Friday, 27 June 2008
Saturday, 21 June 2008
1) Who Governs? Landscape & Local government in 10 years
With a heavy heart i say this, i believe that the country should be given the chance to vote. The situation seems to be getting worse by the day and show elections such as Mr Davis in Haltemprice and Howden near Hull will only carry on a farce.
The expectation which i believe quite rightly is that David Cameron will return the Tories to power with a hefty majority, i believe the political landscape though will change with it.
This is several pieces that i will write on the future of this country, including it's services and it's welfare issues, this one will attempt to set the scene for how government will look.
A New Era?
I think politics will enter a substantial and new era, i think gone now are the days of parties leading a nation for over ten years, this Cameron term will prove if the economy continues to stutter to be a small term. He unlike previous primeminsters is one of the Blair mould, a good manager but not a reformer. Progression will continue to be put on hold, as it has since that terrible day in September 2001. If this blog is wrong and Cameron does take a sustained position of time in power i will be surprised, with the Davis announcement and the unease that the Tory party showed before Brown's infamous election rebuke the party seemed to show a divided line, a line that's impossible to sustain through disagreement, the Tories are still a party fractured and Cameron will have to have his "Clause IV" moment.
But for the time being nothing that Gordon Brown says and does is correct, and no mistakes that Mr Cameron makes are damaging, this changes once you enter the Primeminsteral role.
So how about the Landscape of Politics?
Local Government
I believe the current situation for local government and governance in general is dire, a reform in every area needs to be undertaken. The power has slowly been eroded from the local and devoured back in nationally, this of course is not the case in Wales and Scotland which i believe will slowly become disfranchised from England, and Plaid Cyrmu and SNP will become the national party of choice. Do i feel once the Union is devolved that parties such as Labour and The Lib Dems will gain back a foothold? Yes i do the Scottish Labour Party will be able to fight it's own battle separate from Westminster and the party will become more effective through this.
So when will the Union disappear? I think a gradual process over the next ten years, the children being born in Scotland today will know little of a Union and will be possibly less patriotic because of it, i doubt country borders will be implemented though and it will be more of a power agreement than a complete separation, Wales will remain in it's current state it's ties with England will remain, however an increase in the amount of power will be provided to the welsh assembley
So where does that leave England? the myth is that if Labour lost Wales and Scotland that they would never regain Parliament and government, to a certain extent it would become more difficult but either way i believe the shift towards the SNP will provide this anyhow.
Localisation of services will be the cornerstone, a Mayor for most cities is what i predict by 2020, i believe the more active localisation in politics happens, the better managed a country will become. The down sides can be seen through expenditure differing across the board but this can appear more relevant in time and could lead to a better system of voting where people actually can see the difference between the areas.
Voting System
I expect the call from the majority of the country to become louder in the pursuing years for a form of fairer voting. With the splits i have suggested in local governance i think it will be important for whoever governs to make this a key target. The Liberal Democrats will remain the smaller party unless a drastic erosion of power happens, which i think is unlikely but expect within a year of Cameron taking office, Local government will swap back to Liberal and Labour power.
The second part of these will be a discussion about fringe parties and i will go further into how they will make an impact in the next 10 years, and how this will effect policy and debate.
The expectation which i believe quite rightly is that David Cameron will return the Tories to power with a hefty majority, i believe the political landscape though will change with it.
This is several pieces that i will write on the future of this country, including it's services and it's welfare issues, this one will attempt to set the scene for how government will look.
A New Era?
I think politics will enter a substantial and new era, i think gone now are the days of parties leading a nation for over ten years, this Cameron term will prove if the economy continues to stutter to be a small term. He unlike previous primeminsters is one of the Blair mould, a good manager but not a reformer. Progression will continue to be put on hold, as it has since that terrible day in September 2001. If this blog is wrong and Cameron does take a sustained position of time in power i will be surprised, with the Davis announcement and the unease that the Tory party showed before Brown's infamous election rebuke the party seemed to show a divided line, a line that's impossible to sustain through disagreement, the Tories are still a party fractured and Cameron will have to have his "Clause IV" moment.
