Brown in fair votes hint as Liberty Central goes live

New pro-constitutional reform website Liberty Central has gone live today, by happy coincedence on the day an important new report is published on the future of politics.

The authors of the Power Inquiry argue that we have fallen out of love with "democracy" and that without a major shake-up of the system, politics will effectively die.

Not surprisingly Gordon Brown has been swift to recognise the importance of this and has given an interview to the Guardian in which he backs giving the vote to 16-year-olds and - incredibly significant in my view - opens the door for a fresh look at electoral reform.

All in all a very auspicious beginning for this welcome new addition to the political blogosphere.

A missed opportunity for the Lib Dems

Good piece by Andrew Rawnsley in yesterday's Observer on the Lib Dem leadership contest and why it has been a bit of a missed opportunity for the party to thrash out some of its strategic dilemmas.

Andrew correctly makes the point that all three candidates have shied away from confronting the most difficult policy issues and instead concentrated on seeking to prove themselves the most experienced (Campbell) the most passionate (Hughes) or the cleverest (Huhne.)

I didn't really expect a lot more from Campbell or Hughes but as a supporter of Chris Huhne I thought he would be much more radical than he has been, like setting out a distinctive political direction instead of banging on about his six years in the European Parliament all the time.

I am increasingly convinced that the Lib Dems should have followed the Tories' example and had a six-month contest which would have enabled a much more searching debate to take place.

Charles: Should he speak out - or shut up?

I devoted my column and accompanying podcast this week to the issue of Prince Charles's political involvement.

Although I have a great deal of sympathy with the Prince in his railing against the prevailing political consensus, as a monarchist I am concerned about the potential longer-term implications of this.

"The bottom line is that as long as Charles continues to involve himself in issues of political controversy, it will be used by some as a stick to beat him with. The position of the Monarchy is not so strong that it can withstand that sort of criticism on an ongoing basis."

A contrasting and perhaps rather more eloquent view came from Simon Jenkins in yesterday's Sunday Times.