Britain’s alternative vote referendumBrits go to the polls on Thursday to decide whether to introduce the “alternative vote” – what Australians know from state-level experience in New South Wales and Queensland as “optional preferential voting,” writes William Bowe.
Britain
Political snippets: Boat people sympathy seems to be winning
Perhaps I mix in the wrong circles but I have not yet noticed any surge in anti-boat people feeling.
Cameron and Obama cement UK-US ‘truly special’ union
Unlike his predecessor, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s first state visit to the United States has been a great success, complete with matching podiums at his joint press conference with US President Barack Obama, writes Kevin Connolly.
Putting a steak through the heart of US-UK relations
The US and British Ambassadors are putting a wager on their World Cup match. “You should know that the Ambassador takes his steak like American soccer victories — somewhat rare,” warns the Brits. Game on.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s UK: Con-LibDems actually want to limit CCTV? Well blow me down.
As it turned out, both the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems said enough was enough on Britain’s Orwellian surveillance state. Who’d a thunk it?
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s UK: has the Right lost its freakin’ mind?
Has the Right gone completely bonkers? Not merely the crazy tea-partiers in the US, or the rolling Tony Abbott freakshow in Oz, but now Italy and the UK as well?
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s UK: are these the most passive, fatalistic people on the planet?
Are these the most passive, fatalistic people on the planet? asks Guy Rundle of the British. Maybe it’s because the bad stuff is so ever-present, and the good stuff can often recede from view.
Wolff: Why David Cameron will be the next PM of Britain
Tories leader David Cameron is the snobbish ex-PR hack who easily calms public tensions. Can he beat the awkward Gordon Brown and bring the conservative upper class back to power? asks Michael Wolff.
Is Britain suffering Acropolis sized debt?
It’s Greece that grabs the european economy headlines, but now Britain is battling the debt bulge, unless its government can slash budget deficits quickly. Could a double-dip recession in the UK occur?
revealed 
The top secret British mission that failed
A rescue attempt by British troops to save five British hostages in Iraq in May 2007 has been revealed. Troops attempted to intercept the hostages being taken across the border from Iran, but failed. Only one hostage survived.
At least someone is mentioning the war
The continuing British inquiry into the country’s involvement in the Iraq war has already provided some fascinating testimony, despite only scratching the surface of the inquiry’s task.
Thatcher is dead — the cat, not the former British Prime Minister
“Thatcher has died”: This text message sent by Canadian Transport Minister John Baird to a person at a gala dinner informing them that his beloved cat, named after the Iron Lady, had died, sent MPs into a panic.
When it comes to Afghanistan, we’re slow learners
Securing Kabul is not the same as gaining control over warring tribes in regional areas. The British realised this in 1839 with the Afghan War, occupation doesn’t equal victory. Can we never learn from history?
Lessons in History: What we can learn from WW2 health reform
Until the 1940s, healthcare was more privilege than right. Were you be able to pull a few groats together, you might be able to get a doctor to bleed your ills away.
Pubs v papers: both are dying, but we only care about the beer
It’s somehow typical that the closure of over 2300 pubs in Britain has been widely reported around the world, but the failure and closure of 80 local papers has gone without much notice.
Iran’s fraught relationship with Britain
Perceptions of Britain as the “wily fox” run deep in the Iranian political class — some are even convinced that American foreign policy is dictated by Whitehall, says Ali Ansari, giving context to recent developments.
What Thatcher could teach Obama
Thatcher’s true genius was her relentless focus on making policy in support of a remarkably prosaic goal: to let middle-class folk feel that hard work would be rewarded in a better future for their children.
The disappearing jobs of Merthyr Tydfil
By the 1970s Hoover employed more than 5000 people in Merthyr and was so dominant that the British town was dubbed “Hooverville”. But since the factory closed last month, lives have been shattered.
When did Britain lose its cool?
The Blair era is long gone, and so too is the national spirit, the hope and the optimism, that reigned in those days. Gordon Brown, though he seems invigorated by economic catastrophe, suffers from the grey, been-there-too-long aura that wreathed Major in the aftermath of Thatcher.
Rundle’s Friday drive-bys: cartoon outrage, Fox News’ hole, Bolt & broken Britain
Guy Rundle’s new sort-of column containing all the bits too long-winded and obscure for media briefs.
Rundle’s British bites: Goody Goody Goody; Thick and thin
These f-ck me shoes were made for walking … Goody Goody Goody … Thick and thin.
