The democratic deficit: The removal of democratically elected leaders and their replacement by technocrats

in Greece and Italy, this week has seen the removal of democratically elected leaders who have been replaced by unelected technocrats. To me there are issues around this, in no particular order:
Firstly – these governments are representative governments. There are the result of indirect democracy, not direct i.e. they are elected to represent those who elected them. Therefore, they should have the power to take even the most significant decisions without having to refer back to their electors.
Secondly: something as huge as what's been going on with regards to the austerity measures should have democratic backing. It might even get the people on side
Third: if they hadn't screwed up their economy in the first place they wouldn't be in this situation at all.
Fourthly: elections take time, decisions are needed now.
Fifthly: the needs of the financial markets and ratings agencies are being put above the democratic desires of the populations of these countries. But, at the end of the day the reason for this is that their economy is up the creek and they need to borrow money on someone else's terms.

(Quote of the day) UKIP voters struggle with folded paper

From Labourlist:

"UKIP is being inundated with calls from voters complaining that UKIP is not on the ballot paper.

Voting has only been going on for three hours and already hundreds are calling the UK Independence Party to complain that they were not able to vote for the party.

The problem is that Returning Officers have been folding the ballot papers. They have been folding them so that the last two, three or four parties in alphabetical order are hidden when the first fold of the paper is opened. It thus appears that UKIP is not on the ballot paper.

UKIP has already contacted both the Electoral Commission and the Returning Officers on this matter.

But it is important that the news gets out: that voters must make sure they completely unfold the ballot paper. And that Returning Officers and electoral officials must stop folding the ballot papers.

We have had reports from Carlisle, from York, from Hampshire, Dartford and other places, showing that the problem is nationwide, not just an isolated incident.

UKIP is collecting the names and addresses of those complaining and will be preparing the grounds for a legal challenge to the election result.

Might I suggest that if you can't unfold a piece of paper that has been folded in front of you (I know I just voted) then perhaps you shouldn't be voting at all. I fear the big issues of the day may be beyond you."

Reasons to be cheerful

Rather than doing a big long rant about how crap the Tories are, temping though it is, I like to occasionally look to the brighter side of things.
Steve Richards has spoken of the moment of calm between expenses and the election outcome, and how the economic measures (fiscal stimulus etc.) might just have done the job.
House prices are rising, Labour's hit bottom, the economy is steadying as a result of government action, government bonds are flying off the shelves like hot cakes, Cameron is still largely singing from Labour's hymn sheet,

On the Tories: "So far only a few Conservatives MPs have expressed in private their anger that Cameron claimed the maximum allowance to help pay for his country home while he has told others who claimed less that they had acted in ways that were unacceptable"

The Tories economic plans would mean serious disaster for some people, often those least likely to vote Tory, with their opposition to Northern Rock being taken over, fiscal stimulus, borrowing.... Sorry, Tory-bashing again.