Monthly Archives: February 2011
AV – not exactly flavour of the month
If the Alternative Vote (AV) is so good as a means of electing legislators, why is it used in national parliamentary elections in only Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji?
A milestone
Today this site passed the milestone of having been viewed 50,000 times since it was created less than a year ago. I started the blog during the period of election purdah and Lords of the Blog was out of action. … Continue reading
Fixed-term Parliaments
I am working on material for Tuesday’s Second Reading debate on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. The Bill itself was subject to a critical report by the Constitution Committee. The report identified problems with the speed with which the Bill was … Continue reading
The campaign has begun
The referendum on AV is just over ten weeks away. The campaign has begun, but I doubt if many people have noticed. It will be interesting to see if it does attract attention in the last month, the royal wedding … Continue reading
What if the PM goes under the bus?
On Thursday, there was a parliamentary answer to a question from Conservative MP Peter Bone: Peter Bone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what responsibilities he has in the event of that the Prime Minister is incapacitated and unable to … Continue reading
Another long day
Yesterday was another long day. Here are a few super-tweets: Breakfast meeting with a graduate student. Constitution Committee: we take evidence from Lord Jay, chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. He says they are considering being proactive in … Continue reading
It’s on the record
If you speak in the House, or in a committee, your words are recorded, either in Hansard (for the chamber or Grand Committee) or in the committee proceedings. Your words are then in print permanently, available to be read by … Continue reading
