Category: politics
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Brexit has little to do with the EU
updated 17 July 2017 in all the talk about hard/soft/clean/full/transitional Brexit, there is a dangerous assumption that it is a solution to problems the UK faces. it is in fact a huge distraction from what government really needs be concerned about: a growing crisis in housing supply, the NHS, social care, education and the Prison…
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EU Referendum
Updated 7 August 2016: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties eliminated as possible recourse. Updated 2 July 2016: article restructured; proposal simplified; information on Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties added; paragraph on election communications added. on 23 June 2016, disillusioned people across the United Kingdom voted to give government, Brussels, the Establishment…
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fixing local democracy
local democracy is broken: there is a deficit of trust between the public, councillors and council officers, owing to poor communication and, in some cases, poor performance. the deficit of trust extends to central government’s view of local government, leading to a reluctance to devolve more power. councillor allowances are so low that few people…
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national identity cards
purpose fears relating to terrorism and illegal immigration, and the growing problems of identity theft and fraud have induced several countries’ governments to propose national identity card schemes, most recently the US, UK, Japan and France. identity cards are nothing new: in developed countries most people own numerous identity documents: passport, driving licence, bank cards,…
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system of government
what’s wrong with democracy? the fundamental principle of democracy is beyond question: that government is for the benefit of all people, and so must answer to their needs and aspirations. but implementations of democracy are flawed: representation disempowerment of minorities whose interests (e.g. religion, language and culture) are opposed or ignored by the popular majority.…