Politics and law

Several people have recently asked me why I’m not a Liberal Democrat, or to join the party, or just assumed that I’ve been a member for years. In fact, I’ve not been a member of any party since my first year at university, and I’ve never even actively campaigned for the Lib Dems. I have […]

Voluntary activities and politics

Now that my house is finally sorted and hopefully requires no more immediate work, I’m looking through my volunteer commitments for things to do in my spare time. At present my only major commitment is chairing FLOSS UK/UKUUG, but that will come to an end at some point this year because I want to start […]

Thoughts on the emergency budget

George Osborne stood up in the House of Commons earlier this week and pronounced that we’re all going to be stuffed for the rest of this Parliament as a result of foolish Labour overspending, and an age of austerity (i.e. spending cuts and tax rises) awaits. Here’s my thoughts on some of the measures announced […]

Don’t break up the banks

(Disclaimer: I own, or have owned, shares in some of the companies mentioned below) There has been a lot of talk recently about breaking up the banks by separating their retail and investment arms—more so now that Vince Cable has a position in government. What makes me rather cross is that the politicians have clearly […]

Spinning around

Now that the majority of the results are in, here’s some spin on the results for each party: Pro-party spin Conservatives: Huge gain in number of seats, beat Labour into second place, can probably form a minority government or possibly coalition with Lib Dems. David Cameron will likely end up as the new occupant of […]

A pint with the party leader

Everyone has been talking for the last week about how well Clegg did in the recent leaders debate on ITV. The polls have him on anything up to a 14 point lead on Cameron and Brown, and everyone seems to be joining the 101 Facebook groups and buying the t-shirts. Yes, you too can be […]

Register to vote

Have you registered to vote? There’s still time, it’s a really simple process, and it gives you the power to help decide who will represent your area in Westminster for the next five years. You may also have local elections, depending on your area. Alas, I haven’t got round to forming the Currybeer Party in […]

Getting back into politics

Now that I’m finally approaching the end of my MPhil (first of many drafts handed in today), I’ve spent the afternoon pondering what I want to do once I’ve been freed from academia and let out into the real world. One of the things I’m interested in is getting back involved with politics, sad thought […]