Peter Bye

Archives for Political structures

Taking back control

April 27, 2021

One of the slogans used during the Brexit referendum campaign was that the UK would ‘take back control’[1]. What exactly does it mean? The UK, like the 27 other EU members, always had control over much of its policy-making, including taxation, healthcare, legal systems, education and defence. Thus, taking back control would only appear to… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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Words and the baggage they carry

November 23, 2020

Ill-defined words or phrases can lead to serious consequences. Here’s an example from IT, which I know well. In the early 1980s, the IT world started talking about ‘legacy systems’, that is, systems which were currently running within their owners’ organisations, and possibly due for renewal. The word ‘legacy’ was used in a largely negative… » read more

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Languages & Culture, Political structures, Uncategorized

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Politics and the excluded middle

October 19, 2020

Society in the UK and the USA is fragmenting into extremes, leaving little room for the middle ground and threatening liberal democracy. Other countries are also experiencing some polarisation, but, as countries that like to see themselves as bastions of democracy, the UK and USA stand out. There are of course differences in the sources… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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Kakistocracy revisted

September 8, 2020

In September 2017, I posted a blog called The rise of the kakistocracy[1] . As I explained there, the word means government by the worst, the most stupid, ignorant and unqualified people. It wasn’t hard to find examples then, such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe, to name just two; it’s even easier today, unfortunately. In 2017,… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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A sense of perspective

November 11, 2019

As I write, the political parties in the UK are beginning their campaigns for a general election, to be held on the 12th December. It’s the first December general election since 1923; December elections are generally avoided because of the weather and small amounts of daylight. The past few weeks have seen the government agree… » read more

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Global Europe, Political structures, UK in Europe

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Is liberalism obsolete?

July 23, 2019

In an interview with the Financial Times[1], Vladimir Putin claimed that liberalism was obsolete: ‘…the Russian president said “the liberal idea” had “outlived its purpose” as the public turned against immigration, open borders and multiculturalism’. He made the following statement. ‘This liberal idea presupposes that nothing needs to be done (about immigration). That migrants can… » read more

Posted by pbye

Global Europe, Political structures, UK in Europe

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Peter Bye

Promoting respect for facts and numbers.

Making decisions, especially about strategy, requires respect for facts. A long career in IT around the world has reinforced this view, particularly recent work I have done on cost/benefit analysis. Yet all too often, we see facts ignored or misrepresented if they are inconvenient to governments, political parties and business organisations. The consequences are serious. I’d like to promote evidence-based policy, not the other way round.


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