Why is making decisions for the nation a right of the government and not one of the people, asks Melanie McDonagh.

Here is the long awaited Sir Em report. £1.3 million wasted on an exercise in stating the bleeding obvious i.e. that the current system of obtaining competence for the Assembly is a dog's breakfast and sometimes referendums are won or lost on issues outwith the scope of the question being voted upon. Will the next million pound Assembly commissioned report be on the defecatory habits of forest dw...

David Davis's article this morning is forceful. But it needs to be understood alongside his earlier decision to quit Parliament and force a by-election over 42 days. Both reflect his impatience with parliamentary democracy and his instinctive sympathy for populism....

Forthcoming US elections, including two governorships, one House seat and a handful of mayoralties and referendums, will be scrutinised for what they imply for mid-term congressional elections a year from now. But beware the 'narrative', says Jurek Martin

The Czech government of Vaclav Klaus looks as if it is now ready to ratify the Lisbon Treaty that redefines the European constitution. It is the last government to do so, which means that the treaty is likely to be ratified by the time of the next British general election, and the widely expected change of government. David Cameron, whose otherwise modern new party* is racked by deep-seated euro-s...

People in Bristol are to be asked to take part in local referendums on whether individual pieces of graffiti should be removed after overwhelming support for a campaign to keep a mural by the painter Banksy.

The Irish Times reports that the Irish government has been urged to accept a recommendation that spending limits be imposed on companies campaigning in referendums, following the news that US multinational Intel will spend several hundred thousand euros backing the Yes campaign.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has this morning admitted that the Lisbon Treaty would have been rejected in most member states if it had been put to a public vote, and that many EU leaders were glad they had no legal obligation to hold referendums on the treaty in their own countries.

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Yusuf al-Barroso warned Europeans to stay off the streets, as he confirmed the massive "Yes" votes in the recent French, Dutch and Irish referendums on the European Constitution. "The process was very clean, and there has been no cheating," said al-Barroso, who heads the EU's Guardian Council. "We are therefore proceeding with the implementation of the European Constitu...

UKIP peer Lord Willoughby has introduced a Constitutional Reform Bill which details how Britain would withdraw from the EU and the measures needed to do so. Alongside EU withdrawal, the Bill: Repeals the Human Rights Act. (Clause 2) Sets up binding national and local referendums. (Clauses 11 and 16) Passes power from Westminster to local government. (Clauses 12 - 15) Reviews Regional Assemblies an...