MONARCHY QUEENS CONSENT SECRECY AND ROYAL ASSENT

There are many hidden ways in which the conventionally neutral, non-political monarchy actually impinges on and influences parliamentary democracy.

The Guardian has fought against attempts to suppress revelations on how they use 'queen"s consent' to preview all parliamentary bills and indicate anything they (the monarchy) wants changed.

One revelation, kept hidden after this was debated in the Scottish Parliament, is the exemption for green energy law (Gua
rdian, July 2021). In July 2022 The Guardian published an extraordinary list of the 160+ laws with exemptions for the monarch.

This covers a range of animal welfare and environmental laws, the most basic discrimination laws, even the primary health and safety at work law, plus exemption from almost all forms of taxation on her private income.

BOSNIA GENOCIDE DENIAL OUTLAWED

Guardian:

The top international official in Bosnia has outlawed denial of genocide in the Balkan country to counter attempts by Bosnia’s Serbs to deny the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe’s only post-second world war genocide.

Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of Bosnia’s Office of the High Representative, or OHR, introduced the changes to the country’s criminal code on Friday, bringing in prison
sentences of up to five years for genocide denial and for the glorification of war criminals, including naming of streets or public institutions after them.

The OHR is the top international body overseeing implementation of the peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. It has the authority to impose decisions or dismiss officials who undermine the post-war ethnic balance and reconciliation efforts among the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, Bosnia’s Serbs and Croats.

...

Inzko said he decided to use his powers after waiting for years for Bosnia’s politicians to act. He cited a refusal by the Bosnian Serb assembly to withdraw decorations awarded to three convicted war criminals.

“The situation has gotten worse and is now getting out of hand,” he said, warning that lack of acknowledgment was “sowing the seeds” for new conflicts. “Therefore, I believe that it is now necessary to regulate this matter with legal solutions.”

The genocide in Srebrenica happened after Bosnian Serbs took control over the eastern enclave in July 1995. They executed Bosniak men and boys and dumped their remains into mass graves which were later dug out and reburied to cover the crime. The victims’ remains are still being unearthed and identified.

...

The UN security council on Thursday rejected a resolution put forward by Serb allies Russia and China that would have immediately stripped the powers of the OHR in Bosnia.

...

...the top politician in the Serb entity called Republika Srpska ... Dodik threatened to launch a process of “dissolution” of Bosnia

Bosnian Serbs also have honoured their wartime leader Radovan Karadžić and military commander Ratko Mladić as heroes, although both have been convicted of genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague-based tribunal

HOUSE OF LORDS

Wiki table of numbers 2021

HELPFUL LINKS: Wiki, BBC Bitesize; BBC doc series (iPlayer); Guardian news articles;

Hereditary peers were eventually culled to 92 under Blair reforms. The ongoing role of these, and reserved
places for religious figures, is widely known - along with a perception of corruption, the place being filled by party donors and Lords taking up the daily stipend for doing nothing in particular.

Like the famous democracy description, of course, the Lords can also be viewed as the least worst option, bringing in experts that elections tend to fail to.

Like the election of The Speaker in the Commons, there is an obscure, little-known process for that 92 to self-elect any replacement for death or retirement. The electorate is exclusively that 92 - almost all of white men of course. This was highlighted by the Guardian when the late Tony Benn's son Stephen won the 92nd seat unopposed. A doubly troubling event given his father, forced to resign his Commons seat on the inherited peerage passing to him on the death of his own father, forced a change in law to enable him to renounce his peerage and win back a Commons seat.

CORRUPTION CRONEYISM Is there an issue in UK?

Corruption is generally linked to weak democracies dominated by single party rule, but is hardly unknown in Europe or the USA. Brazil's populist president faces calls to step down, for example, not least for perceived corruption.

Governments of both major parties have faced accusations of corruption, and the unchecked ability of former ministers to make millions 'advising'/lobbying for corporations after they've left government is a stain on both major UK parties. The huge fees for giving talks can be seen as a quid pro quo too.

