12 Scandals Of Christmas

Unlock Democracy has commissioned the cartoonist Tom Crowley to illustrate the “twelve scandals of Christmas” and we have blogged about them. We hope you enjoy them!

1.

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British politics is riddled with patronage and cronyism. Recent appointments to the House of Lords in August allowed even more party donors to buy themselves a seat, but the Lords is not the only area in which patronage has come into disrepute in recent years.

2.

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There's a distinct lack of diversity in British politics with shockingly low numbers of women, people identifying as black and minority ethnic and disabled people in our Parliament.

3.

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With more than half of the parliamentary seats in the UK being safe seats, it's no wonder people feel disillusioned with politics. Some voters have more say than others, and some can't remove their MPs. Could changing the voting system be the answer?

4.

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The disclosure of lobbying letters from Prince Charles to ministers was blocked last year. Lobbying continues in secret which is why we need a robust and comprehensive statutory register of lobbyists.

5.

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Government policy making is the real shambles. A lack of consultation leads to half-baked policies and u-turns.

6.

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The expenses scandal continues! Expenses legislation was made in haste, and they are repenting at leisure as a loophole continues to provoke public anger.

7.

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The special adviser has become an integral part of British politics. But what exactly do they do?

8.

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Scotland talks about a constitution as it prepares to vote for independence. It's a scandal that as Scotland marches ahead, there are serious and growing questions about what this means for the rest of the UK that are not being answered.

9.

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While the House of Lords continues to block democratic reform, it continues to welcome convicted criminals (but only the "right sort" of convicted criminal).

10.

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If we're serious about sorting out unregulated lobbying, we have to tackle the unelected House of Lords, which is riddled with special interests and professional lobbyists. Any other country would call this corruption!

11.

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The Leveson inquiry this year revealed the extent to which politicians, the police and the press collude rather than hold each other to account. Will the Leveson proposals result in a less cosy relationship in future?

12.

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With party funding scandals popping up everywhere, we need to make changes to the system. If we don't introduce a cap on donations to political parties, these scandals will just run and run.

And....

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We hope you enjoyed our new take on the classic Christmas song! Our Twelve Scandals of Christmas cartoons was fun to make and every line is based in truth. We've got a lot of work ahead of us in 2014. We are small team but love what we are doing.

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