UK democracy in 2022

TI published their review of the world in 2022, and the UK falls seven places to join not so salubrious company of Qatar (-5), Myanmar (-5), Azerbaijan (-7) and Oman (-8).. This is followed by the Economist’s publication of their Democracy Index, where the UK maintains its place in the rankings which I find strange.

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Starmer vs Johnson, Winter 2020/1

I wrote a piece on my blog, about Boris and Starmer’s polling numbers. I observe that the score seems to be different depending if one’s seeking to determine approval or suitability for the top job. I made a charts  from yougov data but didn’t use it in my part II, and so I present them…

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Streaming TV at home (ROKU)

I bought a ROKU stick, it’s pretty easy to start and make to work. It’s not clear from the web site, but you must open an account on their web site, agree their terms and conditions and lodge payment details with them; for buying extra I assume.  The BBC, ITV, All 4 and Demand 5…

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Defending the UK

What started it I found myself doing some reading about recent British Defence strategy and policy. It started with a blog by John Snow, questioning the British military’s obsession with supporting the US, it’s a sort of trickle down, but we can’t afford the technology any more. Military technology works because its new and different…

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UK Budget 2014 (deprecated)

This was an article about sources; conclusions and polemic are on the linked blog articles, see below/overleaf. The sources were documented in delicious and are now no longer available.

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Bristol

Off to Bristol, for the University of Bristol OSUM ‘Hackathon’. I decided to visit friends at the same time and stayed am staying at the Hotel Mercure Brigstow in the city centre. The area seems lively with a large choice of restaurants and pubs which might be best booked in advance on a Saturday night,…

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