Thread by @uk_domain_names

Wouldn't it be fantastic if the Tory and Labour parties threw off the 80-ish most extreme MPs on each side, and merged into a Party of National Unity with a giant super-majority? It could then cancel Brexit, HS2 & Trident, and throw £100s of billions at hypercharging the economy.

Green electricity, smart cities, truly robust railways, Hyperloop, you name it. By slaying all 3 white elephants at once, there would be masses of funding to do all sorts of great things, and we could always borrow more and invest it wisely for a better future.

It could agree to stay together for two election cycles (ie ten years) and repair the damage from over half a century of neglect has inflicted on vital infrastructure, poorer regions, our housing stock, etc. Its final act would be to bring in proportional representation.

Key ingredient: a substantial cross-party oversight committee with near-total power, whose sole remit is to weed out cronyism, waste and pork barrel projects. Its verdict would be final, and unarguable. If it gave the thumbs-down to a project, that's it.

Key ingredient #2: total transparency. Unless a matter of national security, *everything* gets published. All white papers, memos, plans, budgets, meeting notes, recommendations, progress reports, contracts etc. A giant spotlight shining on everything Government does. No NDAs!

Make it a sackable offense (maybe with warning system) to do stuff in secret behind closed doors. X warnings, then you're out of a job and it's by-election time!

I bet efficiencies would magically appear at every level of Government once it was clear that absolutely nothing was beyond scrutiny.

Now tiptoe to the very edge of the dream: imagine that the cream of lie detection technology were installed in Parliament so that the whole world could see, in real time, when politicians were lying to them. Again, like full transparency, this would completely change politics.

Honest politicians, working overtly - we would be the envy of the world!

(Allowances would have to be made. Not for Chris Grayling level incompetence, of course, but just for the fact that people are fallible. Forgive the small mistakes, and nip the big ones in the bud...)