Ruminative Rumblings

Author: John Parkinson

  • Am I the only one who thinks driverless cars are a slightly mad idea?

    Am I the only one who thinks driverless cars are a slightly mad idea?

    I keep seeing and hearing stories about driverless cars but am getting increasingly struck by a visual image that won’t leave me alone. It’s an image that is making me wonder whether driverless cars are evidence that we have gone collectively insane. Driverless cars are almost always promoted as being a solution to problems of safety, pollution and…

  • Irish equal marriage: it’s deliberation “wot won it”

    Irish equal marriage: it’s deliberation “wot won it”

    It’s a glorious morning for democrats and equal rights campaigners everywhere:  the Irish have voted nearly 2 to 1 to allow equal marriage rights regardless of sex. However, this is a big day for deliberative democrats too, because in all the coverage about the referendum, what keeps getting forgotten is that this all started with…

  • Your vote IS important, Simon Burall

    Your vote IS important, Simon Burall

    Simon Burall, the Director of the think tank Involve, published a blog piece today entitled ‘Your vote isn’t important’. After I’d spluttered my outrage on twitter, Simon (a) confessed he may have overdone in the title in order to attract attention; (b) tweeted a bunch of caveats; and (c) invited me to respond. So here goes.…

  • A deliberative system in Scotland?

    A deliberative system in Scotland?

    The last two days I’ve been in Edinburgh talking with academic colleagues, civil servants,  activists and think tankers, journalists and interested others about deliberative systems. I’ve been interested in applying deliberative systems thinking to get a handle on the quality and extent of public debate in the run-up to, and beyond, last year’s Scottish independence…

  • Queensland’s election: Telling the voters they’re dim

    Queensland’s election: Telling the voters they’re dim

    It’s the morning after the night before, and Queensland is waking up to one of the most stunning election results in modern history. In 2012 the Labor Party had been reduced to just seven (later nine) seats in the 89-seat state assembly, not enough even to guarantee state funding. Their leader was almost literally the…

  • From a New Zealander to his dear English friends about Scotland

    From a New Zealander to his dear English friends about Scotland

    Let me start by explaining where this piece comes from. I’m a New Zealander. I come from a small and fairly insignificant place whose nearest neighbour is much larger and much more self-assured. I’ve lived in, and become a citizen of, that neighbouring country. I really enjoy that neighbour and am about to move back…