Democracy
The AV Debate
It was no surprise to hear Radio Five cover the AV debate this morning (starts at 7:10 am – one hour in probably). It was surprising to me though to hear what a poor, destructive and destroyable argument that Matthew Elliott of the No Campaign put forward. If my memory Read more
Democracy
Let’s have a conversation about the funding of science
Throughout the Science is Vital campaign I was aware that whilst we were fighting to retain science funding, no-one really had an accurate map of current funding. We managed fine because we concentrated on funding through BIS and that was reasonably clear. If we had to enter into a wider conversation Read more
Democracy
MP’s expenses receipts not to be published proactively
According to the IPSA site (no deep-linking so click on News) Sir Ian Kennedy has decided not to proactively publish the receipts for MP expenses. He says that IPSA will not be publishing receipts proactively –the cost of preparing tens of thousands of receipts for publication would be more than Read more
Democracy
Science is Vital – 0 – 35,000 in three weeks
On the afternoon of September 8th Dr Jenny Rohn set something off that has developed into something beyond her expectations. The Science Is Vital campaign has gone from 0-35,000 supporters in a very short time with almost zero resources. Richard Grant and I have tried to give you some of Read more
Big Society
What is Big Society?
A friend and colleague of mine, @gilest, tweeted about a report in our local paper about Wiltshire Council reviewing leisure facilities and the “imminent” closure of the Bradford on Avon swimming pool. Our brand new MP, @duncanhames picked up on the “terrible news”, but pointed out it has been planned Read more
Conferences etc
TalkFest: more ambition needed
I can’t recall who was speaking when the #GingerNinja struck last night, but I felt sorry as I joined half the room in coughing and laughing at the same time. #Talkfest was an evening for science bloggers to get together and talk about their blogging. It was fun, funny and Read more
Democracy
Become a patron of They Work For You
I've just had an email from Tom Steinberg reminding me of a pledge I made to donate £5 per month to help fund They Work For You. I've started my standing order but we still need another 142 people to sign up to complete the pledge. I've added a widget Read more
Democracy
Democratic Renewal Council – where are the people?
Gordon Brown has announced a National Democratic Renewal Council. According to this Guardian report it seemingly consists of a sub-committee of the cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister that will invite expert witnesses from outside. Others have said that Westminster cannot change itself. I blogged about Etienne Chouard, a French Read more
Democracy
Election poster
The European Parliament have released a set of posters to encourage us to vote in the European elections on June 2nd. I liked this one. Made me think about what my choice would be. One slight gripe. The posters have been uploaded to Flickr with all rights reserved. This means Read more