Ken Livingstone
I Would Prefer to Adopt the German Constitution
Given that the new Labour Government is forever going on about its bold reforming agenda for the British constitution, Peter Riddell’s guide to this whole package of issues is a concise and salutary expose of how timid the government’s proposals are. Riddell looks in depth at how the power has shifted from Parliament to Europe, the judiciary, quangos, the civil service, the media and the global economy. Surprisingly, he devotes less time to the growing power of the global economy, even though it is the greatest threat to democratic accountability in today’s world – witness the current secret negotiations in which the world’s most powerful countries are planning to impose a freedom-of-capital treaty on the world economy (hiding under the bland title ‘Multilateral Agreement on Investment’).
After recounting the current abuses and sleaze which have disfigured recent politics, Riddell concludes that all this can be put right by a written constitution, an elected House of Lords, more freedom for the judges in determining whether laws contravene the Convention of Human Rights, more money for MPs who
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Rivalries are intense and dangerous, and someone has to die.'
@NJCooper_crime on new thrillers by @HenryCPorter, @k_faulkner, @annafbailey, @mserinkelly, @JoelDicker, @AlanJParks, @whartonswords and more.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/april-2021-crime-round-up
This spring, give the gift of reading.
Give a friend a gift subscription to Literary Review for only £33.50.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/spring21/
'It’s long been known that there is an optimum reproductive window and that women enjoy a considerably shorter one than men. For both sexes this window is opening and closing earlier than it used to.' (£)
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-end-of-babies