January 6, 2020
The UK’s general election on 12th December resulted in a majority of 80 for the Conservative Party, a larger number than anticipated. Some had expected a much closer result or even a hung parliament. The way is now open for the UK to leave the EU at the end of January. It would take a… » read more
Posted by pbye
November 27, 2019
In December 2015, I posted a blog looking at how services are funded[1]. I’d like to revisit the subject in the context of the promises being made by the major parties in the UK’s general election, due to take place on 12th December. This piece aims to bring the 2015 blog up to date. Shortly… » read more
Posted by pbye
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
Posted by pbye
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
February 20, 2019
In September 2017, I posted a blog called ‘The rise of the kakistocracy’. Kakistocracy means government by the worst[1]: the most incompetent people are in power. When I wrote the piece, there was no shortage of candidate kakistocracies; Venezuela and Zimbabwe provided two rather extreme examples out of many. But what about the western democracies?… » read more
Posted by pbye
June 28, 2018
I started this blog just over three years ago. My purpose was to defend the importance of evidence for policy-making, something that should be obvious. Yet all too often, it was clear that evidence was being ignored or distorted unless it suited policy. Since I wrote that first piece, the situation has deteriorated. In the… » read more
Posted by pbye
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InfoSociety, Political structures, Science & Policymaking, UK in Europe |
September 5, 2017
I was recently looking around for a word to describe government by the incompetent, rather as, for example, kleptocracy is government by thieves. I googled ‘government by the incompetent’ and was rewarded with the magnificent word in the title of this piece. Kakistocracy means government by the worst[1], from the Greek kakistos meaning worst and… » read more
Posted by pbye
May 16, 2017
In my working life in IT, I have encountered a number of organisations that wanted to move from a working IT system to a different one, in the belief that it would be better and cheaper. I’ll be describing a recent example in this piece. Although there is not on the surface any obvious connection… » read more
Posted by pbye
January 16, 2017
In my previous piece, posted on 22nd November 2016, I argued that direct democracy, where the electorate is asked to decide or approve policy, is dangerous. I suggested that representative democracy is a better alternative. One of the reasons I advanced is that a majority of people in an electorate are remarkably ill-informed, making rational… » read more
Posted by pbye
November 22, 2016
In the ‘Any Questions’ programme on BBC Radio 4, on Friday 18th November[1], the panel discussed the recent UK High Court judgement that Parliament should have to approve the decision to invoke Article 50 to begin the process of leaving the EU[2]. The government had been planning to use the royal prerogative without recourse to… » read more
Posted by pbye
