Norm Coleman has conceded victory to Al Franken in the Minnesota senate race after eight months of recounts and litigation, as reported by the Star Tribune. It has been obvious for some time that Franken was going to have the election given to him; delaying by Coleman was to keep the GOP’s ability to filibuster [...]

Today will see the writ moved for the by-election in Norwich North where Dr Ian Gibson has resigned. In advance of the poll on 23rd July, the Universities & Colleges Union have commissioned a poll that makes interesting reading. The headlines are, with my comments underneath: Half of people aged 18-34 (48% of people aged [...]

Jack of Kent has rapidly become one of my favourite blogs; it is in the ‘must read’ section of my RSS. Firstly, he has a rare ability amongst lawyers: that of making complex legal principles and processes understandable to the layperson. Secondly, he campaigns tirelessly for one of the great rights: freedom of speech. Thirdly, [...]

A question posed by Matt Wardman. Here’s the data he presents, from PSR Keele, as a chart. What this tells me is that, in terms of actually winning the election, assuming that Labour do at least moderately well in Scotland and Wales, it’s only England that matters. We need to wait to see what effects [...]

Any ideas as to why a server move might break the WordPress permalink structure? # I’m giving up the battle with .htaccess and WordPress permalinks for the evening. # Sitting in the green room at Al Jazeera # 63 votes went to the eliminated candidates. John Bercow’s lead atm is 67. #newspeaker # Why couldn’t [...]

Bertrand Piccard, latest scion of the family of balloonists and inventors, is going to fly an aircraft called the Solar Impulse around the world. Solar Impulse is, as the name suggests, a solar-powered, heavier-than-air vehicle. For climatic and mineralogical reasons, we need to use less oil; indeed, it would appear that we need to use [...]

I’ve been tagged in a slightly odd meme by the irrepressible Matt Wardman: The assignment: Your phone, exactly 139 words explaining why it is your phone, and a hero. Here goes… This is my phone. I use it to wake me up, email, text, Twitter, TwitPic, surf the internet, blog, read, write and even, to [...]

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum”. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner”. I appreciate my interpreter translating my German! There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free [...]

How’d I do? I should add thanks to Aaron & Sunny at Liberal Conspiracy for passing on Al J’s request. xD.

After John Bercow was elected by the Commons, he had to receive royal approbation in the Lords. One of the occasional pieces of Byzantine theatre in which the Palace of Westminster revels then ensued. The Speaker-Elect, together with the Serjeant-at-Arms, Black Rod and assorted MPs, go to the bar of the House of Lords, stopping [...]