Politics on billpg industries™

Let's All Burn Our Waste Paper!

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:31:40 +0000

In these environmentally conscious times, we are constantly exhorted to recycle. This is a tedious ritual involving coloured bins, soggy cardboard and the faint smell of moral superiority. Yet I submit that recycling is, in fact, the least responsible thing we could do with our waste paper.

Instead, I propose a bold, innovative, and unquestionably sustainable alternative.

Burn it. All of it. Immediately. Preferably with gusto.

"He's kinda sexy and mysterious about it. Hot eyes, all my judgement is clouded. I'm in your city, can you show me round it? You can put your money right where my mouth is."

“But burning paper releases CO₂!” you cry. But here is the true genius of the plan.

The UKIP Effect - How to Win by Not Winning

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:58:44 +0000

UKIP, the British political party, is a failure.

Since their launch in the 90s, their peak of power was two members of parliament but now have none. Their most prominent party leader, who you might reasonably expect to be the most successful, ran for election to parliament a total of seven times and won none of them. (He was since elected as an MP in 2024, long after leaving his leadership post.)

What's a kWh? (And other money-saving tips)

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 19:21:30 +0000

When I was at school, they taught us how electricity works only as part of science lessons. It was something future engineers might need, yet we all use electricity at home every day.

The problem with electricity is we’re a little bit separated from its cost. With cars, we fill up the car with fuel and pay for it right there and then. With electricity, we use many different appliances which all add up to an eye-watering bill at the end of the month.

Why the UK should re-join the EU.

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 17:59:00 +0000

I advocate for the UK to democratically re-join the EU. Without shame or apology.

“We can’t re-join, there was a referendum!”

There was indeed. The referendum said the UK should leave the EU. On the 31st of January 2020, it left.

The referendum did not say “The UK should leave the EU and stay out forever”. It didn’t even give a minimum number of years. I checked the wording on the ballot paper just to be sure. It prescribed a single action and that action has been done.

The Brexit Chart War

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 15:23:00 +0000

There’s a movement among remainers to get Ode To Joy to number one in the charts for Brexit day. We know, even if successful, it won’t change anything. Johnson isn’t going to cancel Brexit because of this. (He totally should, nonetheless.)

So why is there a similar movement among Brexiters to get their own song “Seventeen Million F–k Offs” to number one instead?

They’ve won. Despite only getting about half the votes in 2016, Maximum Brexit is going ahead. But once the party’s over, they still won’t be happy and deep down, they know. Victory feels so much like defeat.

Brexit - Is that it?

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 18:42:00 +0000

So it’s finally Brexit Day. After many repeated delays and false starts, Brexit is here!

What’s that? You’ve just posted that the sun is shining and the birds are singing?

Oh I see, you’re happy that we’re not in some apocalyptic doom. Brexit was supposed to cause the earth to split open and a literal hell on earth was about to envelop us all for a thousand years! Turns out, no, that didn’t happen.

Should MPs who "cross the floor" face a by-election?

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 22:36:00 +0000

When standing for election a politician will usually run as the member of a political party. The quid-pro-quo of this arrangement is that the party will collectively campaign for all their candidates. In return, the party will expect the successfully elected MPs to support their leader’s policies and support that leader in any votes-of-confidence.

Occasionally, an MP will decide to leave their party. This is often called “Crossing The Floor” for rather archaic reasons. Sometimes that MP becomes independent, sometimes they join other parties. Most famously, wartime leader Winston Churchill left the Conservative Party in 1904 to join the Liberal Party, only to return in 1924.

#DeniedMyVote at the 2019 European Elections

Fri, 24 May 2019 18:04:00 +0000

You may have read about the news that many voters have been turned away from voting over here in the UK. I’d like to share a little analogy abut what happened, why it is so controversial and how it goes beyond voter suppression.

Imagine you’re in California, and there’s a political party whose only policy is to deport anyone born on the other side of the Mississippi. (That and being paid donations through PayPal that are all conveniently under the £500 limit allowed for anonymous donations. Totally not a big donation from one person that would normally need to be declared.)

'First Past the Post' isn't.

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:03:00 +0000

I’m a bit of a nerd for vote counting systems. So I discovered with delight that in the UK, there will soon be a referendum on changing the way votes are counted. As I write this, most of the UK (and the USA) uses a method we call “First past the post”.

It’s called “First past the post”, but it isn’t. The name is about as ridiculous as calling North Korea; “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. The country is on the Korean peninsula, so at least that name is a little bit honest.