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From the wonderful @redhistorian
“If walls could talk, the structures that house our democracy would teach a desperate lesson. Beneath the gold and gilt and glamour, parliament is a ruin. Its walls are riddled with asbestos;
“If walls could talk, the structures that house our democracy would teach a desperate lesson. Beneath the gold and gilt and glamour, parliament is a ruin. Its walls are riddled with asbestos;
2/ “its cracked pipes tip dirty water into the chamber; and fires break out with alarming regularity. A cross-party inquiry in 2016 found steam lines, gas pipes and water pipes piled haphazardly on top of one another, in a “potentially catastrophic mix”.
3/. ”Without urgent renovation, the whole edifice faced “sudden, catastrophic failure”.
4/ “Trust in parliament has never been lower. According to the Hansard Society, barely a third of voters trust MPs “to act in the interests of the public”. Forty two per cent would prefer it if governments did not “have to worry so much about parliamentary votes”,
5/. “while more than half want “a strong leader who is willing to break the rules”.
But which rules? And what are the knock on consequences?
We have had a taste of this rule breaking in the EU REF 2016.
Do we really want more? Or less?
More effective enforcement or less?
But which rules? And what are the knock on consequences?
We have had a taste of this rule breaking in the EU REF 2016.
Do we really want more? Or less?
More effective enforcement or less?
6/ “ MPs sit sullenly behind leaders imposed on them against their will, disciplined by manifestos on which they were not consulted and by activists who plot their deselection.
7/ “ Journalists, protestors and even the prime minister stoke popular hostility to parliament, casting it as a Westminster cabal bent on obstructing the will of the people”
8/. “Democracy is a principle, not a set of institutions. It declares that the people (or the “demos”) should “rule”, but says nothing about how they should govern, what they should govern or even who “the people” are.
9/. “(Women, slaves, immigrants and the young have all, at one time or another, been excluded in the name of democracy.) “
3 principles
This is a great essay
I hope @redhistorian & NS will forgive me gutting it but sometimes it is the bite size that encourages reading the whole
3 principles
This is a great essay
I hope @redhistorian & NS will forgive me gutting it but sometimes it is the bite size that encourages reading the whole
