High turnout is good. It is an unequivocal Good Thing. In fact, it is perhaps the only social good to which all democrats – at least technically – aspire, because it affirms our faith in our chosen system; a metric for the distance we stand from chaos. In other words: reach a turnout of zero,… Continue reading This voter registration drive. Why, exactly?
Month: May 2012
The status quo in London is not an option
As the post-election dust settles, we must hope that the party is, somewhere, currently holding a quiet post-mortem, to take away the lessons for next time. There are many positives we can take away, of course: that the locals went swimmingly and so did the London Assembly. And that we held Glasgow, that vital first… Continue reading The status quo in London is not an option
The left’s tale of two cities
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two CitiesThere seemed to be eerie echoes of Dickens’ words last weekend in the parallel events in those same cities of London and Paris. It… Continue reading The left’s tale of two cities
A last word on Livingstone
Yesterday morning I watched Livingstone’s runner-up speech (you can see the whole five minutes here). Although there were moments when it was difficult not to feel human sympathy with a man confronted with the humiliation of what was an extremely personal defeat, at the same time it seems that his extraordinary lack of self-awareness stayed… Continue reading A last word on Livingstone
A difficult decision
The polls have closed. It may be relatively close, or not, but Ken Livingstone will probably lose (and, at this point, whether he wins or loses, the argument is the same). And I feel like I can finally send this rather personal piece that I wrote some time ago. I know it’s a little long,… Continue reading A difficult decision
The double-dip, if it is one, has not changed the rules of the game
Delight, for many on the left, met the economic figures last Wednesday. Britain was not in recovery after all, but was the victim of a double-dip recession. Paul Krugman wrote eloquently of Britain’s “death spiral of self-defeating austerity”, and Ed Balls had a very good day. All true, or very likely so, although one cannot… Continue reading The double-dip, if it is one, has not changed the rules of the game