Games in protest at China’s support for the Sudan government. Now, an open letter, signed by Nobel Peace Prize winners, politicians, Olympic medalists and entertainers, criticises China’s President Hu Jintao for [...]
Pete Smith @ February 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
It’s funny how words’ meanings can change over time. I was browsing idly through our bookshelves the other day, when I came across an interesting little volume called ‘The Survivalists’. Nothing to do with Jerry Ahern‘s interminable macho saga, Patrick Rivers’ 1975 book is a serious review of the ‘alternative’ environmental movement in the mid [...]
