They Blog For You

  What’s the point?  One Millionaire David Cameron is married to a millionaire. He earns a good salary. What point is he making by ‘celebrating’ with a Ryanair no frills trip? The only things that make flying bearable are the frills. Why the self-flagellation? Who is he trying to impress? Most people would regard [...]

  My pre-election expectations range from realism to pessimism. I anticipated the results of all my six General Election results except the last one in 2011 and the first one in 1987.  I could have lost both. Today's poll on the Assembly Election is an extraordinary one.  The only worthwhile analysis was [...]

Did you see me on Saturday at Edmonton Green? I was the one hassling people into voting in favour of switching our voting system from First-Past-the-Post to the Alternative Vote in the referendum on 5th May. I know there are no local elections in London this year so you're probably [...]

    O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!"    The 'giftie' gave Lembit many gifts but denied him self-awareness. Today I watch the playback of Tuesday TV programme on two cases of unfair treatment by newspapers. Paul Gasgoine's ex-wife had been grossly libelled and she engaged [...]

  The Newport Chartists would have said ‘Yes’ to AV. It was in my constituency in 1839 that 20 Chartists were gunned down. They were marching for democracy. All the points of their Charter were achieved – except annual parliaments.  They were impassioned because of the gross injustices of the franchise of [...]

  One day in parliament Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): To underline his claim that prisons are well run, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman remind the House of the precise number of prisons that are free of the use of illegal drugs? Mr Clarke: I would not like to guarantee that [...]

Another week, another transfer of power to Brussels. Today the House of Commons takes note of approves the "start of a new cycle of economic governance in the European Union .... designed to apply to the EU as a [...]

It's almost exactly a decade ago I first proposed the idea of directly elected police chiefs, in my pamphlet Direct Democracy: empowering people to make their lives better.This week the primary legislation to make it happen comes before the House of Commons. I've rarely been quite so keen to vote [...]

Why didn't I think of that? It was such a strange question that I had never given it a thought. Aled ap Dafydd asked me on the Welsh Politics Show today, 'Why did AV in Australia double the number of voters who spoil their ballot papers?.' I do not believe they [...]

Tomorrow I will be holding the first of my public debates on the AV referendum which is taking place on May 5th. The meeting is at the Wilfred Noyce Centre in Godalming at 12pm. This is your chance to listen to the debate on a change [...]

              On Monday I attended the debate on Libya, but decided not to vote. I should explain why.               I of course support the United Nations in its wish to protect civilians in Libya from the barabrism of its government. I could not disagree with the main sentiments of the Commons [...]

The news from Fukushima is dreadful. But some of the honeyed words and contrived deception persists. 'Smoke' is reported from an unknown source. No radiation measure is published. There is no smoke without fire. Here there is smoke without a radiation leak. What is burning? Spent fiercely contaminated fuel rods are [...]

Last night we voted on the Labour motion calling for immediate relief for motorists by way of a reversal of the Tory/LibDem Government's 2.5% VAT rise on petrol and diesel. I'd love to tell you that the Tories and LibDem's saw sense, thought of how their changes are making [...]

                The Euro crisis has not been resolved. It is a rolling crisis, a series of accidents and market falls, often made worse by rows around the Council of Ministers table or by unfortunate and diverse spin from member states governments.               This week Portugal and the markets have returned to [...]

It was a bracing interview this morning with someone named Ian. A pal from campaigning days in the early 80s contacted me with the message ‘Just like old times’. In 1980 a small group of us met in Aberystwyth to establish the Welsh Anti-nuclear Alliance (WANA). This morning’s interviews on Radio [...]

I'm on the 29th floor of Milbank Tower for the launch of the People's Pledge, the new campaign for an EU referendum.What's so refreshing about today is the line up of those leading the call to let the people decide. Not a blazer or panama hat in sight. [...]

As part of the programme of events marking the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Census, Dr Jill Liddington, Honorary Research Fellow at Leeds University, will be speaking today at Westminster on how women across the country responded to the suffragette invitation to boycott the census. This reminded me of the battle [...]

CARDIFF West MP, Kevin Brennan, has congratulated Riverside's newest councillor, Iona Gordon, after she won the Riverside By-election for Labour.Councillor Gordon polled 1,700 votes creating a 14.7% swing from Plaid Cymru to the Labour Party in the Cardiff West ward.“Iona Gordon has run a fantastic campaign and struck a real [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I, like my right hon. and hon. Friends, welcome the two aims of this legislation. The first, to hold a referendum on any future transfer of power, is vital to try to secure some democratic legitimacy for what might happen next. The second, to assert [...]

Following the votes-for-prisoners episode, we were told that there was to be a Human Rights Commission.  Good.  It's purpose would be to investigate a British Bill of Rights and address growing concerns at the way key public policy matters are decided in courts, rather than Parliament.  Excellent. But [...]