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FPTP, AV, and PR
Yesterday saw the announcement of details of the coalition government’s plan for a voting reform referendum. As suspected true proportional representation (PR) isn’t on the table. Instead the choice is between the current first past the post (FPTP) system and the proposed alternative vote (AV) system. What is FPTP? This is relatively simple, and is…
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Copyright and Patent reform
I’ve just read a great post by a fellow PPUKer on Copyrights and Patents, which is well worth a read before you continue reading my post here. Despite wanting to make non-commercial file-sharing legal, that doesn’t mean the Pirate Party UK wants to allow things such as counterfeiting and people profiting from other people’s works without proper…
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First footsteps into regional administration
Having recently been elected to the august post of Regional Administrative Officer for the South East, I have been taking a more active role in the Pirate Party. Last Sunday (and any reason other than the England v Germany result to remember the day by is most welcome) I chaired a South East regional meeting…
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Hung Parliaments, Unelected Leaders, and Proportional Representation
I voted in the 2010 General Election (if you’re reading this in the future and there were two General Elections in 2010 then I’m referring to the one in May) and have been watching the unfolding politics with interest and a lot of frustration. It isn’t the unfolding process that irritates me, instead it is…
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Happy birthday, dear Copyright, happy birthday to you.
Three hundred years ago, today, Copyright was born. Conceived in 1709 the Statute of Anne, as it is sometimes known, came into force on 10th April 1710. Despite going by the nickname of Copyright Act 1709 it was born with the much grander appellation: ‘An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies…
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Ban DRM petition
I recently signed an online petition at the UK government website putting my name down for a ban on DRM. The government has kindly put up a response. I have my own response to this: They say: ‘We believe that they should be able to continue to protect their content in this way.’ This implies…