Every year when we submit our accounts to the Electoral Commission we are also required to provide a ‘Review of Political Activities’ covering the year just gone.The 2012 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says:“Between elections, our principal means of communication with the public are now predominantly online.ContinueContinue reading “Review of 2012”
Tag Archives: London
London and the English
The place and the people are the subject of a recent on-line article by Professor Eric Kaufmann analysing what the 2011 Census says about national identity. It reveals wide variation in identification across England, with Englishness concentrated, perhaps paradoxically, in the Danelaw (and some additional coastal retirement zones, mainly in Wessex). Areas around the Humber and Thames estuariesContinueContinue reading “London and the English”
The Quintarchy
“[The accepted code of behaviour in politics] may be stated as follows: Talk about problems. Never mention a solution. Solutions make people mad as hell… Never excite a minority. Therefore all solutions should be anodyne, even if public affairs need bold and imaginative solutions. Never tell the truth. The people are too weak to acceptContinueContinue reading “The Quintarchy”
Begging for Change
Sir Peter Hall, Bartlett professor of planning and regeneration at University College London, wrote this week about ‘the Games’ that “despite the torch-bearing preliminaries across the land, and apart from Olympic and Paralympic events that were scattered around south-east England, this was a London event and a London triumph.”“This,” he continued, “can only intensify theContinueContinue reading “Begging for Change”
Raining On Their Parade
After tomorrow, it all kicks off. How much better can it get? Can you contain your excitement? Bought the official Olympic flag to wave (beware of imitations)? Wondered where we’d be without the stern authority of the IOC and the generosity of public-spirited corporate sponsors? Stopped whining, as Boris demands? Faced with a series ofContinueContinue reading “Raining On Their Parade”
Whose Trains?
A report last month in the Western Boring Views informs us that both Cornwall and Devon County Councils may be looking to take over from Whitehall the supervision of local rail services in their areas. All worthily localist, of course. Whether that approach works elsewhere depends on how good the fit is between railway geographyContinueContinue reading “Whose Trains?”
Big in Russia
Our blog seems very popular in Russia just now. Last month there were more pageviews from there than from the UK, with the USA far behind in third place. A third of all pageviews from Russia since figures began occurred during May.What can we say to provide some context for readers in the world’s largestContinueContinue reading “Big in Russia”
Review of 2011
Every year when we submit our accounts to the Electoral Commission we are also required to provide a ‘Review of Political Activities’ covering the year just gone.The 2011 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says:“With no General Election in 2011, activity was less intense than last year butContinueContinue reading “Review of 2011”
Occupied by London
Witney’s witless MP, David William Donald Cameron, was in Brussels this week to bargain over a new European treaty. He didn’t get what he wanted in return, a hands-off approach to regulation of the ‘socially useless’ activities of the City of London. That’s no surprise. He could hardly have chosen a less popular cause toContinueContinue reading “Occupied by London”
Where Does All The QE Go?
Not difficult to guess!
Wessex Regionalists 