open democracy? open question

As you'll see from the links on the right hand side, I'm a keen fan of Open Democracy, the Web based comment and review magazine. In the predictions for the coming year, Neal Ascherson hints at the very real chance of the SNP winning the election in May, but argues that a convincing majority in an independence referendum is not necessarily probable.

Last month, Jimmy Reid, Christopher Harvie and Alasdair Gray, used the same web site to argue for independence and you can read their article here.

As for Ireland? "Teflon" Bertie, as he is becoming increasingly known, looks like he'll keep his lead in the polls. In normal circumstances one would add a rider to a sentence like that such as "unless a major scandal erupts", but if the past year is anything to go by, scandals boost his poll rating for some bizarre reason....