writing and thinking

Tag: democracy

Taking back control

Is it possible that there is an upside to Brexit after all?

This week the international community chose to ignore the UK Government’s posturing on possible responses to the deaths by gas of innocent civilians in Syria. The Foreign Secretary gave up a proposed visit to Moscow, at the invitation of the Russians, and went instead to Tuscany to argue the case for sanctions to be applied to key figures in the Russian government and military; this despite there being no demonstrable link between those individuals and the actions in Ibdil province, no proof that the Syrian government was behind those actions, no agreement on any process to establish the facts of the case and instead unquestioning support by the UK Government for illegal military action by another government. Continue reading

Distracted

I missed my own self-imposed deadline last week. I aim to update this blog with at least one post by close of play each Friday. And I missed last week’s deadline.

I have options. As an employer (of me) I can give myself a hard time. Or I can seek to understand why I missed the deadline, review my work to minimise the risk of my doing so again. As an employee I’m inclined to take responsibility for my failure and engage fully in any conversation intended to help me meet my responsibilities. I could just ignore the deadline. It’s my deadline after all. Who cares if I miss it (except me)? Well I do care. Missing deadlines shows no respect for my reader(s) and I do care about that. So I have given myself a talking to. Continue reading

Democracy under threat

The Scottish Parliament was to have voted this week on triggering a second referendum on Scottish independence. Instead the vote, due on Wednesday, was deferred by the Parliament’s Presiding Officer who felt that contributions had been affected by events elsewhere.

Some Members of the Scottish Parliament felt the debate should have been suspended out of respect to those affected by shocking events at Westminster. Others believed suspending the debate would be to give in to terrorism. The Prime Minister claimed on Thursday that the attack on Westminster Bridge was an attempt to silence democracy but that democracy would always prevail. Continue reading

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