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Is decriminalisation of drugs really irresponsible? Hasn’t the the most predictable and sad feature of this morning’s reaction to Bob Ainsworth’s ideas on drugs been the knee-jerk reaction of all the main parties? Ainsworth, who used to be in charge of drugs policy as a Home Office minister, is calling for the production and supply of drugs including cocaine to be officially regulated. He argues that the war on drugs has been “nothing but a disaster” and switching the trade…

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Who gains when the music stops? One government proposal which has direct implications for the next GE is the reduction in the number of parliamentary constituencies, from 650 to 600.  Discussion of this proposal has mainly centred on the equalisation of constituency sizes, which Labour has curiously characterised as ‘gerrymandering’ because it will slightly reduce the pro-Labour distortion under the old boundaries. However, the impact at the next election will come not only from the equalisation of the sizes of…

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  MPs regional breakdown Aye votes No votes Abstentions Total England 311 209 8 528 Northern Ireland 0 12 6 18 Scotland 6 51 2 59 Wales 8 32 0 40 ALL MPs 325 304 16 645 A guest slot on the big vote and the West Lothian Question Linlithgow and East Falkirk includes much of the late, lamented constituency of West Lothian. Last week its Labour MP, Michael Connarty, was one of 51 Scottish representatives to vote against Higher…

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I’ve put up this continuation thread following Mike’s comment on the last thread that he was having trouble posting.  please continue the discussion here … David Herdson