The ThunderDragon

Over at the Wardman Wire, we are holding an online symposium on devolution and most specifically the issue of an English Parliament.

So far:

• Dave Cole argues that it’s “a long way to Westminster” and the English devolution should be provided on a regional level - but he doesn’t deny that it is needed;
• Garbo claims that we don’t need an English Parliament, and can’t have one due to them complications; and
• Matt Wardman considers the way(s) in which we are governed and the the potential role of an English Parliament.

In my post, I’ve taken the debate in a slightly different direction, with a greater consideration of the democratic implications of devolution.

Go and read them, and contribute to the discussion!

Brilliant post from Norfolk Blogger on “New” Labour’s switch back to Real Labour:

Yesterday parts of the country had power cuts, fuel prices are rocketing and industrial action is now common place in the public sector and also in the wider community (as can be seen from the fuel protests yesterday).

So here we are again, 30 years later, looking like we are going to have the same old same old from Labour. I knew they’d eventually revert to type.

Proof that Labour doesn’t work.

Great spot by Nich. Unfortunately I’m too young to have recalled it from last time.

Monday

• Tom Paine at The Last Ditch reports on the use of the internet to cage the flow of information in China, and the rather boring lack of a “Forbidden!” message. We must ensure that that sort of thing does not happen here by keeping our governments under scrutiny.
• Asp has a reason to thank Watchdog, a mechanic, and a hefty mallet. Sounds almost like the start of a corny joke…
• Jon Craig at Boulton & Co knows that Nick Clegg has slept with fewer than 30 women. But doesn’t want to know any more than that.

Tuesday

• Richard North at EU Referendum say Happy 90th Birthday to the RAF. It seems so old, yet so young!
• Norfolk Blogger points out Lib Dem “confusion and contradiction” over the EU constitution Lisbon Treaty. So… nothing new there then?
• Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling responds to the Lords’ report on immigration and the economy. As I’ve said before, immigration is caused by benefits.
• Ellee Seymour and Heather Yaxley have some examples of April Fools.

Wednesday

• Archbishop Cranmer thinks that the new reverse-side coin designs of a fragment Royal Coat of Arms are symbolic of the dis-United Kingdom that we have become. He is absolutely correct - both that the coin designs are ugly and that New Labour has broken the UK.
• A. Tory writes an explanatory letter to a bunch of NUTters.
• JMB at Nobody Important has found the downside of going on vacation: slow internet. Horror of horrors! I just can’t be waiting for the internet any more. And to think that once dial-up was fast!

Thursday

• Tony Sharp is pained by the lack of democracy in the Conservative party’s MEP selection process. It certainly is wrong. The party should be as democratic internally as possible. The leadership are only the stewards of the party, not its owners. That is us, the members.
• Liz at Finding life hard? has evidence that spring is finally here. Pity the weather seems to be switching between glorious sunshine and snow!
• Ben Brogan has news that Labour is revolting. Well we knew that, but this is a more specific revolt against the Chancellor’s raise in beer prices. Nice to see that not all Labour MPs are complete idiots.

Friday

• Ellee Seymour thinks that Ken Livingstone kept quiet about having three secret children not to protect them, but to protect his own political image. Which of course is the truth.
• The Morningstar at Cyncial Chatter From The Underworld has played a game of ’spot the cretin’, aka Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. And he’s seen right through her idiocy.
• Fraser Nelson at the Spectator’s Coffee House sees Brown try to be cool and, as expected, fail miserably.
• Archbishop Cranmer reports that now that he is no longer Prime Minister, Tony Blair now “does God”, with his own eminent-sounding “Faith Foundation”.

Saturday

• Iain Dale has a video that he thinks could do the same for Boris as the Obama Girl did for Barack Obama. Somehow, I doubt it. It’s still quite amusing, though.
• James Kirkup at the Telegraph’s Three Line Whip sees Brown out of his comfort zone in the WAGs favourite The Grove in Watford.
• Curly has picked up the blog-roundup bug as well.

