Disraeli Room

Over the last year we have seen a sudden huge increase in food prices across the world, nearly reaching the levels recorded during the 2008 food crisis, which lead to the number of chronically malnourished people in the world rising by nearly 115 million according to the World Food Programme. The price of basic crops like wheat and maize has increased by over 70% in the last year alone.

This sudden spike has been accompanied by a steady rise in the price of basic foods over the last decade. Climate change, increased use of biofuels and a falling dollar are often cited as factors that contribut

I vaguely remember my first visit to the polling station: stroll in, tick a box, stroll out. But on exiting the booth, I distinctly remember thinking, ‘Is that it? Is that what we call democracy? One vote amongst the sea of others’ opinions?’ Common sense told me that no, this is of course not the be all and end all of my democratic participation, but it has since left me wondering whether such ‘common sense’ is adhered to in all political cases.

Despite the Government’s renewed efforts to cultivate a more participative democracy, I fear that we will be stuck within the ‘managerial’ and market-based paradigm for some time.

Writing last week on today’s AV referendum, I argued that:

It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which AV would be pragmatic – all you have to do is look at Canada. As one of the many Commonwealth countries to have adopted the Westminster voting system, Canada is a great case study of its more problematic features. Next month, Canada will hold its fourth general election in seven years (four general elections ago in the UK, Tony Blair came to power). Worse still, the most recent polling suggests that this election will return an almost identical res