May election results: coalition blues
As the election results come in (with the AV vote expected tonight) we take a quick look at what they all mean. Already it is clear that the Lib dems have taken a well-deserved hammering.
May 2011
AV scam – no thanks!
Not too late to take part in the second non-event of the year, following
on from the Royal Wedding of last week. Yes it is referendum day where
we get to choose how we elect our MPs.
Buck house cleaners demand a living wage
While the Great and Good were busy spending our
money on the Royal Wedding, low-paid cleaners at Buckingham Palace were
fighting to increase their meagre wages to something like a decent level. Sign
the petition in their support.
The handing over of Pérez Becerra and the strategy of the Venezuelan revolution
The arrest
in Venezuela of Colombian political refugee Joaquín Pérez Becerra and
his hand over to the Colombian authorities by the government of
president Chávez has raised deeper questions about the strategy of the
Venezuelan revolution.
Canada’s 2011 Election: Historic NDP breakthrough; Liberals and Bloc Quebecois decimated
The
political landscape of Canada has changed, potentially in an irrevocable
way. The Liberal Party, formerly Canada’s “natural governing party”,
has been reduced to a rump of 34 seats, having received only 19% of the
vote. The separatist Bloc Quebecois, which has dominated Quebec since
the party’s foundation 20 years ago, has been swept aside by the NDP’s
“orange wave” and has been left with only four seats. The New Democratic
Party, Canada’s labour party, has leapt into second place with a
record-breaking 102 seats, and 31% of the vote.
The assassination of Bin Laden – Terrorism and state terrorism
“A middle-aged nonentity, a
political failure outstripped by history – by the millions of Arabs
demanding freedom and democracy in the Middle East – died in Pakistan
yesterday. And then the world went mad.” (Robert Fisk, 3 May, 2011)