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 guy.aitchison@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.  Read the rest of this post...

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...