The Pier to Pier walk for St Helena Hospice

Yesterday, I did the Pier to Pier Walk for St Helena Hospice to raise money in memory of my friend Martin Hunt who died last year. They run it every year, challenging people to walk the seven miles from Walton Pier to Clacton…

Worth Reading 190: Approximately me, in centimetres

The UK scores worst in electoral integrity in Western Europe. Here’s why – Good analysis by Democratic Audit of all the flaws in the UK’s electoral processes. It’s Confederate Heritage Month! Day 1 – For as long as I’ve been blogging, David Neiwert’s…

Why I’m stepping back up and standing for council again

Last year, I didn’t stand for re-election to Colchester Borough Council having represented Castle Ward for eight years. (I wrote about the reasons why I wasn’t standing again here) Since then, I’ve had lots of people asking me if I would stand again…

Gaming a Tory leadership election

A Facebook discussion I was in the other day ended up talking about the mechanics of Tory leadership elections, and it prompted a few thoughts. Just to be clear, these are all about electoral strategy for candidates in that putative election, not about…

Let’s get rid of the Budget

The last few days of political news have been dominated by the fall out from the Budget, catalysed by Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation on Friday night. We’ve seen more and more recent Budgets dominate the news cycle for weeks before and after, but…

Walking for charity again

On April 17th, I’m going to be taking part in St Helena Hospice’s Pier to Pier walk, going from Walton Pier to Clacton Pier and back again. I’m doing this to help raise money for the hospice in memory of my friend and…

Worth Reading 189: Two thousand dead eunuchs

Chris Christie’s wordless screaming – “I believe that Donald Trump was talking, tonight, and that he, in fact, held an entire press conference. But it was impossible to hear him over Chris Christie’s eyes.” How the Bush Dynasty Almost Wasn’t – An interesting…

Has Michael Gove been reading The Dictator’s Handbook?

Something often seen in corrupt and autocratic regimes is a system that resembles democracy but is subject to an element of social coercion to ensure that the results of supposedly free votes help to maintain the existing order. As I discussed here before,…

Let’s make satirising Parliament legal

Until 1771, people weren’t allowed to publish detailed reports of what went on in Parliament. Only Hansard, the official record, was allowed to give verbatim coverage of what had been said by representatives. This restriction was lifted, and over time we’ve been given…

Is aiming for a brokered convention the only way Republicans can stop Trump?

If there’s one thing that gets US political geeks fired up, it’s the prospect of there being a brokered convention to choose a party’s Presidential nominee. Every four years, professional and amateur pundits look over the field of candidates and proclaim that there’s…

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