Category Archives: UK politics

Why is rent so expensive?

Posted on October 13, 2011 by tucola

This story suggesting that private rent is unaffordable struck a chord. I am in the course of selling the two bedroom flat in central London where I have been for the last 10+ years in order to move somewhere more … Continue reading →

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Alternative vote

Posted on April 5, 2011 by tucola

Conservative Home has published a thorough blog post dealing with points arising out of the No2AV case. Part of it deals why some of the more extravagant claims in favour for AV don’t stack up. I can accept some of … Continue reading →

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Don’t believe the hype

Posted on March 22, 2011 by tucola

There has been some excitement in the news and on blogs recently about so-called “hyper injunctions”. These are a development of a type of court order requiring the injuncted information to be kept secret – colloquially, the “gagging order”. The … Continue reading →

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Alternative Vote

Posted on February 21, 2011 by tucola

I have been trying to get up to speed with what ‘AV’ is in order to consider how I would vote in the May 2011 referendum regarding whether we should change the way in which Members of Parliament are elected … Continue reading →

Posted in UK politics | 3 Comments

Votes for prisoners

Posted on February 12, 2011 by tucola

Having been following this issue in the news and having read some interesting comments about it on Twitter recently, I thought that I would have a think in more detail about what my position is on the issue of the … Continue reading →

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Tuition fees

Posted on November 30, 2010 by tucola

Does Nick Clegg think that students are completely stupid (and the poorer the students, the stupider they are)? In summary, the latest suggestion from Mr Clegg appears to be that students shouldn’t protest too much about the rise in tuition … Continue reading →

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Housing benefit

Posted on October 29, 2010 by tucola

The argument about the housing benefit issue continues unabated. There are said to be “very real concerns about poorer families being forced out of central London into the outer boroughs” and the Children’s Minister thinks “that’s a very legitimate concern“. … Continue reading →

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IFS, etc

Posted on October 24, 2010 by tucola

The detailed progressive vs regressive analysis that has dominated the debate recently seems a bit over-complicated. The starting point was whether in cutting spending we were going to mostly reduce benefits and services or mostly increase taxes. As soon as … Continue reading →

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Housing benefit cap

Posted on October 4, 2010 by tucola

One of the items on the BBC Politics Show for London yesterday was the proposal to cap housing benefit at £2,000 a month. Apparently, this may force 82,000 families in London to move. An eye-opening story, that I must confess … Continue reading →

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