UK politics

A collection of 49 posts

Conservatives

Post election blues

Pun intended. My depressed sadness has turned into anger. Today is a bad day for fairness. It is a bad day for democracy (think AV/PR). It is a bad day for the electorate who seem far less politically educated than I realised (and if my school has anything to go by, very very ill-equipped to b

health

A lesson about the NHS from a 91-year-old

This video has been doing the rounds. And rightly so. Well worth a watch.

atheism

Are Liberal Democrats the best party for committed humanists?

With the conference season now over and done with, the British Humanist Association has declared it a successful season with good showing at all three major party conferences. However, perhaps the scariest prospect is the dominance of UKIP in recent political discourse. We know they are pretty much very right-wing

Conservatives

My new favourite video

Cassetteboy has done some great great stuff, including this: and my previous favourite:

Economics

Racism and xenophobia in economic downturns

My previous post talked about the rise of the right-wing UKIP in recent polls and elections in the UK. Part of this phenomena, which is predicated upon the blaming of immigrants and immigration for many social woes, is as a result of the recent economic downturn.

Featured ATP

The UK on brink of sliding into right-wing chaos

The political landscape in the UK is changing, that much is pretty obvious to any onlooker. The rise of UKIP (the UK Independence Party), as I have discussed elsewhere, is incredible in its rapidity (though not so much when it originally formed) in recent years. And now it is the

conceptual nominalism

Scottish Independence - my thoughts

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel and flag-waving the first action of a warmonger. yes-no2 I am British, English, and live on the south coast of the UK. That said, the coming Thursday referendum affects me as much as most people in the country. I will set out what is, for me and m

Conservatives

Astrology can help healthcare, says MP on science committee

Oh bloody dear. The BBC: Astrology-loving MP seeks health answers in the stars A Conservative MP has spoken of his belief in astrology and his desire to incorporate it into medicine. David Tredinnick said he had spent 20 years studying astrology and healthcare and was convinced it could work. The

Education

Woo hoo! Yes! Zippedy doo whoop!... Oh shit...

YES!!! GIVE IS OUT, GOVE IS OUT, WHOOP DE DOO, GOVE IS OUT. GOVE HAS GONE, GOVE HAS GONE, YAY YAY YAY, GOVE HAS GONE!

Scotland

UKIP voters must surely support Scottish independence, no?

UKIP have done spectacularly well in the recent local and European elections in the UK> They were a fringe group of right-wing Euro/climate/immigrant-skeptics. They are now not so fringe, having, post-recession, harnessed the fear vote. Whilst I don’t deny the need for immigration reforms, suppor

extremism

The extreme right: UKIP and the evolution of ideas

"I'm not a racist, I've got coloured neighbors and they're fantastic neighbors" - An interviewed UKIP voter on the BBC. Local elections have just taken place in the UK for a proportion of local councils where the electorate can decide which councillors will represent their interests in local ward

Conservatives

PM 'should do God', Tory party survey suggests

Plenty of brain-sapping journals clutter the desks of Westminster, offering the patient reader an intellectual transfusion of information, analysis, insight and yes, just occasionally, complete guff. But until the last few weeks I had never read the Church Times.

Conservatives

My favourite video of the year

Bloody awesome. [H/T Zoe Flanagan] OK, this is UK-centric. But man, this fricking NAILS everything which is wrong with education at the moment. Most of that comes from those in power. Gove. Michael Gove. If I met him in a dark alley... http://youtu.be/qJ8RA3QF0EU

Education

Why I am going on strike

Wednesday 26th is an important day for the National Union of Teachers here in the UK. We have voted to go out on strike and I am going to do so, foregoing my pay for the day. I don't take this action lightly, but then nor do I accept hat he government is doing to the education system lightly. I woul

Conservatives

Scottish independence would be a political disaster for the UK, and here's for why

Soon, the Scottish people will be voting in a referendum as to whether they want an independent Scotland. Let's put aside all the issues with this, like giving the vote to 16 year olds. I for one didn't know my posterior from my elbow at that

Conservatives

Are Suffolk Conservative Party Members Idiots? (Er, yes)

As The BBC reports: Senior Conservative MP Tim Yeo has lost his fight against being deselected by party activists. The former environment minister demanded the secret ballot by Tory members in South Suffolk after the association's committee voted not to re-adopt him as a candidate.

Featured ATP

UKIP councillor blames storms and floods on gay marriage

OK, so this sort of thing is what you would usually expect from rabid Republican senators. Anyway, looks like that sort of behaviour has traversed the Atlantic. Let me just get this out of the way first - AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH! Fuckwit! Anyway, the BBC:

BHA

Baroness Warsi gets her facts wrong about Britain, 'faith' and politics

From the British Humanist Association, by email: We were very disappointed last week by comments made by Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities. She addressed a gathering of students at Churchill College, Cambridge, and stated that the UK's coalition government was one of the most

Conservatives

Gove and Free Schools are an embarrassment. Shocker.

So I have written a number of times about Gove and his penchant for free market economics in school and his libertarian approach to education. And how it totally sucks. Well, his Free School initiative is terrible and is faltering as the days go by. Between Free Schools and Academies, he is doing a

Education

Why I Support the Teachers' Strike - I will be on the March!

On the 17th October, teachers in my area will be striking. Here are the reasons why I support this strike with every fibre of my being and why I will be with my fellow striking teachers on a march in Portsmouth. What I do find annoying is that the unions

humanism

Absolutely awesome! Humanism and Atheism debated in the House of Lords

You must must watch this. Hopefully I can embed the video. Watch it from 2.12pm onwards. This is why I love this country. Discussing philosophy fairly and squarely within the confines of our Parliamentary system (even if the House of Lords is our non-elected part). If I can't get it to embed, che

climate change

My local MP, Mark Hoban, showing his true crappy colours

My local Conservative MP voted against including a clean energy target in an amendment to the Energy Bill. There's a great action and pressure internet group called 28 degrees which famously succeeded in changing the governments mind on forestry called 38 degrees. They mobilise people virtually to p

UK politics

The UK has become racist and science denialist overnight. Bugger.

So there were local elections yesterday, these for councillors for the County Councils (broadly speaking, States in the US). Councils are run by a number of councillors, and overall majorities mean that certain parties control whole counties (again, broadly and simply speaking).

environment

AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH - it's all going to pot!

I can't believe it. My country (UK) has a coalition government between a right-wing party, the Conservatives, and a left-wing party, the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives are pretty much just right of centre. Well, they were until today. They have reshuffled the cabinet to this effect. Skeptics beware,