09 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Current Affairs
Today, the Queen carries out the state opening of Parliament. What’s the point of doing it now? They’ll all be buggering off for extended holidays soon and parliament will be empty.
With any luck however, she might spring a few surprises, like telling us she’s dismissing her government as being incompetent, or she’s rescinding all EU treaties as being undemocratic, or she’s going to chop off the heads of all our government traitors.
Your Maj, I wish to volunteer to be your chief executioner…
09 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in People
There’s a Turner exhibition taking place at the National Gallery, and I really must get along to have a look. Turner is one of England’s greatest painters and one of my personal favourites.
Turner was a master of landscapes and seascapes, and many of his works can be seen at the National Gallery, England’s premier art gallery.
09 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Current Affairs
I had to laugh when I saw that Cameron and Clegg were relaunching the coalition government in the wake of the pasting their parties got at last week’s local elections. It made me think, if they had to do a relaunch, have the last two years been a complete write-off, and if so, when will they pack it in and go do something else?
Personally, I don’t think this coalition is working. These are parties that have completely different ideologies and they’re trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Mind you, Cameron is hardly what you’d call a traditional Tory, so perhaps his union with Clegg is appropriate.
09 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Articles, Current Affairs
It has been said many times that the unwritten British constitution has served the state well. This is usually a statement from the political classes who appear to be the main beneficiaries of having no specific set of rules to abide by.
Britain is currently governed by the supremacy of parliament. This means that whatever laws it chooses to enact become the governing laws of the state, no matter how good or bad they are. The unwritten constitution of the British state is formed from written documents, within statutes, court judgements, and treaties. The constitution has other unwritten sources, including parliamentary constitutional conventions and royal prerogatives, in effect, a hotchpotch of rules and regulations which makes it almost impossible to understand what the set of rules are.
Most clubs, societies and organisations have some sort of constitution which lays out how an organisation is to be administered. Included are the powers of the executive committee and the responsibilities of its officers. The same applies to most democratic states in the world, except British politicians aren’t subject to this basic set of rules. This can and does lead to an abuse of power if no regulations are in place to regulate the political classes.
Britain’s EU membership is a classic example of this abuse of power.
