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What impact the proposed changes to the franchise? Other than the mooted proposals last year about lowering the voting age to 16, there are very few modifications that can be made to the electoral franchise that could have a major effect. Voting in General Elections is already open to resident members of Ireland and the Commonwealth, and Britons overseas (including those in foreign gaols). Short of allowing all other resident EU citizens to vote in General Elections (they already may…

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Mail Online … and Darling admits that economic forecasts were wrong [International thread is below this one – many thanks.] So, after all the excitement of the G20 and Brown enjoying his key role at the summit and rubbing shoulders with world leaders, it’s back down to earth, and domestic politics, with a bump. It now looks as though any benefits that the PM gained from this week may be fleeting and minor. Not only did last night’s YouGov poll…

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Could ‘ever-closer union’ ever face westwards? Fulfilling my promise to Mike of filing Saturday mornings in the category of ‘Whimsy and Caprice’, I thought we’d try a little thought-experiment combining our understandings of the European elections with the coverage of this week’s G20 and NATO meetings. Let’s start with some uncontroversial premises – firstly, that irrespective of how UKIP do in June’s European Parliamentary elections, there is in the UK a broad antipathy to the European project as currently constituted…

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Would an IMF bailout guarantee a Conservative government? The Daily Telegraph has a story that a ‘Senior Cabinet Minister’ has told them that Britain may consider asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for funds, and that it should not be too proud or fearful to do so. The process of requesting a bailout from the Washington-based fund has long been considered a demeaning final recourse for a national economy in trouble. Common amongst Latin American and Asian economies in the…

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Who will put the Gvt out of their misery? If I were a better person, I might feel a little more sympathy for some of our Labour MPs. The last fortnight has damaged, in no particular order, Tony McNulty, anyone related to Jacqui Smith, Harry Cohen, Dawn Butler and some of the other London MPs, Nigel Griffiths and now 5 other MPs who think they might recognise that brunette who was so forgettable that the Rt Hon Member for Edinburgh South…

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Have we been overlooking a political heavyweight? One of my very favourite political TV dramas was the splendid ‘House of Cards’ trilogy starring Ian Richardson as the deliciously malevolent Francis Urquhart PM. I bought the DVD boxset a couple of years ago, but was heartened to see that it was being repeated on cable channels in the last couple of weeks. The first installment (‘House of Cards’) is my favourite, and the finale (‘The Final Cut’) is wonderfully tragic, but…

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