Sunday

• Nigel Evans at CentreRight says that with democracy, the EU says do as we say, not as we do. Not exactly a surprise, considering their huge democratic deficit.
• Matt Sinclair asks whether what a politician does in their private life matters. The answer is both yes and no. It does and it doesn’t. We need to know to some extent in order to judge their character, but we really don’t need to know all that much.

And congratulations Steve Green at Daily Referendum has a new baby son!

Video of the Week

Flying Penguins from the BBC:

[This was, of course, an April Fool. Very good CGI, though.]

Monday

• Matt Wardman thinks that the Yanks have discovered irony. Well, it’s about time!
• Jon Craig at Sky’s Boulton & Co points out that it’s the polls that are doing boom and bust [except for the Lib Dems, who just aren't moving]. Unlike the economy, which is just bust.
• Matt Sinclair writes about “quasi-revenue-neutral tax reform”. Yes, that means about as much to me as to you. But the rest of the post is pretty much jargon-free, and definitely worth reading.

Tuesday

• Madsen Pirie at the ASI destroys the myth that the “poor and weak” need the State more than the “strong”. And too right. The State system benefits few but itself.
• Richard North at EU Referendum is still waiting for the robust leadership from the Conservatives that he wants to see. It takes time to generate such leadership, but I’ll come in time.
• John Redwood thinks that Parliament has finally detached from reality. Many of us in the real world think that it lost touch a long time ago.

Wednesday

• Christopher Hope blogging at the Telegraph wonders if Gordo has gone “buy one, get one free” with his Cabinet. We all wish they’d just bog off.
• Norfolk Blogger ask who cares more about a match result: the footballers or the fans? Fans care avidly about how their team does [probably too much]. Some footballers don’t seem to care at all, despite - or maybe because of? - their massive pay cheques.
• Daniel Finkelstein at the Times‘ Comment Central wonders whether trauma therapy works. It certainly does seem a strange way to get over such trauma by reliving it all over again.

Thursday

• Nadine Dorries is going back to her constituency and preparing for government. Calm down, dear. No matter how good the polls are at the moment, there’s a long way - and time - to go yet.
• Asp thinks that those who are complaining about the BBC purchasing the rights to Formula 1 coverage are whingers. And he’s right. I don’t watch other sports, but I do watch F1. I’d rather pay my licence fee for that rather than the just as obscenely overpaid premiership footballers.
• Mr Eugenides has two opposing quoted from the same politician, Jack Straw, on prison sentences. They really are just making it up as they go along!

Friday

• Wat Tyler at Burning Our Money thinks that we’re not in the money any longer. Money, money, money… there’s just not enough to borrow.
• Guthrum at Looking For A Voice is upset that Belgium finally has a government after surviving quite adequately for nine months without one. Unfortunately, government is necessary, though much less than the Nanny State we currently have.
• Iain Dale ponders the question of whether size matters - and concludes that it doesn’t. Which is nice.

Saturday

• Devil’s Kitchen just wants Jackie Baillie MSP to answer the fucking question! A sentiment we all feel towards most politicians.
• Archbishop Cranmer looks into yet another political intervention by Cardinal Keith O’Brien - this time over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. The Church should stay the hell out of politics.
• Mike Smithson at Political Betting looks back at the week that saw punters put their money on Boris. Go Boris!
• Philip Salter at the ASI, also on the London Mayoral race, has a look at the policies of fourth-placed candidate Sian Berry of the Green Party. Scary stuff.

Sunday

• Little Man In A Toque is pleased to see that the flag-flying rules are to change, opening up the possibility of the Cross of St George being flown over Parliament on 23rd April. Which is good. We should celebrate the identities of all constituent parts of the United Kingdom. And I myself will be marching in a St Gorge’s Day parade on Sunday 20th April.
• Tom Paine at The Last Ditch defends so-called internet “addicts”, pointing out that all successful people are likely to be considered “obsessive” under this definition. Free choices aren’t illnesses.

