It occurs to me that there is something lacking from the current campaign for the Scottish Independence Referendum. Where are those Scottish members of the Westminster Parliament, who surely would be amongst the most central characters in this historic vote? Scotland is represented in Westminster by 59 MP’s, who will all become redundant if a...
Freedom’s just another word for “nothing left to lose”. The word Freedom is bandied around a lot these days, and not just by Mel Gibson in historically inaccurate movies, or politicians invoking it ironically, whilst invading other countries. Consider the song title though. We are indeed most free to take any course of action, when...
IPSA was setup to ensure that MPs couldn’t vote on their own salaries. Yet If MPs then decide not to accept the raise in salary awarded to their jobs, wouldn’t that be them yet again voting on their salaries? Wouldn’t this also be viewed as blatant electioneering, which would inevitably result in continual undercutting each...
Job board owners of the UK, how fantastic and spectacular a job board could you build for £17m? You might say “that’s crazy money. You could build a world beating job board for half that. You could even purchase any one of the technically brilliant, but commercially failing established recruitment web sites in the UK...
Can someone please explain to me why it is generally accepted as a good thing to deny prisoners the right to vote in public elections? What precisely does David Cameron think he will achieve, other than pandering to public outraged sentiment, and tabloid faux disgust, by stating that his government will NEVER allow prisoners to...
As an instinctive pedant, I often find myself on the wrong side of an argument, simply because the “right side” hasn’t argued their case properly and logically. As any lawyer might say, it’s not for me to argue their case for them, even though I am open to persuasion. The topic of same-sex marriage doesn’t...
I agree that Jimmy Carr hasn’t done anything wrong, morally or otherwise, and should not be castigated for keeping within the law. It was outrageous that the Prime Minister should choose one person to name in this way. As with any tax system, there are a myriad of allowances, incentives, penalties and pitfalls. HMRC are...
I don’t believe them for a second. Politicians perpetually tell you one thing, when they mean another. What they are implementing may well be the exact right thing to do, but because they are steered by think-tanks, focus groups and PR arseholes, they feel compelled to spin illogical drivel, when the truth should already be...
Some 28 years ago (when I was 18), and in the same building as my current office, I experienced my very first job in sales. This telesales role was selling advertising in the in-house magazines and diaries of police and fire federations and associations. This was all very new to me, and the office had...
I write as a non-American, but one who has watched, consumed and responded to American culture and it’s far reaching effect on my world. Firstly, forget all the clichés which are usually trotted out about being divided by a common language. Just as Scots experience the culture of England, our nearest neighbour, so do we...
