What is this story really about? I’ve been re-reading the Guardian story about the phone-hacking at the News of the World, as reported in the New York Times extraordinary feature. Even allowing that we had a full-scale spread on the story by the Guardian earlier this year, this story has not been altogether drowned out by the Hague-Myers story or the launch of Tony Blair’s book. The BBC and ITV are both leading with the story this evening. I am…
Rod Crosby puts the case for voting YES Theoretical Case Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem states that no (#1) voting system can be totally fair when choosing between more than two candidates. Selecting a single-winner voting system therefore depends on which aspects of fairness we consider more important than others. FPTP’s unfairness has been understood for centuries, and its most deprecated flaws are:- 1) failing the Majority Loser Criterion. FPTP can elect the candidate whom the overwhelming majority of voters wish to…
This is what his memo looks like enlarged. See Daily Mail here.
“Dyed In Some Wool” puts the case for voting NO When considering the upcoming referendum, AV seems to me not only to be the wrong answer, but the referendum itself is the wrong question. Let’s look at the main reasons for considering a yes vote. I want a more proportional system AV is not proportional and will not lead to parliament reflecting the national vote, most seats contested at the 2010 election would remain in the same hands. AV will…
Betfair Politics
Is he now value for Tory leader? Just as you can buy bargain stocks in the midst of a stock market panic, there is rarely a better time to bet on a politician than when they are seen as being in trouble. Of course, if the trouble is serious then they might be best avoided, but sometimes the damage to a politician is more shallow than it appears. Taking advantage of the maxim “markets don’t react: they overreact” I wonder…
…and what impact has today had on the leadership race? Hague statement William Hague has issued a statement after the resignation of his special assistant Christopher Myers, which is available here. Mike Smithson is on holiday and has very limited internet connection Double Carpet
This is from the Press Association report: “Tony Blair lays bare the divisions at the top of the Labour Party with the publication of his memoirs, focusing attention on his relationship with “maddening” Gordon Brown. Former prime minister Mr Blair’s book, A Journey, reveals the depth of the rift between the figures who dominated British politics between 1997 and 2010. Mr Blair said he was put under “relentless personal pressure” by Mr Brown but could not sack his chancellor because…