Video of the Week

Matt Wardman shows what the Easter Bunny does the other 364 days of the year…

And the Britblog Roundup #162 is here.

Yes, it’s a day late. All down to a lack of connectivity, unfortunately (ie. my internet broke). But better late than never!

Monday

• Ellee Seymour asks whether we should have a Minister for Pensioners. Probably, for equalities sake. Though I’m not sure quite what they’d do with their time.
• John Bright at OurKingdom has a post on a new institution created by the EU Treaty to practice European democracy - an online “citizens’ initiative and petitions” site. Nothing like this, especially with the expected 1 million people and several-state caveats. Just like the Downing Street petition site, it will never amount to anything in reality.
• A. Tory writes a letter to Trevor Phillips asking him why he is so intent on causing the slow and painful death of real equality. Well, anything in favour of quotas is fine by him!

Tuesday

• Dave Cole ponders a civil service blogger’s code. It’s an idea, I suppose.
• Devil’s Kitchen repeats something than can never be said too many times: Communist regimes have killed more people than any other type. And points out that our democracies are moving ever-so-slowly in that direction.
• Fabian Tassano at mediocracy writes about the difference between freedom and moral desirability. A difference that few, such as Gordon Brown, understand.

Wednesday

• No Budget posts here, because I’m sure you’re bored of them by now. If not, go here.
• Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling ponders times-travel and interest rates… in the same post. Not two subjects that you would usually see together…
• Grendel asks how you manage to blog. Me, I just make it up as I go along. Have you noticed?

Thursday

• Graachi at Westminster Wisdom ponders the issues of globalisation and the welfare state. And politics.
• Alan Cochrane at the Telegraph’s Three Line Whip asks whether it is it all over for Alezx Salmond. We can but hope.
• Eamonn Butler at the ASI has worked out when tax freedom day is this year. 2 June. So the average Briton spends more than five months working for the Chancellor rather than themselves. Lovely.

Friday

• Ben Brogan sees the sun shine for Dave and the Conservatives in Gateshead.
• Fraser Nelson at the Spectator’s Coffee House on family-friendly policies.

Saturday

• Mr Eugenides has a choice selection of LOLblairs - the new phenomenon to hit the internet!
• ConservativeHome has news of the best opinion poll for the Conservatives in twenty years. That’s pretty much my entire life.

Sunday

• Shane Greer sees sense prevail over the banning of video game ‘Manhunt 2′. It is quite obvious that violent video games don’t lead to violence in our streets - and in many cases they can help reduce it.
• Iain Dale wonders if there is an achievable tax cut. yes, but I doubt that raising the income tax allowance to £10,000 for all people will be one of them.

Video of the Week

A new feature for The Weekly Blog Posts.

Cameron’s put down of Ed Balls in the Commons during his reply to the Budget, via Guido Fawkes.

Monday

• Steve Green at the Daily Referendum compares EU referendums, apples, and oranges. Yet no mention of pears, bananas, or pineapples.
• Justin McKeating at Chicken Yoghurt laments the willingness of ministers to appear in the media oppose the opposition, yet unwillingness to appear to defend their own. They’re just copying Gordon Brown’s tactics at PMQs, aren’t they?
• Ben Brogan points out how politics flips 180°. It truly is a fascinating process to follow.

Tuesday

• Mr Eugenides has the graph of the day. £60 billion for that result?! Not exactly value for money.
• Madsen Pirie at the ASI with #52 in the Common Errors series - that schooling should be about enhancing and celebrating diversity, not creating equality. And that’s why the comprehensive system is, and will always remain, a failure.

Wednesday

• Theo Spark has a pictorial reference of Brown’s attitude towards the British people. All too accurate it is, too.
• Norfolk Blogger has finally realised that the Lib Dems are liars, and is considering his membership over the issue of trust.

Thursday

• Pickled Politics has parodies of the Met police’s new ad campaign. Some of them are very very funny.
• Asp has found the one thing more excruciating than ‘dad dancing’ - and that’s ‘President dancing’. Let’s just all be thankful that we’re not related to him.

