Guy Aitchison (London, OK): The Telegraph's Three Line Whip blog reports that the total number of "spoiled ballot papers" which included "41,032 rejected first choice votes and 412,054 rejected second choice votes" was "three times the size of Boris Johnson’s 140,000-vote majority". A "fiasco", fumes the Telegraph's David Hughes, a "democratic travesty". The Electoral Commission must take actions since "who knows what the result might have been if there had not been such a spectacular display of voter confusion." Read the rest of this post...

Arthur Aughey reviews Real England: The Battle Against the Bland by Paul Kingsnorth. In his The Costs of Economic Growth published in 1969, EJ Mishan famously observed that economic growth, without appropriate and countervailing measures of ecological conservation, would lead to environmental degradation. In a play on Galatians Chapter 6, Verse 7 (‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap'), Mishan believed that the modern motto should be: ‘as you grow so shall you weep'. Read the rest of this post...

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Richard Holme, or Lord Holme of Cheltenham (being a peer suited him), who has just died, deserves a place in the pitifully meagre pantheon of modern British democrats. Trevor Smith’s fine obituary in today’s Guardian has already set out the important role he played in establishing the Cook-Maclennan pact in 1997 as well as assisting the agreement between the Liberal Party and the Social Democrats and his work in various bodies committed to democratic politics and constitutional reform, not least his own Centre for Constitutional Reform. Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): With all the attention being paid on Labour's debacle and the rise of the Cameroons there is a very different situation north of the border, just watch this one minute BBC video (I can't get it to load directly). The Labour vote seems to be holding in Scotland at around 30 percent, perhaps out of loyalty to Brown (?) but Tory and Lib Dem opposition seems to be crashing as people switch to the SNP. As Scott points out in a comment on my 'First Thoughts after Labour's Debacle' there was a by-election in Scotland which had a 15 per cent swing away from the Tories - to the SNP.

Is Dave Hill and his wonderful election blog London: Mayor and More.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Watching the news. It is ridiculous that an apparently very expensive counting system for London takes longer than doing it by hand, shows up the electronic results to everyone at the count as it proceeds but prevents an 'official' announcement of what is clearly a decisive win for Boris driven by the suburbs even though Ken's absolute vote has risen. A warning for the coming general election, the Conservatives spent their money well in the suburbs and this suggests that their targeting of the marginals will have a big impact on the House of Commons whenever the election is called.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Over a year ago a Blairite told me he thought that David Cameron would be the Tory Neil Kinnock - the leader who would make his party electable but not get it, or himself, elected. I was unconvinced. But now that the Conservatives under Cameron are about to sweep to local election victories across the country I'm thinking that maybe there is something in it.. The trigger was getting the Political Home Index survey (which is of supposed insiders - declaration of interest, I'm one) on whether Cameron had what it takes. It was completed early this week and reported under the cryptic headline Cameron has not Sealed the Deal Here is the result: Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon) The Scottish Parliament Commission held its first meeting at Holyrood on Monday. One name which didn't feature on the panel of fifteen worthies who will review the workings of devolution was that of George Reid, the former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. Read the rest of this post...

Peter Oborne reviews Who Runs Britain? by Robert Peston. This book brilliantly shows how New Labour hand-in-hand with a rapacious capitalist class have created the conditions for our present crisis. FOR MORE than a century writers and politicians on the left have been predicting that the capitalist system would shortly collapse under the weight of its own contradictions. Again and again capitalism has proved these prophets of doom wrong. However the start of the 21st century has coincided with a financial crisis every bit as great as any that has gone before. If things go on as they are, Karl Marx may be proved right after all. Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): Matt O' Connor, the 41 year old founder of Fathers 4 Justice, has apparently stepped down from the London Mayoral election which he'd been contesting as a candidate for the English Democrats. On his website O'Connor blames the lack of financial support from the party and the fact he "had a clear vision to raise the issue of an English Parliament which they didn’t share." Weird. I thought this was exactly the kind of issue the English Democrats wanted to share. Indeed, OK has spent the last few days discussing whether their "Make Jock Strapped" adverts were racist. The ED website is no help, still urging you to "vote O'Connor '08". Is this an example of the poor party organisation O'Connor blames for his decision to step down? Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon) Scotland's Finance Minister, John Swinney, came in for sustained criticism last week, when he published the responses to the consultation on his proposed Scottish Futures Trust. Several respondents suggested that his plan to replace the Private Finance Initiative left key questions unaddressed: Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): I have just followed a link from Gareth in the comments to the Spectator's "St. George's Day special" dedicated to all things English. Fraser Nelson has some interesting thoughts on what a Tory "England strategy" might look like but don't think that the Speccie will be calling for independence any time soon. As it says in the Leader, "The Spectator remains emphatically committed to the Union and the survival of the United Kingdom." Why? Because Britain still "punches above its weight in the world", of course. One question: is there anyone outside the Spectator who still thinks this is a good thing?

