Posted on March 1, 2009 by Anthony Zacharzewski
Time for a look at Chapter three of the Conservative local government green paper, Shift Control.
This chapter is the section of the green paper that focuses on democracy, so there’s a lot to talk about. The chapter says that a Conservative Government would:
provide citizens in all our large cities with the opportunity to choose [...]
Filed under: Conservatives, Council services, Councillors, Deliberative democracy, Direct democracy, Elections, Mayors, Political parties, Unelected agencies | No Comments »
Posted on February 25, 2009 by Anthony Zacharzewski
Part three of a series of articles looking at the Conservative local government green paper, Shift Control.
This time, chapter two. This chapter is about localism, and promises that a Conservative Government would:
give local residents the power to determine the balance between the level of council tax and the level of services
delivered;
drastically reduce the centrally imposed [...]
Filed under: Conservatives, Conversational localities, Councillors, Direct democracy, Elections, Political parties, Public administration | No Comments »
Posted on February 24, 2009 by Paul Evans
The Local Democracy blog may be a bit quieter than usual this week as a couple of the contributors will be away. However, I posted a long-ish article on the Liberal Conspiracy weblog yesterday timed to coincide with the Convention on Modern Liberty.
Filed under: Direct democracy | No Comments »
Posted on February 20, 2009 by Paul Evans
I’d like to start a national campaign - if you’ll join me in it - in which the columnists who denounce the actions of elected politicians are obliged to step forward, say what they are in favour of themselves, and defend it.
If this were to happen, I’d ask for The Times / Guardian columnist Simon [...]
Filed under: Direct democracy, The media | No Comments »
Posted on January 28, 2009 by Paul Evans
Involve are doing a seminar on Direct Democracy tomorrow (early) evening. Details are here.
Here are two entirely neutral views on Direct Democracy:
“A direct democracy is where great thinkers are made to drink hemlock at the whim of the masses.”
That was my friend, Matt that said that.
Or…
“A direct democracy is worse that a fascist dictatorship: At [...]
Filed under: Direct democracy | Tagged: Douglas Carswell | No Comments »
Posted on January 5, 2009 by Paul Evans
Here’s Kevin Harris on possible (!) legislation that would allow local people to vote on what form of punishment is handed out to convicted criminals in their neighbourhood.
Last year, the Swiss voted on whether individual citizenship applications should be ratified by secret ballots.
Commenting on this at the time, Alex Harrowell noted that referendums are not [...]
Filed under: Deliberative democracy, Direct democracy | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 23, 2008 by Paul Evans
It’s a view that doesn’t get much support amongst the blogosphere, but there is a Parliamentary perspective upon democracy that is rarely advanced or defended. Listening to the BBC’s Moral Maze programme - this week’s question “Can there be too much democracy?” (you will need to hurry - it’s not archived and will only be [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Direct democracy | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 23, 2008 by Paul Evans
Well, we knew it was coming - here:
“New proposals to make it easier to get local leaders to hold a referendum on their leadership structure, putting communities firmly in control of their town and council, has been published for consultation by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.”
It is particularly interesting that these votes will be on the [...]
Filed under: Councillors, Direct democracy, Petitions | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 3, 2008 by Paul Evans
I find it almost impossible to take a blog seriously when its central claim is that any British government in the recent past of forseeable future is really lurching towards totalitarianism. It is with this proviso that I offer a semi-approving link to this post.
The elected police chief - like the elected Mayor - cannot [...]
Filed under: Centralisation, Direct democracy, Distributed moral wisdom, Mayors | Tagged: Distributed moral wisdom, Elected mayors, Political parties, Regional government | 5 Comments »