Friday

• Guido has a very acquiescent press release from the Lib Dems. Unfortunately, it just has to be a mistake. A very very stupid one to make, though.
• Sean Rayment at the Telegraph’s Three Line Whip compares the armed forces who have recently been told not to wear their uniform off duty unfavourably to the Scouts, whom he refers disparagingly to as “Boy Scouts” [a name that was stopped being used long ago, and which is now completely incorrect, considering the large number of females in the movement]. In this reference, he implies that Scouts are - or should be - ashamed of wearing their uniform outside of the meetings. For this idiocy, he should be ashamed.

Saturday

• Gracchi at Westminster Wisdom writes about taxation in the Early Middle Ages. And very interesting, though complicated, it is too.
• Dizzy writes a post that I was going to. Why do we name the accused perpetrators of rape but not the supposed victim, before a trial has even taken place? Either both or neither should be protected, as it makes ruining a man’s life with lies far too easy.

Sunday

• Cranmer demolishes Nick Clegg’s calamatous, Cameron-imitating [certainly in style and partially in substance] speech at the Lib Dem’s spring conference. Clegg is fialing as Lib Dem leader, after only a few months in office.
• Iain Dale asks whether our MPS believe in the supremacy of parliament or not. The answer is, inevitably, not.
• Devil’s Kitchen has a sketchy idea for a Libertarian party poster. It’s a pretty good one, too. Though a little too much mouth.

Monday

• A. Tory writes a letter to William Hague, telling him to show Nick Clegg that he is way out of his depth over the EU. A bit of an obvious point, but one worth repeating!
• Civil Serf writes about the little ‘P’ of office politics and the big ‘B’ of the upcoming Budget. It is scary to have this insight into the weird and wonderful insane world of the internal machinery of government.

Tuesday

• James Graham at the Quaequam Blog! asks whether Clegg and Davey will stick or twist over their EU referendum position. Unlike James, however, I think that it is pretty clear that certainly at least on this issue, the Lib Dems are not in strong position at all - but rather the complete opposite because their current position makes no logical sense.
• Norfolk Blogger has found his idea of hell: disco and children. I think there are worst things, that that does have to be pretty high on my list, too.

Wednesday

• Ruthie Zaftig has an interesting moral dilemma.
• Ellee Seymour asks whether you “txt and drv”. You would have to be moron to think that although talking on a mobile phone whilst driving has been made illegal, texting hasn’t. Texting is a far more distracting activity than talking, and besides, it is still using a mobile phone without a hands-free kit. Ergo, illegal.
• Mike Ion supports lowering the voting age to 16, even though lowering the voting age to 16 will make no change bar decreasing the percentage turnout level. Mike’s support makes no sense, considering his support for raising the age of smoking and raising the compulsory schooling age to 18. Either 16 year-olds are mature enough to make their own decision, such as whether to stay in school or smoke, or they are not. Make your mind up, Mike!

Thursday

• Dizzy explains how governemnt works. And it’s all too accurate.
• Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling writes about risk, unemployment and inflation. An interesting post that is well worth reading, but I came away feeling slightly short-changed by the explanations given.

Friday

• Iain Dale reports that the 2005 intake of Conservative MPs are beginning to assert themselves, fully supported by the leadership, over the issue the “recall” of MPs, sending a message to the “old guard” that their time is up. A good thing.
• Mr Eugenides explains that freeloading is freeloading, whether or not you are part of any stupid group that wants to abolish money or not - and whether or not you can speak French. A post very similar to the one I would have written had I not been so lazy the last few days.

Saturday

• Devil’s Kitchen isn’t surprised by the news that government ministers are pro closing Post Offices except those in their own constituencies. I’m not either.
• Eamonn Butler at the ASI writes on the war on plastic bags. He is absolutely right that this war is just gesture poltiics. Plastic bags just aren’t as bad as is always suggested - being massively recycled themselves.