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Two weeks ago I'd have known nothing about marathons except for the sense of thrill, pride and dread they can instill in the parents of those who have not yet completed one but have decided to do so. Now, after cheering on 47147 at the Paris Marathon I have experienced the whole new world. It is a very interesting and intensely enjoyable collective experience. The vast numbers running the race create a field of force which in part carries them along, encouraged by supporters, bands, supply stations. The individuals are all there, starkly so, pitting themselves to make the effort and gaining meaning from it, of all ages, shapes and running styles (to put it mildly). It is very moving to watch because they are all of the irregularities of regular folk, not professionals. But even if much of their training may be lonely, a marathon itself is the opposite. It is not at all like walking down a crowded street or surging with a commuter crowd all going in the same direction out of a train station. It may look like that but there is a joint purpose. Except at the front it is not much about racing against each other, but about finishing.  Completing the run is cause for celebration. Before last week I was snotty about the commercialised event. Now, I feel quite differently about my city being taken over for the day. I would even go to watch and cheer, only I have to go to America for a week.

Tony Curzon Price (London, oD at the Progressive Governance Summit): The second session of the Global Governance Summit - devoted to environment, poverty and the governance of the multi-lateral institutions painted a truly daunting scale of tasks without leaving Read the rest of this post...

This is a response to Staurt Weir's post on the Hansard Society's Audit of Political Engagement. Alex Brazier (London, Hansard Society): Stuart Weir asserts that the Hansard Society's recently published Audit of Political Engagement ‘asked little of meaning'. While the primary focus of the annual Audit is on monitoring political engagement, this year's Audit included a one-off snapshot of the public's views on Britain's constitutional arrangements. We believe that asking people about their knowledge of, satisfaction with and priorities for change vis-à-vis the country's constitutional arrangements has a great deal of value and meaning. Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): Paul Kingsnorth makes the case for an English Parliament over at Comment is Free: The reality is that Britain is dying, and the government knows it. An institution which was clumsily welded together from four distinct nations in order to service a global empire has today, that empire gone, lost its point and purpose. Westminster politicians of all stripes regularly talk in hushed tones about "the breakup of the union" as if it were the worst thing in the world. Yet the breakup of the union is probably inevitable - and if the government doesn't like it, it only has itself to blame. Read the rest of this post...

OurKingdom is supporting Liberal Conspiracy’s campaign against 42 days detention, and will be publishing a series of posts about it over the next few weeks. Labour rebels will decide whether the bill passes or not. For a full list of those who rebelled last time (on 90 days detention), including email addresses, click here.  Read the rest of this post...