But for the time being nothing that Gordon Brown says and does is correct, and no mistakes that Mr Cameron makes are damaging, this changes once you enter the Primeminsteral role.
So how about the Landscape of Politics?
Local Government
I believe the current situation for local government and governance in general is dire, a reform in every area needs to be undertaken. The power has slowly been eroded from the local and devoured back in nationally, this of course is not the case in Wales and Scotland which i believe will slowly become disfranchised from England, and Plaid Cyrmu and SNP will become the national party of choice. Do i feel once the Union is devolved that parties such as Labour and The Lib Dems will gain back a foothold? Yes i do the Scottish Labour Party will be able to fight it's own battle separate from Westminster and the party will become more effective through this.
So when will the Union disappear? I think a gradual process over the next ten years, the children being born in Scotland today will know little of a Union and will be possibly less patriotic because of it, i doubt country borders will be implemented though and it will be more of a power agreement than a complete separation, Wales will remain in it's current state it's ties with England will remain, however an increase in the amount of power will be provided to the welsh assembley
So where does that leave England? the myth is that if Labour lost Wales and Scotland that they would never regain Parliament and government, to a certain extent it would become more difficult but either way i believe the shift towards the SNP will provide this anyhow.
Localisation of services will be the cornerstone, a Mayor for most cities is what i predict by 2020, i believe the more active localisation in politics happens, the better managed a country will become. The down sides can be seen through expenditure differing across the board but this can appear more relevant in time and could lead to a better system of voting where people actually can see the difference between the areas.
Voting System
I expect the call from the majority of the country to become louder in the pursuing years for a form of fairer voting. With the splits i have suggested in local governance i think it will be important for whoever governs to make this a key target. The Liberal Democrats will remain the smaller party unless a drastic erosion of power happens, which i think is unlikely but expect within a year of Cameron taking office, Local government will swap back to Liberal and Labour power.
The second part of these will be a discussion about fringe parties and i will go further into how they will make an impact in the next 10 years, and how this will effect policy and debate.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Yes, England are out
Some months ago, between dissertation hell and my duties of democracy i managed to scrape myself to the nearest pub to watch England fail to qualify for the European Championships of 2008, like most at first i thought it would dull my appetite for an event that after all we were not part of.
I've been proven wrong.... In fact i would state that England should avoid every future major event if this is how good it gets.
It started with the excellent displays of Holland and Spain and continues to shock and surprise, Turkey yesterday evening put pay to my dark horses and sweep choice Croatia, mind you with Holland around and Italy scraping through i reckon this may still prove to be the best Euros in living memory.
So what of England, apart from the odd show from Capello who i believe is a brilliant choice and will get England to the World Cup in two years, the name of England has gradually disappeared and that can only be a good thing, after all who cares we were woeful and needed one point from two games we failed and we deserve not to be there, as for the Ronaldo saga, lets hope for the sake of Fantasy Football that he leaves.... Only kidding Manchester Utd fans
You've been reading the unwritten word.... It's now been written.
I've been proven wrong.... In fact i would state that England should avoid every future major event if this is how good it gets.
It started with the excellent displays of Holland and Spain and continues to shock and surprise, Turkey yesterday evening put pay to my dark horses and sweep choice Croatia, mind you with Holland around and Italy scraping through i reckon this may still prove to be the best Euros in living memory.
So what of England, apart from the odd show from Capello who i believe is a brilliant choice and will get England to the World Cup in two years, the name of England has gradually disappeared and that can only be a good thing, after all who cares we were woeful and needed one point from two games we failed and we deserve not to be there, as for the Ronaldo saga, lets hope for the sake of Fantasy Football that he leaves.... Only kidding Manchester Utd fans
You've been reading the unwritten word.... It's now been written.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
