If prisoners are not allowed to vote in this years general election, it will break European Law:

In 2005, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights declared that it was unlawful to deny all sentenced prisoners voting rights in UK elections…
The Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe expressed “serious concern” that there was a “significant risk” the election might fail to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. (BBC)

Frankly, I couldn’t care less. Criminals who are currently serving their custodial sentence do not deserve to …

What precisely is the point of pushing for a referendum on the way we elect MPs? That’s not really a problem right now. There are far more pressing issues, both politically and democratically.
Long before any referendum on the electoral system – which no-one beyond ardent Lib Dems actually sees much of a need for – we need referendums on our relationship the EU and on organising proper and fair devolution (ie. an English Parliament) long before we bother thinking about that.
There are also other democratic issues that need to be …

The general election will be held on May 6th this year. That is now clear. We have been told this by three ministers now:
Chris Bryant, the Europe Minister:

I hope that by the time of the general election on May 6, relations [between Britain and countries on South America] will have improved.

Andy Burnham, Health Secretary:

I hope you will add your weight in whatever way you can to this campaign and, if we focus on it, we can have changed a little piece of the law by May this year.

and now Bob …

There’s no such thing as a fair election that they don’t win, according to the BNP. They have invoked the Ballot Act of 1872 so that they can put their own seal on ballot boxes at the general election because apparently somehow people tamper with their votes, despite the seals of independent election officials:

We know it happens. We just cannot prove it.

Yeah, right.
Elections in Britain are fair. Or at least the method of counting the votes is fair and accurate; whether or not you agree with the political system depends …

The general election date may have been leaked out due to slip-up by Chris Bryant:

Speaking to diplomats at Canning House, a diplomatic think-tank, the Europe Minister seemed to confirm the widely held belief that the poll will be held on May 6 – the same day as the local council elections.
Referring to recent tensions between Britain and countries in South America, Mr Bryant said: “I hope that by the time of the general election on May 6, relations will have improved.”

I wrote a post on the prospect of a March …

A few Lib Dem bloggers have worked out the the “cost effectiveness” of the three main parties 2005 general election campaigns, by dividing the money spent by the votes gained. The results being:

And so Lib Dems are claiming this to be some sort of moral and financial victory. But it really ignores the reason people vote for a particular party. However much the Lib Dems many choose to deny it, much of their support is simply because they are the third party, because of what they are not – as …

It once was the common assumption that a general election would be held on the last day possible – in early June – so that Gordon Brown could hold on to power for as long as possible. This conclusion was reached based on, at the time, perfectly logical reasons: after bottling out of an election during th autumn of 2007 when he took over and gained a temporary poll lead, he was hardly going to call an election before he had to when he was more than likely to lose! …

So the Czech Republic, the final country, has now ratified the Lisbon treaty/EU constitution and it is expected to come into force as soon as December.
Of course, it is wrong that we – or any of the other peoples in the EU – have not had a democratic chance to have our say on it (Ireland does not count – being forced to vote twice because you gave the “wrong” answer the first time is not democratic). But there is simply no point in holding a referendum on a treaty …

The Irish have, at the second time of asking, voted Yes to the Lisbon Treaty. One must ask, however, why shouldn’t there be a third referendum and “best of three” rule applied?
A referendum is supposed to be a one-off event – you ask the question, people vote, and the answer comes back in which should then be accepted by all, no matter which side of the debate they sat on or voted for. But the EU don’t like that – they will only accept one answer, the “right” answer, the …

A chance to vote on your MP prior to a general election? Impossible. Unless you’re a party member – or live in Totnes.
A commitment to democracy should be standard across political parties, but it seems only the Conservatives want to give the voters a real choice. They have experimented with open primaries before, but this was the first time that every single voter was sent a postal vote and given an opportunity to select their Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate.
It was a success, with more than 16,000 people taking part – …