Our Kingdom Reviews is a place to discuss the ideas and thinking shaping the democratic future of the UK. We will have regular weekly book reviews, as well as reviews of pamphlets, lectures and research papers contributing to the debate on what is currently (but for how long?) Brown's Britain. In the spirit of Our Kingdom, this is, of course, an open and democratic debate; anyone who feels inspired to contribute is encouraged to get in touch with me at tom.griffin@opendemocracy.net. If it's fair, critical and relevant to the themes of Our Kingdom, we'll publish it (and you might even get a free book!). Also, let me know if there is a publication you want to see covered. Reviewed so far: BOOKS Arthur Aughey on A Floating Commonwealth: Politics, Technology and Culture on Britain's Atlantic Coast by Christopher Harvie (319pp)   Arthur Aughey on Imagined Nation: England after Britain ed Mark Perryman (248pp) Daniel G. Williams on Raymond Williams: A Warrior's Tale by Dai Smith (514pp) Paul Kingsnorth on Who cares about Britishness? by Vron Ware (180pp) Arthur Aughey on Real England: The Battle Against the Bland by Paul Kingsnorth (304pp) Debbie Moss on From Anger to Apathy by Mark Garnett (480pp) Peter Oborne on Who Runs Britain? by Robert Peston (352pp) John Palmer on We the Peoples of Europe by Susan George (224pp) Tom Griffin on Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland by Jonathan Powell (352pp) Guy Aitchison on Race, Identity and Belonging by George Shire et al, Soundings (138pp) Guy Aitchison on Constitutional Patriotism by Jan-Werner Muller (147pp) Rupert Read on NHS plc by Allyson Pollock (288pp) Dan Leighton on Why We Hate Politics by Colin Hay (200pp) Guy Aitchison on Affluenza by Oliver James (592pp) Jane O'Grady on Towards the Light: A Story of the Struggles for Liberty and Rights that Made the Modern West by AC Grayling (336pp) Peter Oborne on Best for Britain?: The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown by Simon Lee (304pp) PAMPHLETS Peter Facey on Paying for the Party: Myths and Realities in British Political Finance by Michael Pinto-Duchinsky, Policy Exchange ( 64pp) Andrew Blick on Swimming with the tide: Democratising the places where we work by Chris Ward and Zoe Williams, Compass (34pp) Stuart Weir on Hansard Society Audit of Political Engagement 5 by Hansard Society (60pp) Guy Aitchison on No Overall Control? The impact of a 'hung parliament' on British politics ed Alex Brazier and Susanna Kalitowski, Hansard Society (116p) Gareth Young on Beyond the Constitution: Engishness in a post-devolved Britain by Michael Kenny, Richard England and Richard Hayton, ippr (11pp) Stuart Weir on You've been Quango'd by Chris Leslie and Owen Dallison, NLGN (42pp) John Palmer on Fog in Westminster by Peter Sutherland, Federal Trust (32pp) Andrew Blick on An Uncertain Future by Chris Abbott, ORG (20pp) Jon Bright on Can we create a new national belonging? by Ben Rogers & Rick Muir, ippr (9pp) Jon Bright on Does Britain need a population policy? by Alasdair Murray, CentreForum (8pp) LECTURES Debbie Moss on Constitutional Reform series at the IALS, Keith Ewing. Our Archive: BOOKS Jon Bright on From Anger to Apathy: the British Experience since 1975 by Mike Garnett Jon Bright on Politipedia by Nick Inman Anthony Barnett on The Triumph of the Political Class by Peter Oborne Anthony Barnett on Towards a New Constitutional Settlement ed. Chris Bryant PAMPHLETS AND REPORTS Jon Bright on The Vision Thing by Sunder Katwala Jon Bright on Participation Nation by involve Andrew Blick on The House Rules?, Constitution Unit Guy Aitchison on Towards a New Constitutional Settlement ,Constitution Unit TV, FILM & RADIO   Anthony Barnett on The Blair Years, BBC 1 Stuart Weir on Britz, C4 Anthony Barnett on The Ministry of Truth, BBC 2 Christine Berberich on The English, Andrew Marr Anthony Barnett on The Blair Years by Alistair Campbell Bettany Hughes Athens: the Truth about Democracy, C4 Anthony Barnett Taking Liberties dir. Chris Atkins TALKS & LECTURES   Stuart Weir on "Renewing Democracy: Are we bovvered?" by Meg Russell John Jackson on "Bringing Rights Home: Time to Start a Family?" by Stephen Sedley    

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I'm not one for predictions hence I admire those who chance it and especially those who get a lot right (see Tony Judt in last year's oD). But Robin Lustig the excellent presenter of BBCs The World Tonight has already scooped a prize, predicting in his blog on the 21st December that "I think we’ll hear less about Iran and more about Pakistan".

Anthony Barnett (London, OK):  Apologies, I've not been able to get on line since late Friday. When I noticed that The Manifesto Club has launched a facebook campaign against the prosecution of people on the basis of what they think, say, read, listen to and watch or download from the internet, rather than what they do. They say, Read the rest of this post...

Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): At a joint general meeting last Saturday, the final stages of the merger between Charter 88 and the New Politics Network saw the formal birth of Unlock Democracy as an organisation in its own right. The name Unlock Democracy was chosen by our members and supporters in a two-stage ballot where it was the most popular result at both the consultative stage (26%) and the final ballot stage (81%). Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Robert over at Liberal Conspiracy has pointed out that No2ID are calling in Pledge Bank pledges made in 2005. Go here to fulfil your pledges. I never made one at the time but will send my £10 in now . This is important. They led the resistance.

Jon Bright (London, OK): Another hat tip to Gareth Young for flagging up this YouGov poll. It makes negative (if not entirely unexpected) reading for those interested in constitutional reform: asked to choose 4 government priorities from a list of 13 options, only 2% picked "Reforming the constitution" - equal bottom with 'none of the above'. This really gives me pause. Given the option, 2% of the respondents would rather have the government do nothing at all than reform how we are governed (these people must be big fans of the summer recess). Read the rest of this post...