The Conservatives, as the traditional party of business as opposed to the unions, are especially prone to such accusations (New Labour faced this on health, housing, energy and arms deals especially). A new report highlights the likelihood of 'aggregated corruption' over housing, with huge amounts paid to the Tories by building companies and correspondingly high number of meetings with ministers. MPs expressed anger that 10% of Treasury officials had all phone message data wiped, without any backup, including those facing FoI demands to release texts linked to the Cameron lobbying scandal.

UN snippets

---TBC: I'LL GATHER SOME LATER POSTS HERE TOO FOR SIMPLICITY---

RUSSIA USING VETO TO BLOCK AID TO SYRIAN REBELS - DOES THE VETO BREAK THE UN?

Somewhat shocking or simply realpolitik?

Russia was pressured into agreeing to a UN motion to deliver aid into Syria without the government's permission at the time it was invading the Crimea and hosting the Sochi Olympic Games. Now it has used it's Vero to block 3 of 4 routes agreed in the UN, with the last up for a security council vote next week - and likely to be vetoed, possibly causing mass starvation. (Guardian)

Perhaps an example of the UN at its most AND least effective? Are the vetoes the problem? The USA routinely uses its veto, and diplomatic threats/pressure, to block resolutions favourable to Palestine or critical of Israel (and for many green policies). It's seen as a failure of diplomacy when countries use their veto; many votes are scrapped when it's clear this will happen, though equally some are forced to cause diplomatic embarrassment to the vetoing power.

Here's a useful Wiki on the veto. This is a decent summary:

The veto power is controversial. Supporters regard it as a promoter of international stability,[2] a check against military interventions,[3] and a critical safeguard against US domination.[4] Critics say that the veto is the most undemocratic element of the UN,[5] as well as the main cause of inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity, as it effectively prevents UN action against the permanent members and their allies.[6]

Is the UK an authoritarian state?

(On voting rights, the US is? Read a dissenting Supreme Court Justice's furious attack on her colleagues, even as Texas seeks to join Arizona in extraordinary, sweeping voting laws widely perceived as a poll tax and Jim Crow 2)

The UK is a template for many democracies around the world - partly a reflection of its colonial past but also partly the historic age of democracy here.

But, just as with the US under Trump (and arguably under supposed liberal predecessors who oversaw massive prison populations), the UK is increasingly seen as little more democratic than states like Poland and Hungary where leaders openly critique liberal democracy and suppress forms of opposition and limits to their executive power.

Considering Johnson's record on media intimidation, threats to the independent judiciary (in league with a mostly allied press), increasing attempts to control or neuter independent broadcast media (BBC and C4, with attempts to place controversial ideologue Paul Dacre in OfCom on top of BBC appointments, license fee cuts and mooted C4 privatisation), race-baiting and extreme anti-immigration policies (frequently condemned by the courts here and internationally), proroguing parliament, perceived croneyism, refusal to enforce the minister's code, and now attempts to suppress voting, give police absolute power to suppress and prosecute virtually any form of protest ... There is a case to answer.

That is partly down to party politics and the electoral system, with the link to a highly biased press; populism and personality dominating policy; and a global pushback against democratic norms led by the Trump regime.

Can the UK be judged authoritarian now; or is it on the path towards this; or is that an exaggerated liberal outlook? You can make a good case for all 3 of those viewpoints, and should be able to identify one detail favouring each.

Here's a Guardian editorial which favours the middle position.

ECONOMICS WELFARE YOUTH Pension rise 8% as triple-lock boosts pensioners

Pensioners are highly likely to vote, and overall are much more conservative than the young, who of course are least likely to vote, and so considered less of a spending priority.

The BBC explain the Tory "triple-lock" pensions promise and why it could lead to a whopping 8% increase. Remember - nurses, the "heroes" the government urged people to bang pans for, have been offered a 1% increase.

NI GFA How power-sharing works

Handy BBC overview.