Picture the scene. July 2004, Downing Street. A shirtsleeved Tony Blair and his court are conducting the business of government from the sofa. So where are we going to host
Theres a disproportionate fuss going on at the heart of British democracy.
Last week, I wrote about the legions of little democratic platoons up and down the country who
Beneath Britain's "first-past-the-post" electoral system, a quiet revolution is taking place. Tony Blair's governing Labour Party may have won a decisive parliamentary majority on
Britains professional opinion-formers are agreed: the 2005 general election has been a damp squib of a contest.
Voters arent interested. The major issues are not in play. The
The Mother of Parliaments is hailed as a model for the world, an inspiration for wannabe democracies.
Rigged elections, for example, are what happen to them. Think Ukraine. Think Kyrgyzstan.
Politics, said George Orwell, is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
British politics to run with this theme is founded on the goofy notion of collective responsibility.
For a firsthand insight into British politics, take a ride on the London Underground.
An ancient, rickety, appallingly-managed, overpriced service, half-owned by the public, the tube is forever stuffed full
Britain's election: whats causing voter apathy? Dominic Hilton visits Birmingham, Englands second city, where a vote-rigging scandal and Conservative leader Michael Howard offer some answers.
Dominic
Theres something about war that does wonders for a nations international profile.
The United Kingdom is presently basking in the global spotlight in a way not seen since
Timothy Garton Ash is a scholar-journalist whose eight big-selling books on Germany, Poland, the revolutions of 1989, and relations between the United States and Europe fall into a self-invented category:
The United States of America is on a hiding to nothing.
In the conspiratorial alleys of the Arab Street, Uncle Sam is flogged like a habitual adulterer. In the bars
There were over eighty national elections in 2004, including thirty presidential contests.
But I just typed Elections 2004 into my Google search engine and in the first twenty results, only