OurKingdom is an editorial project run by openDemocracy, a global web magazine based in London. We have two full time staff, and a large list of regular and occasional contributors. Please direct all queries to Tom Griffin at: tom.griffin@opendemocracy.net   Staff   Anthony Barnett Editor A social entrepreneur of wide experience, Anthony helped launch Charter 88 in 1988 and was its first Director. Anthony is also a writer and journalist. He is the author of Iron Britannia; Soviet Freedom and This Time; and co-author and editor of among other books, Aftermath: the Struggle of Vietnam and Cambodia; Power and the Throne, Town and Country and a considerable range of articles and pamphlets covering politics and culture, such as (with Peter Carty), The Athenian Option – radical reform for the House of Lords (Demos, 1998) and the television film, England's Henry Moore. He founded openDemocracy, and regularly contributes to many of its debates. Tom Griffin Managing Editor Tom Griffin holds a BA in Politics and Philosophy and an MA in Political Theory from the University of Essex. He is a former executive editor of the Irish World newspaper and author of the Green Ribbon political blog. Other writing credits include the Asia Times, Antiwar.com, and Spinwatch. He is currently undertaking a Ph.D on neoconservatism in Europe at the University of Strathclyde. Tom is Managing Editor at OK. If you have any enquiries or suggestions please email tom.griffin(AT)opendemocracy.net Guy Aitchison Contributing Editor Born and raised in Bristol, Guy was drawn to the politics of OurKingdom through a background in History and Political Theory. Guy is Deputy Director of The Convention on Modern Liberty.   Jon Bright Contributing and Technical Editor Jon Bright holds a BSc in Computer Science from Bristol University and an MSc in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has worked for openDemocracy since May 2006. He was Managing Editor of OurKingdom from May 2007 to May 2008. At present he with Fride in Madrid (lucky man). He is also a Contributing Editor at MusicOMH.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regular contributors Andrew Blick - London, The Democratic Audit James Graham - London, Unlock Democracy John Jackson - London, Charter 88 John Osmond - Cardiff, IWA Mike Small - Fife, Bella Caledonia Stuart Weir - Cambridge, The Democratic Audit ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Occasional contributors   Saul Albert - London, The People Speak Neal Ascherson - Argyll Simon Barrow - London, Ekklesia Ron Bailey - London, Local Works Mark Bell - London, CentreForum Mark Bell - Brighton, votewise.co.uk Christine Berberich - Derby, University of Derby Geoffrey Bindman - London, BIHR Philip Blond - Lancaster, University of Cumbria Alex Buchan - Leicester Alice Casey - London, Involve Jonathan Church - London, The Federal Trust David Clouter - Cambridge, LeaveThemKidsAlone Felix Cohen - London, openDemocracy Stella Creasy - London, Involve Tony Curzon Price - London, openDemocracy Suzy Dean - London, The Manifesto Club Kiran Dhami - London, Women's Resource Centre Paul Dorfman - Warwick, University of Warwick Bill Emmott - London Peter Facey - London, Unlock Democracy Zac Goldsmith - London, Conservative Party Jill Grieve - London, Countryside Alliance Christopher Harvie - Fife, MSP Robert Hazell - London, The Constitution Unit Bettany Hughes - London, Lion Television Sunny Hundal - London, Pickled Politics Paul Hilder - London, Avaaz.org Philip Hosking - Penryn, The Cornish Democrat Bethan Jenkins - Neath, Welsh Assembly Pat Kane - Glasgow, Scottish Futures Sunder Katwala - London, The Fabian Society Michael Keith - London, Goldsmiths Paul Kingsnorth - Oxford Daniel Leighton - London, The Power Inquiry Jean Lambert - London, MEP Guy Lodge - London, ippr David Marquand - Oxford Rick Muir - London, ippr Alasdair Murray - London, CentreForum Tom Nairn - London, RMIT University Peter Oborne - London, The Daily Mail Adrian Pabst - Nottingham, University of Nottingham John Palmer - London Akash Paun - London, The Constitution Unit Mats Persson - London, Open Europe Rupert Read - Norwich, The Green Party Alexandra Runswick - London, Unlock Democracy Hugo Robinson - London, Open Europe Roger Scruton Nan Sloane - Leeds, Centre for Women and Democracy David Smith - Weymouth, Saving Democracy Trevor Smith - York, House of Lords Sue Stirling - Newcastle, ippr North Tristan Stubbs - London, ERS Stephen Taylor - London, 5jt Kanishk Tharoor - London, terrorism.openDemocracy Ben Ward - London, Human Rights Watch Lee Waters - Cardiff, former Chief Political Correspondent for ITV Wales Richard Wilson - London, Involve Robin Wilson - Belfast, Democratic Dialogue Martin Wolf - London, Financial Times Gavin Yates - Edinburgh, Gymedia Gareth Young - Lewes, CEP

