Jude Smith

Its 0649. I'm sat on the one sofa in the house that looks out of a window. There is not much of a view to speak of- an empty house, the road.. the big bird poo splash on the window (always happens in between the window cleaner cleaning and when he turns up to be paid). I have a light on (come on jet stream do your thing). I have an open book by my side and an empty coffee cup on the floor. I'm sat in a big old woollen cardigan that makes me feel both warm and a little like Grace out of Waking the Dead. I'm contemplating the day ahead- meeting in school this morning, I'm gearing up to be forceful in defence of some other people. Then its an Olympics meeting.. not with LOGOC but with local youth workers, then its all about the end of year event for our youth project. The day finishes with a celebration of the a new role for a friend. Its quiet. I enjoy the quiet. These are the moments for me which set me up, where with food and drink for body, mind and my...

So the government has backed down on House of Lords reform. That is sheer cowardice and may be the beginning of the end of the coalition- agood parliamentary whacking would have been good for all.. Voices within the LibDem party have to start talking about replacing Clegg before the next election if they are to regain any credibility (or in fact keep their deposits). Anyway- I have to say I am cautious about Lord’s reform. Yes, the Lord’s is too big. It is weird that you can still get born to it. It is a place of massive patronage- its like school inspectors, you got thrown out as a politician so have a seat in the Lords. But, and I know that I may get thrown out of all sorts of places for saying this. We need an unelected chamber. Look what our random, crazy ass version of democracy (which isn’t democracy its representative government and is far from that) is doing to us. Look at who gets pandered to and who gets ignored. Look at the gerrymandering and lack of voting clo...