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Taking the Party out of Politics

Taking the Party out of Politics - Episode 5

Season 1, Ep. 5

Parliament or Government?


Many people might think that they are the same thing, but they really aren’t.


If we are clear about the differences, we can identify problems with how the system isn’t working in our best interests.


Parliament has to look closely at (scrutinise) how the Government is running things, and at what the Government is planning to do, to make sure that decisions are open and transparent, workable and efficient, and fair and non-discriminatory.


The Government is responsible for deciding:


• How the country is run


• Managing things day to day


• Setting taxes


• Choosing what to spend public money on


• Choosing how best to deliver public services


Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK. Parliament can create (or end) any law.


The Government is the group of people who are responsible for running the country.


Parliament looks closely at the Government’s plans, and monitors the way the Government is running things, to hold the Government to account for its actions… independently?

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  • 34. Interview with the podcast host

    28:18||Season 3, Ep. 34
    Award winning playwright Chris Lee takes time out his busy schedule to interview the host of Taking the Party Out of Politics, Andrew Brown, about the political ideas behind the podcast, about his motivation for putting it all together, and together they explore whether it will be possible to make the sorts of changes to our political landscape which are the conclusion of the podcast series.
  • 33. Changing the Way We Use the System

    28:21||Season 3, Ep. 33
    It's not that people don't care enough. Absolutely not.But when we campaign about single issues, we are separate.  The thinking is not (obviously) linked up. And it too easy for government to nod, and to simply ignore.It's not that we need more consultation.But consultations can be simply a way of allowing the public to let off steam before the government does what it was going to do anyway. We need meaningful, engaged consultations, which look at the real impacts.It's not that we need more online petitions.But a collection of (potentially) uninformed online votes is too easy to justify ignoring. We need to demonstrate that our opinions are properly informed, and that we understand the wider context.We need to do more as individuals.We need to ensure that we are better informed.   And to ensure that our elected representatives know what we are better informed.We need to use our systems differently.From Citizen Assemblies, to Citizen Scrutiny, to Citizen Government, to Citizen Information, to Citizen Thinking.
  • 32. Citizen Thinking

    27:24||Season 3, Ep. 32
    None of us is as clever as all of us together.  We need to listen to experts.  But we also need to allow space for good ideas to come from anywhere.Together, not separatelyIt should be about the quality of the ideas, not about how good you are at lobbying; or how much money or power or connections a lobby group has.To run a country, all these things need to come together.People + good information = good decisionsWe need to be careful. We should listen, but we should not be herded into all thinking the same way.Sharing knowledge is power.
  • 31. Citizen Information

    25:43||Season 3, Ep. 31
    Ignorance is bliss. And it can also be funny.  But it can also be extremely dangerous.We need to know what the basic facts about the world actually are. Otherwise, how do we know when some new piece of information is important.We need to make sure that we have accurate, up to date information. We need to agree on the facts. We can’t have political discussion descending into whether my statistics are more accurate than yours.  Statistics should be … statistics.
  • 30. Citizen Government

    24:11||Season 3, Ep. 30
    Could selected Citizens (rather than 'elected representatives') actually be asked to do the jobs which our Government and Ministers are doing at the moment? How successful could they be expected to be? What might we gain, and what might we risk losing?
  • 29. Citizen Scrutiny

    36:40||Season 3, Ep. 29
    A system which uses informed, balanced, objective, engaged people – citizens – to call our politicians to account, to check that they are doing their job.It’s not a party-political thing. But it is a political thing. It’s making sure that the process of Scrutinizing what our elected Government and Ministers are doing is neutral, constructive, and independent.
  • 28. Citizens' Assemblies

    23:02||Season 3, Ep. 28
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  • 27. A Summary of Challenges

    31:43||Season 3, Ep. 27
    If you are just joining us today, then you are in luck, because today we are going to have a quick overview of all the big ideas which we have covered over the last 26 or so episodes. Why politics isn’t working for us, the voters, and why it isn’t really even working for the politicians who are trying to do their bests on our behalf, struggling to work within the political systems. Why there are some problems with the very nature of what we call representative democracy and electoral systems, but also why there are some problems which political parties bring on top of those structural problems.Today, we are going to group our review around three main areas: Voters and Voting, Representative Democracy, and Political Parties.
  • 26. The Northern Ireland Protocol

    08:49||Season 2, Ep. 26
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