Politics

 Three things I've been thinking about during the local elections:

1. In the Roman Republic, you couldn't become a Consul (the highest rank in the magistracy, of which there were two who served a 12 month stint) without having progressed through the ranks of lower magistracies, and there was a lower age limit before you could ascend to a certain rank. There also had to be 10 years between stints as Consul. Yes, there were exceptions, particularly when corruption became rife just before Caesar took control. Perhaps candidates for MP should serve a minimum length of time as councillors before being able to put themselves forward as a candidate for MP, so they at least have some experience of serving the public.
2. A massive majority is a double-edged sword. It can lead to the winning party railroading legislation through Parliament. The interests of the public is not best served by governments with huge majorities. It should therefore be incumbent on the public to become members of all political parties and use their voting power to influence party policy and ensure parties don't stray too far from the centre and that there's a healthy opposition.
3. Given the Tory troublemakers are defecting to Reform Ltd, perhaps Sunak, who probably would have made a half decent Conservative PM before the party went gaga, should have encouraged such defections of the lunatic fringe by putting a stake in the ground that said One Nation Conservative, leaving him in a position to fill slots vacated by the likes of Lee Anderson with old-style Conservatives, such as Ken Clarke and Rory Stewart, thereby making them electable again and serving the purpose of 2 above. Instead he allowed himself to become hostage to the small, yet destructive and deranged element in the Parliamentary Party.
4. If a Conservative MP wants to stand a chance of being re-elected then, counterintuitively, he or she needs to distance him or herself from the Conservative Party, probably to the extent of switching to Labour.

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