Bartlett's Bizarre Bazaar

I approach the question of the Monarchy from the following position; [1] if the Queen has no power, then, when we adopt a republican political system there is no pressing constitutional need to replace her. Or; [2] if the Queen has power, then our primary democratic duty is to republicanise Britain.

I am angled to incline towards [1] being the case. And for me, under the conditions of [1], I still feel the need to remove the powerless Queen.

Read the rest of my new post at The Sharpener.

The Government, via John Reid, has announced that the manipulation of public fear for political ends will have a new, more clearly defined medium.



This act of terrorism has been brought to you by b3ta redirected through the comments boxes at Chicken Yoghurt.

Let us say that Bjorn Lomborg is right. Let us say that the putative $50bn expense of battling climate change would be better spent alleviating ills such as hunger, disease and war. Let us say that he is right on that.

He is still wrong. He is either a deluded utopian or a vicious, wicked propagandist.

Does he really believe that the $50bn that might be drummed up to combat climate change will stay in a charity pot to be spent elsewhere? The idea is nonsense. This money was not forthcoming before the shadow of climate change fell over the first world, so why ought it after Lomborg and his right-wing American chums have dispelled that shadow?

And here is the point. What is Lomborg’s political hinterland? From where will he draw the resources in his ‘campaign’ to boost social spending across the world? From the American right, apparently. So he kills concern with climate change by offering a greater prize, a prize that was never on the table. He is a stooge, a Trojan horse, trundling forwards to win the hearts of political influential progressives across the world, but his programme contains only a bellyful of villains.