For all the chatter, I also wonder what an electoral defeat in the mid term will do to the Trump administration (and declining support in general). The idea that a coherent (and successful) foreign policy is possible under those circumstances seems fanciful.

PS: Here is the linked to the incident

www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/p...

If you even consider that the descriptions provided of the order and the circumstances, servicemen should be expected to be able to understand it was criminal. But there does not seem to be any concerns about that. 3/3

The thing is, none of the writers to point towards criminal behaviour of this order seems to care over the criminality of following it by servicemen. If the situation was indeed as described and it constitutes a war crime - servicemen should be expected to not follow orders. /2

PR + strong two chamber system + constitution that can't be changed or ignored with a simple majority could help, but also creates other issues and is unlikely to overcome fragmentation. I would argue that it is somewhat more able to moderate the output, though. 5/5

In a way, that's what you are getting in a fragmented society and a FPTP system with very few veto players. Either radical unsustainable swings in one or the other directions or meaningless nothing for everyone leading to disappointment as a shared experience for everyone. /4

So whoever comes next will probably be to weak within the party to do something which pleases some of the factions because the disgruntled opposing factions will destabilise and oppose. /3

Whoever succeeds Starmer will probably face the same difficulties as Starmer (or the Conservatives for that matter): fragmentation of their party and their electorate who seem to have at times incompatible demands and priorities (e.g., on taxation, welfare and migration). /2

On a side note: That people love extensive public services and welfare while not wanting to pay the actual costs (because they believe those are massively inflated by inefficiencies or changes that frighten them) is not UK-specific (e.g., looks at the debates around migration and economics in GER).

Just comparing what would hit my bank account if I have an average salary in my job in Germany compared with UK looks pretty striking (i.e. it would be closer to 50-55% while in the UK you are more around 30%).

I do wonder what counts as tax in this context. For instance, it doesn't seem to take into account the compulsory medical insurance (de facto a tax) in Germany. If this kind of stuff is left out, then it distorts the difference between UK and other European countries (i.e. I agree, UK is low tax).

This reminds me a bit of the references to the German apprenticeship system which was quite popular a few years ago. Obviously without understanding the context of the educational, cultural and economic context it is embedded in.

Without training in the subject area most academic articles are, at best, very difficult to understand and prone to cause major misunderstandings (even when they read thoroughly). Adding to this, I seriously doubt that journalists have the (paid) time to do the required reading.

It's a former criminology lecturer, which probably makes it 'newsworthy'.

Lastly, there is a non-zero chance of Labour ending up being dependent on support by Liberal Democrats and SNP to form a stable government. In that moment, questions of chance for the electoral system and Scottish independence would be once again on the menu. 4/4

The second point is that SNP would profit massively from Labour losing and very fragmented results electoral results. That's not new for anyone familiar with Scottish politics but worthwhile mentioning, and it will certainly be a factor in the next election for the Scottish Parliament. /3

The big stories or take aways are, that FPTP is not designed to deal with such a fragmented electoral system. So the question of legitimacy comes to mind if we would get such fragmented results (or anything near it). Doesn't mean it will be changed to PR, but the issue becomes more pressing. /2