David Ford

Experts say: Get this momentous legislation right. — UK Anti-Corruption Coalition *For immediate release* Thursday 12 February 2026 – Today, following the introduction of the Representation of the People Bill, the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition is urging the Government to go furt...

The govt has one legislative chance to fix our politics. The Representation of the People Bill published yesterday contains promising first steps but it needs to go a LOT further if it is going to stop rich, bad actors interfering in our politics.
www.ukanticorruptioncoalition.org/work/experts...

The entire UK could follow Scottish Councils, NI Assembly and councils, and everything in RoI and adopt STV.
Keeps manageable constituencies, later preferences count if voters can't have first choice, and is generally proportional.

This week marks the national Mind Your Head campaign, shining a light on mental health and suicide prevention in farming. I’m proud to support this vital message.
More: buff.ly/NTx6HmP

Northern Ireland already has the (limited) benefits of being in the single market for goods.

Eóin Tennyson calls for new UK-EU Customs Union Mr Tennyson said Brexit had created new barriers for businesses and contributed to rising costs for households.

The current UK Government is taking baby steps closer to the EU.
It's time to recognise that it needs to be much bolder, starting with a renewed Customs Union.
www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/norther...

2024 showed that FPTP can deliver massive majority in Commons from 30% of the vote. Thar could happen for Reform Ltd in 2029.
STV in multi-member constituencies would allow a Lab-LD-G majority to stop that.

I appreciate the relentless pressure the BBC is placing on Starmer over what he knew about Mandelson. It would be refreshing to see them place Farage under similarly relentless scrutiny over what he knew about Nathan Gill who has been convicted. Instead, Farage's denials are taken at face value.

A lovely tribute to Jim Wallace from @amcarmichaelmp.bsky.social. Alistair mentions his experience in government benefitting his colleagues in the 2010 coalition.
Jim was also generous in his time talking to the first incoming devolved Justice Minister in NI.

The UK government didn't want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I'm not surprised | George Monbiot It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem.
Thank you.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Who needs enemies when you’ve got friends like Donald Trump?” #bbcqt

@LaylaMoran.bsky.social

The difference between Carney and Starmer is that Carney has nothing to lose while Starmer is still trying to delay the inevitable. But Carney’s freedom to tell the truth and the respect it demands is striking compared to the sycophancy to which Starmer has condemned himself.

Lucid Talk poll shows that 15% of UUP voters are opposed to any co-operation with DUP & TUV.
Presumably they are the UUP voters who transfer to Alliance - a group which proponents of Unionist unity fail to recognise.

Why restoring nature can work so much more effectively when led by local people Restoring the ability of local communities to act as guardians of nature is a promising approach to both ecological and social recovery.

Nature restoration is so much more effective when led by local communities.
share.google/cxOUQhiLrt92...

@markpackuk.bsky.social has a fairly up to date list:
........
And it didn't take long for us to get to the first time this year that Reform has had to suspend a councillor: buff.ly/euUoTPp

Full list of Reform departures: buff.ly/a76Y8o2

Surely some of them have a full 5% increase?

Keir Starmer should condemn Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela.

Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe.

Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity.

The Christmas decorations are not down yet. But the Easter egg promotion has already started. Much like our weather and seasons everything is slowly getting mixed up and out of place. 🤯😔

A pretty good example of all that is wrong with AMS as a proportional system.

When the vagaries of D'Hondt formula in six seat closed list constituencies in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 destroys Welsh Labour as an effective force, will Starmer and McSweeney see the value of STV to preserve Labour role in a progressive coalition (assuming Labour is progressive)?

Post Office had deal with Fujitsu to fix Horizon errors 19 years ago - BBC News The emergence of a document contradicts claims made by the Post Office over bugs in its IT system during criminal prosecutions.

The revelation directly contradicts the Post Office's claims during criminal prosecutions - which led to hundreds of wrongful convictions and civil cases that destroyed livelihoods - that no bugs existed capable of causing accounting shortfalls.

Six parties in contention with list system in 6 seaters, so quite unproportional. (In 1996, we saw this in NI in 5 seaters and have used STV since.)
Unlike STV, no chance to express preferences and no choice among candidates within parties.

I know from my time in DOJ that this will have taken a lot of work by @naomilong.bsky.social and the @justice-ni.bsky.social team.
Well done.

Much needed upgrade of Enterprise rolling stock, but track extension and electrification is also needed on Dublin-Belfast and across the island, N and S.

"Lord President Emeritus" perhaps?

Have you comparable data from E&W and Scotland?
(NI figures clearly the result of excellent work by DOJ 😉)

Lib Dems swapping Middlesbrough for Exmouth seems to confirm the recent "two party" maps, with 💠NE:🔶️SW divide along Watling Street (more or less).

Executive ‘gridlock’ so bad a spreadsheet is needed to track ‘blocked’ papers A Stormont minister has claimed “gridlock” within the Executive has got so bad that a spreadsheet has been created to keep track of all the policy proposals being blocked by the DUP.

Tales from Stormont, part 999.
m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...

The prime minister’s economic adviser also suggested that rejoining the EU customs union would be one of the most effective ways of generating growth. This too was quickly knocked back. - Rachel Sylvester, Political Editor, The Observer

What’s the point of Keir Starmer employing an economics advisor if he ignores her on the biggest economic issue of the day?