Sunday

• Anthony Wells at UK Polling Report says that all the Iwantareferendum campaign’s private poll shows us is “not much more than that 133,251 people in 10 marginal seats would like a referendum, have voted to express that opinion and have likely been told their current MP is ignoring them”. Even if this is 88% of the respondents.
• ConservativeHome reports that David Cameron is aspiring to have a third of ministers being women by the end of his first term as Prime Minister. This is unnecessary - equality should mean that the best people for the job get the job, whatever their social status be.

Also read the Britblog Round-up #159!

In other news: lack of posting this week caused by sheer laziness and aided by lack of inspiration. Hopefully to be rectified soon.

Monday

• Philip Johnston at the Telegraph’s Three Line Whip writes about the “dark side of internet…[because it] allows for indoctrination and radicalisation of vulnerable and impressionable young men in their bedrooms by faceless zealots.” Yet, really, how different is this to any other form of mass communication? The internet is just a bit more accessible is all.
• Matt Wardman asks which ad agency you would trust to write your own blog slogan. Personally, I just prefer to make up my own.
• Watt Tyler at Burning Our Money demonstrates that Yvette Cooper is talking Balls when she says that nationalising Northern Rock has been “costless”. There’s no such thing as a free lunch - or nationalisation.

Tuesday

• Peter Cuthbertson at ConservativeHome’s CentreRight says that Cuba’s hospitals are as dirty as it’s dictatorship. And that is very, very dirty. Even worse than an NHS hospital, even…
• Fraser Nelson at the Spectator’s Coffee House remarks that the Lib Dems have returned to their traditional fence-sitting position. On the EU “Treaty” this time. As if we really expected anything like a principled stand from a Lib Dem, even Opik?!
• CityUnslicker at Capitalists@Work fisks the Left’s defence of Darling’s nationalisation of Northern Rock. Truly, they are excreable.

Wednesday

• Asp chews over what it means to be English and challenges anyone to justify how an English council can celebrate Chinese New Year and yet not mark St. George’s Day at all. Can it be justified? I don’t think so.
• Norfolk Blogger is praising a Tory MP. Surely some mistake?
• Gracchi at Westminster Wisdom writes about how student lifestyles are too career-focused nowadays. I don’t recall it being massively career-centric, but then again there’s a lot of those four years that I don’t quite recall…

Thursday

• Mike Smithson at Political Betting asks whether it’s time to start betting on President Tony. Hopefully not.
• Paul Linford ponders the question of whether MPs who get voted out should ever go back. I suppose it all depends on the individual and what they can bring to Parliament. So yes and no.
• Mr Eugenides heralds the idea of blogging lessons in school. As he points out, learning can indeed be fun!

Friday

• Daniel Finkelstein at the Times‘ Comment Central proposes a British answer to beating Barack Obama. To be honest, to me it would seem idiotic of America to waste this opportunity to elect a President like Obama. He has what America needs.
• Guido Fawkes writes about the backfiring of the Tory’s Auschwitz “gimmick” jibe. Whoever included that in the press release needs to real bollocking.

Saturday

• Iain Dale thinks about who should be on the DNA database. Frankly, only those who have been convicted of a charge should definitely be kept on the database. But anyone who has been charged and taken to court over an offence such as murder or rape should probably be kept on as well.
• Madsen Pirie at the ASI keeps the “Common Errors” series going with a post debunking the myth that “the market cannot protect the environment”. So much for it taking government control to protect the environment. [One thing I'd like to be able to see is this entire series in one list.]

Sunday

• Benedict Brogan compares the predicament of Commons Speaker Michael Martin to the “Blair saga”. There are certain similarities…
• Tim Worstall tells us why to never bother going north of the Watford Gap. He has a point…

Monday

• Norfolk Blogger says that New Labour has brought in Sick Britain. And he ain’t half right, and with the links to prove it.
• Iain Dale asks if we can have a department to examine waste in governemnt spending, after discovering that the US has an Office of Thrift Supervision. Although its job is actually just an equivalent to our FSA. But still, the name could be used with a more appropriate task, couldn’t it?

