The Alternative Vote. Time for a Change? Episode 11

 The Summing up of the debate at Warwick University during the Referendum Campaign of 2011. The opposition to the Alternative Vote was led by my good friend Mark Wallace.

Alternative Vote. Time for Change? Episode 10

 Speech by John Strafford in a debate at Warwick University during the Referendum Campaign of 2011. This speech covers the history of the Alternative Vote and sets out what it means and why it is preferable to First Past The Post!

Essential Reading for every Patriot!

 Essential reading for every Patriot and believer in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

Alternative Vote - Time for a change? Episode 9

 2011 A debate at a meeting of the Tonbridge Conservatives. Stephen Parkinson (now Lord Parkinson) speaks for the No campaign and John Strafford speaks for the Yes campaign!

Alternative Vote - Time For A Change?

 During the 2011 Referendum on the Alternative Vote I debated the issue with Stephen Parkinson (now Lord Parkinson) at a meeting of Tonbridge Conservatives. I was delighted to see in the audience former MEP Ben Patterson and his wife Felicity. Here is my speech!

The Alternative Vote - Time for Change? Episode 7

 During the Referendum Campaign in February 2011 a debate about the Alternative Vote was held by the Buckingham Conservatives at Thame.   The speakers were Charlotte Vere (now Lady Vere) and John Strafford.   Here are the closing speeches.

Alternative Vote - Time for a change - Episode 6

 2011 Thame Conservatives debate the Alternative Vote.

Alternative Vote - Time for a Change? Episode 5

 Why the Conservative Party has traditionally supported First Past The Post as our electoral system and why it is time for a change!

See Alternative Vote - Is it Time? Episode 1 revised, below:

 See Alternative Vote - Is it Time? Episode 1 revised, below:

Time for the Alternative Vote? (Episode 4)

 Yes to AV

Time For The Alternative Vote? (Episode 3)

 Hung Parliaments!

Time For The Alternative Vote? (Episode 2)

 Only Three Countries have the Alternative Vote! 

Time for the Alternative vote? Episode 1 Revised

 If we had the Alternative Vote system for a General Election, today we would probably have a right of centre government.   Perhaps we should reconsider this!  

 A vote on whether the UK should adopt the Alternative Vote was lost in the referendum of 2011. At the time the UK had two main parties and the people opted for First Past the post. That has now changed and there are at least five political parties which creates large differences in the number of votes cast for a Part and the number of seats the Party gets sin Parliament. Should we now have the Alternative Vote?

Strafford questions for Kwasi Kwarteng and his response!

 The Straffords put the following questions to Kwasi Kwarteng. See his response:

Caroline: " Is it good for democracy that one man who has only been in parliament for a week can become Prime Minister?"

John: "Kwasi, you and Liz Truss were well and truly stitched up. Ritchie wanted to be Prime Minister, the Labour Party wanted to blame the Conservatives for financial incompetence and Andrew Bailey wanted to blame you for his own incompetence, because the Bank of England's own pension scheme was about to go bust! When did you realise you had become part of an Establishment coup?"

Click on site below:

Straffords put questions to Kwasi Kwarteng and his response!

Conservative Party set out it's strategic proposals for a Party Constitution!

 In early 1998 the Conservative Party set out it's strategic proposals for a Party Constitution. Only problem is that no one had seen the document. Archie Norman sets out his views. John Strafford responds!

Nadim Zahawi : How do you stop big financial donors taking over the Reform Party

 

Discussion between Nadim Zahawi and Mark Littlewood.   I asked the question "How can you stop the Reform Party being taken over by big financial donors, who when in control will then determine policy".

https://youtu.be/_thSAxaZu9Y?si=dA53e7bsdXlEFwzP&t=2305

Climate Change! What has Happened?

 The following is from Liam Fox's book "The Coming Storm" :

"The scorching summer of 1858 brought things to crisis point.   In June with temperatures averaging 34 to 36 degrees in the shade and up to 48 degrees in the sun, the dry conditions saw the river levels drop to such a low level that raw effluent from the city sewers lay on the riverbanks.   It was the beginning of what became know as the "Great Stink".   Charles Dickens wrote " I can certify that the offensive smells, even in that short whiff, have been of a most head and stomach distending nature"."

What has happened to Climate Change in the time since then?

Should the Conservative Party work with the Reform Party?

Should the Conservative Party work together with the Reform Party?

Mark Littlewood discusses with James Frayne.

Click below to see:

https://youtu.be/UGSQNxCoFnk?si=kSiNhw7_kWOcqItF

Is it any wonder new homes are not being built?

 Is it any wonder new homes are not being built?   

Here is part of a list Southwark Council requires from a developer when submitting a planning application; (Daily Telegraph25 April 2026).   It is estimated that these will involve over a thousand pages of documentation and involve a great deal of expense employing experts to compile these reports!

• Whole life cycle carbon assessment.
• Circular economy statement.
• Be seen energy monitoring spreadsheet.
• Urban greening factor assessment.
• Air quality positive assessment.
• Micro-climate assessment.
• Townscape visual impact assessment.
• Biodiversity net gain assessment.
• Business relocation strategy (if any small shops might be displaced).
• BREEM pre-assessment (a sustainability certification pre-check before building has started).
• Student management plan (including arrangements for short-term holiday rentals during vacations).
• Bat survey (required where development might affect bats' foraging or commuting habitats).
• Archaeological evaluation report.
• Sport and leisure facilities assessment (if any existing sports facilities are affected).
• Trip generation report (a full traffic study).

In the first quarter of this year 23 of London's 32 boroughs started no new homes.

Private housing starts in the capital have plummeted by 84% since 2015.

Equality of outcomes or Equality of opportunity – You Decide!

 

Equality of outcomes or Equality of opportunity – You Decide!

Excerpt from

Crime and Punishment

By

Fyodor Dostoevsky

“In earlier times it was said to me: “Love your  neighbour” and I acted on it, what was the result?    The result was that I divided my cloak with my neighbour and we were both left half naked, for according to the Russian proverb: “If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.” Science, however, says: love yourself first of all, for everything in the world is based on personal interest.   If you love yourself alone, you will conduct your affairs properly, and your cloak will remain whole.   Economic truth adds that the more private enterprises are established, and the more, so to say, whole cloaks there are in a society, the firmer will be its foundations and the more will be undertaken for the common good.   That is to say, that by the very fact of devoting my gains solely and exclusively to myself, I am at the same time benefiting the whole community, and ensuring that my neighbour receives something better than half a torn cloak, and that not by private, isolated bounty, but as a consequence of the general economic advancement.   The idea is simple, but, unfortunately, has been too long in finding acceptance, obscured as it is by vaporous ideals and misguided enthusiasms, a certain keenness of intellect, it would seem is necessary.”