European Political News

The Lib Dems have some more proposals about voting reform over on Lib Dem Voice. On this occasion it is Laurence Boyce proposing "weighted votes". I have an alternative suggestion.

Earlier this week I interviewed Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in his parliamentary office. Such great revelations as emerged are mostly reserved, Im afraid, for Third Way magazine " which is not some kind of house journal for Blairism, but a Christian social ethics and current affairs monthly founded in the 1970s. What they had in mind in using the title “Third Way” was a re-framing of standard political discourse in terms of principles emerging from the biblical traditions of social thought. The Influence of Personal Convictions on Politics Anyway, the influence of religion and other personally grounded [notice I didnt say private] convictions in the political arena was obviously one of the issues I wanted to discuss with the new head of Britains third party " especially as there was a minor fuss when he proclaimed, shortly after his election as leader, that he was an atheist. Well, thats what most people think occurred. As a matter of fact, there was no such announcement. What happened was that Clegg responded to one of those quick fire interviews, was asked whether he believed in God, and was given only two possibilities, yes or no. So he chose the one that approximates closest to his view. On that basis many headlines and columns were written. This little episode certainly tells you rather more about media pigeonholing than it does about the subtleties of Mr Clegg, as you will find out when you read Mays Third Way. But it also highlights a rather important question that hardly figures at all on the commentariats agenda. As I put it in one of my sideways interrogations, How do you think not believing in God impacts on the way you conceive politics and the way you make political decisions? Though Nick Clegg is undoubtedly a thoughtful man, Im probably not breaking any embargoes by revealing that this question took him a bit by surprise. I suspect the same would be true of almost any figure in public life. We have got very used to enquiring about how religion should or should not enter into the political process through the pores of politicians who do God in other aspects of their lives (at least). However, it rarely occurs to anybody that non-belief might be anything more substantial than a rejection of, or aversion to, religious faith " whatever that means for the person doing the non-believing. (more…)