FT.com / Comment / Editorial - A better choice of voting system
The real appeal of AV, and why Britain should vote for change, lies in the fact that it is more sympathetic to smaller parties. FPTP, a winner-takes-all system, may have served Britain well for many...
View ArticleSorting the good arguments for AV from the bad (revised and updated)
I will be voting “Yes” to AV on 5 May.But in some ways I will be doing so in spite rather than because of the case that has been put forward by the “Yes” campaign.For a start, I’m not convinced that AV...
View ArticleUp and down with climate change | Political Climate
via politicalclimate.netIn yet another interesting post, Political Climate have picked up on the UK and world media’s current lack of interest in climate change. They place the “trance” in the context...
View ArticleLearning from the AV result
The debate over what went wrong with the Yes to AV campaign is bubbling along.Given that the “Noes” had it, by 68% to 32%, the quality of the campaign was but one of the reasons why AV went down.(Tom...
View ArticlePolitical narratives - a few basics
If you're like me you hear the term 'narrative' all over the place these days: "What's the political narrative?" "We need a compelling narrative." "Their narrative is unclear or even non-existent." I'm...
View ArticleAbbott vs Blanchett: Australia's battle of climate frames
There’s a new front in Australia’s climate wars – the battle of the frames.Actress Cate Blanchett has appeared in a TV advert to urge her fellow Australians to back the Gillard government’s proposed...
View ArticleObama, the debt deal and the tragedy of Generation Jones
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View ArticleNarrativewatch: How Britain's political classes see what they want to see in...
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View ArticleMedia bias, rising power bills spell trouble for clean energy
The UK media continues its climate trance. Latest figures from the Centre for Science and Policy Research at the University of Colorado show that the downturn in media coverage of climate change has...
View ArticlePollwatch: global public less concerned with climate change than other...
The Guardian’s Damian Carrington has commented on a new Nielson survey, showing that across the world, more than two in three online consumers are concerned about climate change.That figure has hardly...
View ArticleThe comeback cop: Brian Paddick's ground-breaking mea culpa story
Congratulations to Brian Paddick, who will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor in 2012.He is being re-used as a candidate, despite his poor campaign in 2008, when Paddick’s slogan, “a...
View Article"Competence with a conscience" - how well is Nick Clegg's narrative working?
“Competence with a conscience” sounds like a good, comfortable narrative for the Liberal Democrats. But the voters don’t seem to be buying it. Nick Clegg’s narrative to market the Liberal Democrats...
View ArticleEd Miliband's narrative failure
Every year, the media and the political class get themselves well and truly worked up about party leaders’ conference speeches.They seem to forget that most voters hardly notice these performances. The...
View ArticleNarrativewatch: the coalition government tries to woo women
Today, The Guardian’s astute political correspondent, Allegra Stratton, has an interesting article about the coalition’s new attempts to reposition itself with women voters. The need is clear. Last...
View ArticleNarrativewatch: learning from Theresa May and the cat
"Facts tell, but stories sell . . . If you're not communicating in stories, you're not communicating.”James Carville and Paul Begala, US political consultantsPoliticians like to tell stories....
View ArticleNarrativewatch: David Cameron, Winston Churchill and the bulldog
David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative Party conference has had a mixed reception from political commentators.I thought the most interesting bit came at the very end of the speech.We can be a...
View ArticleNarrativewatch: Paul Keating's "higher calling"
The former Australian prime minister, Paul Keating, recently gave a must-read newspaper interview. There were many interesting insights, but the media picked up on his observation that Australia’s...
View ArticleNarrativewatch: NZ National Party promises more of the same
As New Zealand’s general election campaign rolls into its second week, John Pagani argues that the following comment by the National Party prime minister, John Key, sums up what the choice is all...
View ArticleReframing climate change: talking about insurance instead of apocalypse
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, has called on “the environmental movement” to rethink the way it engages with climate scepticism. He told Business Green that following years of "pious...
View ArticleNarrativewatch: David Cameron's 'blame Europe' strategy
In the second third of this parliament, the one now beginning, and whose opening will be marked by Osborne's autumn economic statement on 29 November, Britain's economic woes will be laid rather less...
View ArticlePollwatch: David Cameron's "blame Europe" strategy - a quick postscript
via noiseofthecrowd.comLeo Barasi has provided some useful context for the Cameron-Osborne "blame Europe" narrative on the economy. Their "blame Labour for the cuts" narrative still has some way to go....
View ArticleNarrativewatch: NZ Labour Party turns Grimond's law on its head
According to legend, Jo Grimond, leader of the British Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967, once said there were really only three campaign themes. The opposition always said it was “time for a change”....
View ArticleWhy Liberal Democrats should watch New Zealand's government-making
The vast majority of Liberal Democrats support the coalition with the Conservatives, even if they have deep reservations about some of the government’s policies. But I still hear suggestions that it...
View ArticleMoving house
From today, this blog will not be updated, but it will remain available as an archive. I prefer the look of posterous and find it easier to use.If you wish to keep up with my writings, you can find me...
View ArticleMoving back
I have returned to Blogger as Posterous seems to be dying on its feet following the acquisition by Twitter. For my posts from December 2011 to June 2012, please go here:...
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