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Following my brief report from the front line of the ippr fringe, I've read Jack Straw's speech to the conference. Straw heads the Ministry of Justice and is Michael Wills' boss. So those initiatives which Wills is set to announce will be signed off by Jack. He told the Conference that his new role includes being lord chancellor: Read the rest of this post...

David Smith (Weymouth, Saving Democracy): The Liberal Democrats are to be congratulated on taking democratic reform more seriously than of late, and for their paper "For the People by the People". What is not clear is how they expect their proposals ever to be implemented: there is as yet no popular mandate for such reforms. Charter 88 has, I believe, attracted some 70,000 signatures over the years, although many will have long since forgotten they signed. The number of anti war protesters exceeds this number by far, and yet represents a minority of the electorate. We have somehow to connect others to the issue of democratic reform. Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I popped in to a very crowded Royal Society of Arts session on the death of the establishment and its usurpation by a new political class. This is the thesis of Peter Oborne's new book and we'll be returning to it. Matthew Taylor the RSA's director and one-time policy guru in Blair's number 10 and thus a prime target of Peter's critique was in the chair. The respondents were John Lloyd, who once clashed violently with the new book's author over an interview John Lloyd did of Blair and whether it was spin or reporting, and Steve Richards of the Independent (who now thinks blogs are wonderful but who still does not seem to have caught up with OurKingdom). Steve Richards missed the point, and assumed that the 'political class' meant the political clique of top politicians whom, he argued, feel utterly besieged by the media and are therefore weaker not stronger than they were. Thus, he assured us, he knows that George Osborne wants a flat tax and is dying to promise tax cuts but dare not say so, while similarly Brown wants to - and does - redistribute but will never say the 'r' word. The consequence being, in his view, the merely apparent similarity of the two main parties - Peter had mentioned taxation and spending, education, the health service, crime, Iraq and Trident as policies they agree on!  (The point Steve Richards missed is that the book's thesis argues there is two-way patron-client, mutual manipulation between the leading mediacrats and politicians and that they are joint architects of the machinery of domination Peter describes.) John Lloyd warned thoughtfully of the power of the media in all this and, in response to the few questions that were asked from the floor in the time allowed, agreed that globalisation and corporate power were sucking vitality out of the national decision making altogether. Whether or not Peter Oborne has come up with the right answers or analysis, I like his approach. He described how he started out as a political journalist 15 years ago in 1992 believing in the system and gradually was forced to ask himself 'What's going on here?' The answer isn't, as in their different ways all the other members of the panel tried to suggest, at least with respect to Britain, 'not very much', or 'nothing, that has not gone on before'.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK):  I have just read David Cameron in the Sunday Telegraph trying to hold the government to account for the the policy fiasco that permitted the crash of Northern Rock and goodness know what else to follow. It reinforces my point that the only future for the Tories as a credible opposition is on the 'left' - generously defined as being in favour of better government as well as more democracy. He asks, Read the rest of this post...

Bill Emmott (London, writer): The case for a referendum on the EU’s new treaty is stronger in all the other member countries of the Union than in Britain, especially the 10 that held or planned to hold a referendum for the previous version of the treaty (sorry, constitution). The treaty has not changed substantially between that version and this one: it still transfers power from member states to the EU, principally through the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the extension of majority voting in justice and home affairs, though also, for some countries, because of the change in the voting system itself. So if a referendum was justified before, it must be justified now. Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): Poor Rhys Jones is dominating comment sections recently, with a rather predictable left right split. On the right Janet Daley is talking about the erosion of social values in the Telegraph: "it was the poor - struggling to keep their families on the straight and narrow - who depended on devices such as stigma and shame to police their own communities". Iain Dale links it to single parent families - lack of a strong male role model in particular. Cameron has called for a "social covenant" to extend the responsibility for fixing 'broken society' on to everyone - something similar to the "military covenant". Read the rest of this post...