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London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies. The London Assembly was established in 2000. It is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners (most notably transport or environmental matters), publish its findings and recommendations, as well as make proposals to the Mayor. Assembly Members The Assembly comprises 25 Assembly Members elected using the additional member system of proportional representation, with 13 seats needed for a majority. Elections take place every four years, at the same time as for the Mayor. There are 14 geographical super-constituencies each electing one Member, with a further 11 members elected from a party list to make the total Assembly Members from each party proportional to the votes cast for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism ( two or more chambers). Many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple houses allowed, for example, for a guaranteed representation of different social classes (as in the Parliament of the United Kingdom or the French States-General). Sometimes, as in New Zealand and Denmark, unicameralism comes about through the abolition of one of two bicameral chambers, or, as in Sweden, through the merger of the two chambers into a single one, while in others a second chamber has never existed from the beginning. Rationale for unicameralism and criticism The principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is simpler and there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City Hall, London (2021-present)
City Hall, in the London Borough of Newham in east London, is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA), the regional government for Greater London. It replaced the previous City Hall, in Southwark in 2022. The building opened in 2012 and was previously an exhibition centre for sustainable architecture, known as The Crystal. At the time it opened, it was the first building in the world to reach the highest sustainable award level (see LEED and BREEAM). It was bought by the GLA in 2019 for the docklands redevelopment project. The building is situated next to the redeveloped Royal Victoria Dock in Canning Town. The northern terminus of the London cable car, and the Royal Victoria station, the Docklands Light Railway and Custom House railway station on the Elizabeth Line are within walking distance. It is close to the London City Airport. History Exhibition and conference centre The Crystal was built as part of the Green Enterprise District policy that covers much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Johnson
Dame Diana Ruth Johnson (born 25 July 1966) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull North since the 2005 general election. A member of the Labour Party, she was elected as Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 15 December 2021, replacing Yvette Cooper. During the Brown ministry, she served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools in the Department for Children, Schools and Families, as well as being an Assistant Government Whip. Early life Johnson was born in Northwich, Cheshire. After returning from wartime service in the Navy her father, Eric Johnson, founded the Eric Johnson Electrical engineering (electricians) company in Little Leigh near Northwich, Cheshire (now continued by his son). She passed the Eleven plus and attended the Northwich County Grammar School for Girls (later the County High School Leftwich). At sixth form level she studied at Sir John Deane's College from 1982 to 1984 whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meg Hillier
Dame Margaret Olivia Hillier (born 14 February 1969), known as Meg Hillier, is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney South and Shoreditch at the 2005 general election, was a junior government minister (2007–10) and was succeeded by Caroline Flint as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the Labour Party October 2011 reshuffle. She has chaired the Public Accounts Committee since 2015. Early life and career Hillier was educated at Portsmouth High School, a private school for girls in Southsea, Hampshire, followed by St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. During her time there she was elected Librarian of the Oxford Union Society. Hillier worked as a journalist in regional press and social housing media and was elected as a Councillor in the London Borough of Islington in 1994, representing the Sussex ward and serving as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham (UK Parliament constituency), Tottenham since the 2000 Tottenham by-election. Lammy was a Minister (government), Minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, most recently as Minister of State for Universities in the Brown ministry. He served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice from 2020 to 2021 and has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in Keir Starmer's Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Shadow Cabinet since November 2021. Early life and education Lammy was born on 19 July 1972 in Whittington Hospital in Archway, London, Archway, North London, to Guyana, Guyanese parents David and Rosalind Lammy. He and hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British House Of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs). MPs are elected to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved. The House of Commons of England started to evolve in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1707 it became the House of Commons of Great Britain after the political union with Scotland, and from 1800 it also became the House of Commons for Ireland after the political union of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the body became the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after the independence of the Irish Free State. Under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the Lords' power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-nominal Title
Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, office, military decoration, or honour, or is a member of a religious institute or fraternity. An individual may use several different sets of post-nominal letters, but in some contexts it may be customary to limit the number of sets to one or just a few. The order in which post-nominals are listed after a name is based on rules of precedence and what is appropriate for a given situation. Post-nominal letters are one of the main types of name suffix. In contrast, pre-nominal letters precede the name rather than following it, such as addressing a physician or professor as "Dr. Smith". List Different awards and post-nominal letters are in use in the English-speaking countries. Usage Listing order The order in which post-nominal lett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
D'Hondt Method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest-averages methods. The method was first described in 1792 by future U.S. president Thomas Jefferson. It was re-invented independently in 1878 by Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, which is the reason for its two different names. Motivation Proportional representation systems aim to allocate seats to parties approximately in proportion to the number of votes received. For example, if a party wins one-third of the votes then it should gain about one-third of the seats. In general, exact proportionality is not possible because these divisions produce fractional numbers of seats. As a result, several methods, of which the D'Hondt method is one, have been devised which ensure that the parties' seat allocations, which are of whole number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proportional Representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divisions (political parties) of the electorate. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast - or almost all votes cast - contribute to the result and are actually used to help elect someone—not just a plurality, or a bare majority—and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast. "Proportional" electoral systems mean proportional to ''vote share'' and ''not'' proportional to population size. For example, the US House of Representatives has 435 districts which are drawn so roughly equal or "proportional" numbers of people live within each district, yet members of the House are elected in first-past-the-post elections: first-past-the-post is ''not'' proportional by vote share. The m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the ''natural environment'' can be distinguished as components: * Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature. * Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions. In contrast to the natural environment is the built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
