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In his speech on Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced that he had asked the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, to “consolidate the existing unwritten, piecemeal conventions that govern much of the way central government operates under our existing constitution into a single written document”, clearly ignorant of the fact such a document already exists. Here, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, of Democratic Audit, points Sir Gus in the right direction.

If we needed to know that Britain's political system is a wreck, Gordon Brown's speech yesterday was confirmation. Chaired by Liza Harker of ippr, who retained a steady Mona Lisa smile through his performance, the Prime Minister declared the time had come for ‘New Politics’.

The commemoration of a discredited Italian prime minister exemplifies the political decadence at the country’s heart, says Geoff Andrews.

One of the most significant but largely unnoticed changes to the way we are governed in recent years has been the establishment inside the Cabinet Office of a semi-official 'Department of the Prime Minister' which, at its peak under Tony Blair, employed more than 700 staff.

The POWER 2010 campaign has launched a vital debate on the ways and means of reforming British democracy. One proposal which caught my eye is for the House of Lords to be turned into a “chamber of sectors” .

The official annual commemoration of a century of genocide and its victims should be accompanied by a responsible awareness of Britain’s own historical record, says Martin Shaw. (This article was first published on 27 January 2009)

Brown’s national roadshow about Britishness was a flop – an expensive and ill-conceived project, initiated by a Fabian Society speech, which received an unenthusiastic answer from the population. The result didn’t reveal a new form of patriotism or, on the contrary, demonstrate any strong independent feeling.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill is a stealth attack on liberty

Ivo Josipović, the professor-composer who has just won the Croatian presidential election, brings real hope to the Western Balkans

I've followed the debate that Power 2010's Deliberative Poll two weeks or so ago has generated, although I was not at the meetings myself; and I write as a great admirer of Power's earlier interventions in debates about UK democracy.

OurKingom publishes an exchange between Anthony Barnett, Guy Aitchison and Gareth Young on the question of why a referendum on an English Parliament did not make it in to the POWER2010 shortlist of democratic reform proposals.

On the eve of Ukraine’s election, Andreas Umland rebukes Europe for its indecisive policy towards Ukraine. By refusing to offer Ukraine a clear prospect of eventual EU membership, the EU has exacerbated the country’s political problems in ways which could prove disastrous.

As readers of OurKingdom will know, POWER 2010 has just launched a nationwide poll to choose five proposals for democratic reform from a list of 29 items that a deliberative assembly in London short-listed last weekend.

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP may take legal action against the Conservative Party after an internal appeal panel upheld his expulsion from the party.

Back in 2003 the police used stronger stop and search powers from the government’s anti-terrorism laws to harass, disrupt and humiliate people protesting against an arms fair in east London. Their tactics were clearly an abuse of these powers.

The latest addition to Philosophy Football's 'dissenters' T-shirt range features these words from that iconoclastic rebel Oscar Wilde...

In a democratic society, the decision to ban an organization when it is not directly responsible for violence is deeply controversial. Any such decision is surely not taken lightly. However, the Home Office proscription of the group Islam4UK announced today will only serve to undermine the government’s effort to prevent violent extremism.

Rosemary Bechler gives her account as an observer of the POWER2010 Deliberative Poll.

Not many Londoners can be happy as they grope through the frozen murkiness of the commute to their first days back at work after the winter break. Adding to their misery is London's mayor, Boris Johnson, who has made their journey much more expensive with huge fare rises.

POWER2010 Deliberative Poll on Channel 4 News