Preface by Team 2020UK: we do not know and do not need to know who Rick is – obviously he and Mil Williams have been in conversation. Rick takes me indirectly to task as one of those who, tweeting as … Continue reading
This blog is not anti-Labour (I used to be a member) . . . it’s about creating a positive future for Middlesbrough. Because the Labour Party has dominated my home town throughout my adult life it features heavily in this … Continue reading
I have been wandering round the news sites again this week. I like to read the news on that Interweb, it allows you to skim some stories and find deeper opinion articles when you are in that frame of mind. … Continue reading
by Colin Todhunter Over the last 100 years, living standards in the West have improved enormously, but it appears that people have not become much happier. In 2006, the first ‘Happy Planet Index’ (HPI) measured happiness across 178 countries. The … Continue reading
As some of you might know, I have been asking on Twitter and on G+ for people’s opinions on who it is that actually governs the UK. The answers are interesting in that not one of them suggested the … Continue reading
This continues on from last Monday’s blog which is ended by asking this question. What is a community in the context of a society embracing direct democracy? To start with this is not just semantics: it is the building block … Continue reading
Are the people’s collective gut reaction more likely to back a good outcome than the processes we presently use? This is an extremely difficult question to answer for we do not know what people really think about things but we … Continue reading
You may remember that I ended last Monday’s blog thus: “Perhaps part of the reason why I feel we should explore the adoption of direct democracy is that there are times when the people’s collective gut reaction would seem to … Continue reading
Before we jump in with both feet and suggest that the UK adopts some form of direct democracy it would be a good idea to find out what the downsides might be. Too many politicians consider history to be of … Continue reading
What do we mean when we talk about ‘democracy’? The usual definition is: ‘government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected … Continue reading