Friday, 11 July 2014
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Scotland's Vote 6: The Power of Precedent
The UK does not have a written constitution. This is a weird and archaic way to run a democracy, but it has some interesting consequences.
There are various Acts of Parliament for "constitutional" matters, such as the Parliament Acts and Human Rights Act, but in theory they can be amended or abolished at any time by a simple majority in Parliament. The underlying constitution is built on common law, unwritten custom and precedent. If an important precedent is laid down, later governments ignore it at their peril.
One of the very few good aspects of the Iraq War was that before it started, Tony Blair held a vote in the House of Commons to authorise a declaration of war. In the past, Prime Ministers had declared war under royal prerogative without consulting Parliament; for example, this was done by Margaret Thatcher at the start of the the Falklands War. In theory, Blair could have done the same thing, but the Iraq War was so controversial that he wanted the political cover of endorsement by MPs.
The Commons vote on military action in Syria in 2013 reinforced this precedent. David Cameron was a supporter of airstrikes in Syria, but his government lost the vote, so plans for military action were shelved. A good discussion of the wider legal issues is here.
The Scottish referendum has established another important precedent: If a majority of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood votes to hold a referendum on independence, the Westminster government will cooperate and abide by the result.
If there is a Yes vote on 18 September, Scotland will declare independence and this becomes a moot point. But if there is a No vote and Scotland remains within the UK, Holyrood will retain the option of holding another independence referendum.
There are various Acts of Parliament for "constitutional" matters, such as the Parliament Acts and Human Rights Act, but in theory they can be amended or abolished at any time by a simple majority in Parliament. The underlying constitution is built on common law, unwritten custom and precedent. If an important precedent is laid down, later governments ignore it at their peril.
One of the very few good aspects of the Iraq War was that before it started, Tony Blair held a vote in the House of Commons to authorise a declaration of war. In the past, Prime Ministers had declared war under royal prerogative without consulting Parliament; for example, this was done by Margaret Thatcher at the start of the the Falklands War. In theory, Blair could have done the same thing, but the Iraq War was so controversial that he wanted the political cover of endorsement by MPs.
The Commons vote on military action in Syria in 2013 reinforced this precedent. David Cameron was a supporter of airstrikes in Syria, but his government lost the vote, so plans for military action were shelved. A good discussion of the wider legal issues is here.
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| The Palace of Westminster, home of the UK Parliament. Source: Wikipedia |
The Scottish referendum has established another important precedent: If a majority of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood votes to hold a referendum on independence, the Westminster government will cooperate and abide by the result.
If there is a Yes vote on 18 September, Scotland will declare independence and this becomes a moot point. But if there is a No vote and Scotland remains within the UK, Holyrood will retain the option of holding another independence referendum.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Death and Facebook
"There were things to suggest to a thinking man that the Creator of mankind had a very oblique sense of fun indeed, and to breed in his heart a rage to storm the gates of heaven." --- Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
Social media has unexpected consequences.
Today I saw a post on Facebook by a woman whose baby had just died. I don't know this woman, or her husband. To the best of my knowledge, I have never met either of them. They are not on my Facebook "friends" list. All I have to say to them is that this is a terribly sad loss. I cannot imagine what it feels like, but even though they are total strangers my heart goes out to them.
I am sure Facebook's privacy settings were the last thing on their minds; so it would seem the post is "public". Of course the post attracted many comments, including at least one from a friend of mine (in both the real and Facebook senses of the word). The post is promoted to friends of the mother's friends, and so it shows up in my newsfeed, with the ultimate aim of generating more pageviews and more revenue for Facebook.
Friday, 4 July 2014
Cute Cat Friday 2014-07-04: Belle
Happy Independence Day to the Americans! Belle is flying the flag for the occasion.
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Rioting and tear gas: Or, what I did on my holidays
I did not intend for my holiday in Istanbul to involve close observation of a battle between protesters and riot police. It just worked out that way.
Some friends and I happened to visit Istanbul on the first anniversary of the 2013 Taksim Square protests. I only realised this when the manager of my holiday apartment mentioned that we should be careful on Saturday 31 May. By then it was much too late to change our plans, and there weren't any official warnings, so we didn't give it much more thought.
Our apartment was located on the second floor of a nineteenth-century building in the district of Beyoğlu, formerly known as Galata. It is a fashionable neighbourhood of Istanbul, popular with tourists and the more bohemian locals; it's notable for a large number of musical instrument shops. We were about a mile from Taksim Square, and 500 meters from the British Consulate.
Saturday began calmly enough. The streets were full of people as usual, including plenty of locals. Some sort of street repairs were going on, but nothing substantial. We went out for a day of sightseeing and had an enjoyable time visiting the Sulemaniye Mosque and Grand Bazaar.
On the way back, we saw some riot police in side streets, but they were relaxed, standing around with their helmets off, talking and smoking. So we continued up to our apartment to relax before going out for dinner.
About fifteen minutes later, we noticed crowds marching in the street below us and shouting slogans.
To start with, it looked like the kind of boisterous but peaceful protest familiar from Britain. Before long, most of the crowds cleared the street; probably the police had ordered them to disperse. A few of them remained behind, and were confronted by a line of riot cops.
What we saw
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| Riot police assembling in the street below our apartment. Credit: Patrick Down / Flickr |
Some friends and I happened to visit Istanbul on the first anniversary of the 2013 Taksim Square protests. I only realised this when the manager of my holiday apartment mentioned that we should be careful on Saturday 31 May. By then it was much too late to change our plans, and there weren't any official warnings, so we didn't give it much more thought.
Our apartment was located on the second floor of a nineteenth-century building in the district of Beyoğlu, formerly known as Galata. It is a fashionable neighbourhood of Istanbul, popular with tourists and the more bohemian locals; it's notable for a large number of musical instrument shops. We were about a mile from Taksim Square, and 500 meters from the British Consulate.
Saturday began calmly enough. The streets were full of people as usual, including plenty of locals. Some sort of street repairs were going on, but nothing substantial. We went out for a day of sightseeing and had an enjoyable time visiting the Sulemaniye Mosque and Grand Bazaar.
On the way back, we saw some riot police in side streets, but they were relaxed, standing around with their helmets off, talking and smoking. So we continued up to our apartment to relax before going out for dinner.
About fifteen minutes later, we noticed crowds marching in the street below us and shouting slogans.
To start with, it looked like the kind of boisterous but peaceful protest familiar from Britain. Before long, most of the crowds cleared the street; probably the police had ordered them to disperse. A few of them remained behind, and were confronted by a line of riot cops.
Monday, 30 June 2014
Chef: Review
It is with some trepidation that I review Chef, because its main character breaks into a volcanic rage provoked by a less than positive review. So let me start by saying I enjoyed this film very much; it has some great laughs, and a sensual love of good food runs through it like a marvellous sauce binding the elements of a dish together. It does have its flaws though, and I am prepared to take the risk that a furious Jon Favreau will show up at my house.
Friday, 27 June 2014
Cute Cat Friday 2014-06-27: Belle
Watching from under the wheelbarrow as I try to clear the more Amazonian weeds from the far end of the garden.
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