Tuesday

• James Forsyth at the Spectator Coffee House says that Labour really don’t the people of Britain to have a vote on the EU “Treaty”, so much so that they are threatening to remove the whip from Labour MPs who support the “I want a referendum” campaign. The obvious reason why they don’t want a referendum is because they’ll lose - and they know it.
• David Beetham writes at OurKingdom that “a rights-based democracy is the best one we [can] have”. Which is surely wrong. It should be, if anything, the other way around - a responsibility-based constitution.

Wednesday

• John Redwood is sad that parliament allows itself to be suspended so easily, considering the fights it has been through to stay ion session in the past. It truly is sad how easily it is letting it’s sovereignty be taken piece by piece by presidential governments.
• Tony Sharp at the Waendal Journal points out that Labour vision of democracy is more and more centralised state power. Who’da thunk it?

Thursday

• Ruthie Zaftig asks the media not to publish the name of the latest American teenager to go on a shooting spree, because it’s giving them fame. And she’s right. Let’s stop this glorification of these people. But of course they won’t.
• Anthony Barnett at OurKingdom is absolutely right when he says that the title of Jack Straw’s speech on the idea of a written constitution [which I wrote about in my We The People column] for Britain defies satire: “Modernising the Magna Carta”. You couldn’t make it up.

Friday

• Madsen Pirie at the ASI continues the excellent “Common Errors” series with no. 35 - destroying the mistaken belief that inherit wealth is unfair. And he doesn’t even mention the simple explanation that “life in unfair”.
• Cassilis has a post on what flags really mean. They really are every cleverly done.
• The Last Boy Scout shows a video which gives a whole new meaning to the idea of phone sex…

Saturday

• Sam Coates writing at the Times’ Red Box asks whether political journalists should vote. He hasn’t since he joined the Times in 2000, but do others? My opinion is: who cares? So long as they don’t let it affect how they behave in their job, why does it matter at all?
• Dr Crippen is looking for the most beautiful blogger. So why aren’t I included?
• Asp has found a headline that states the obvious…

Sunday

• Sally in Norfolk is upgrading to XP from Vista. Isn’t it supposed to be other way round?
• Devil’s Kitchen has some choice words to say about MPs who have constituencies less than a hour away from Westminster claiming £20,000 of our money every year for second homes. How can they get away with this?!

If you have any blogs that you think I should monitor, or any posts in particualr that should be included in next week’s edition, please email me!

My We The People column, now up at the Wardman Wire:

Jack Straw is hinting that the government wants to draw up a written Constitution for the UK, with a process that could take up to 20 years. But why does Straw want to do this? Because

most people might struggle go put their finger on what [their] rights are or in which texts they are located. The next stage in the UK’s constitutional development is to look at whether we need better to articulate those rights which are scattered across a whole host of different places and indeed the responsibilities that go with being British… [And to] bring us in line with most progressive democracies around the world.

But why on earth does this mean that we should have a written Constitution?!

What Is A Constitution?

A constitution is basically the rules by which the democratic system of the nation state is run. Th is can either by an “unwritten”, though in reality this more means “uncodified”, constitution which relies on accepted conventions in order to run or a formalised, written Constitution.

Britain has an uncodified constitution, not an unwritten one. Pretty much every bit of it exists written down, in documents such as the Magna Carta, the 1689 Bill of Rights, and the Parliament Acts. The British constitution also exists in every single piece of legislation ever passed by Parliament, since there is no division between primary and secondary legislation. It also exists in common law, treaties with foreign powers, and analaysis and commentary made by experts [such as Bagehot]. But it also exists in conventions, which guide the way in which the system works - one convention being the role of Prime Minister.

America is the prime example of the written Constitution. It has a piece of paper which lists the rights and responsibilities of Americans, and is very hard indeed to modify. These kind of Constitutions are typically created after war or revolution, in order to satisfy the populace that their rights are defended.

Go here to read the rest.