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Anyone that states that a by-election in Hougang is not mandated by law is talking stark nonsense. The only issue that is open for debate is the timing of the by-election. The existence of a discretion as to the timing of a by-election cannot be converted into a discretion as to whether a by-election is to be held. I hope that the politicians that engage in this debate do not hijack the Constitution and that they acknowledge that the filling of the vacancy of a Parliamentary seat is a requirement. The discretion that the PM has is only with regard to the most appropriate time to hold a by-election. So, let's get the law right first. The starting point is Article 49 of the Constitution: 49. —(1) Whenever the seat of a Member, not being a non-constituency Member, has become vacant for any reason other than a dissolution of Parliament, the vacancy shall be filled by election in the manner provided by or under any law relating to Parliamentary elections for the time being in forc...

Anson was a long time ago. CV Devan Nair vacated his seat in Parliament before his elevation to the position of President. J B Jeyaretnam participated in the by-election for the Anson constituency and recorded that historic win against the PAP. 1981 seems like a distant memory now. The PAP stranglehold on Parliament had been punctured. There was a lone voice catapulted into the legislature willing to champion the cause of the people against the mammoth PAP government. We had not progressed that much from then. At the very best (before 2011), the opposition managed 4 seats in Parliament. But, for the most part, it was just 2 seats. It was, therefore, fitting that last year (being the 30th anniversary of the Anson victory) another milestone was crossed in Singapore's electoral history. The fall of a GRC was a big psychological boost for the opposition ...

When the issue of Yaw Shin Leong's affair first surfaced, I treated it the same way that I treat all gossipy tales of sordid affairs of the rich, famous or powerful. Stories like that deserve to be consigned to the thrash can. I don't really care if a celebrity has an affair. Nor do I care if a politician has an affair. These indiscretions and their consequences have to be dealt with by the parties involved.In the case of a politician, my only concern is about the way in which he discharges his duties and functions. I want my MP to be an effective voice in Parliament. I want him to question the policy position of the executive. I want him to scrutinise legislation effectively. I want him to be mindful of the needs of the constituents and to represent these needs to the relevant persons and bodies so as to achieve the desired outcome. I don't want my MP to be a passive observer in Parliament. I don't want him to be a 'Yes' man with nothing to contribute by...

Clearly, he's comfortable enough with articles that he can concentrate on getting other bits completely wrong. Welcome back, fellow questers. As noted elsewhere, it’s taken me a little longer than expected to finish this, the first proper part of our first anniversary series on English articles. This is because I have discovered that it’s hard to present this information in a way that is wholly relevant to us as translators and editors. Being a fundamental part of the language, it’s more generally applicable to language learners and users of all stripes than just us. There are also some aspects that are specific to spoken English, and these also sometimes depend on regional accent or whether it’s British or American English we’re using (such as some Americans saying erbal instead of herbal ). On that point, and in the interests of a) actually finishing these posts, b) not completely screwing everything up beyond all recognition and c) being as clear as possible, there are some th...

width=150 style="float:right" />I like the world of small-press literary magazines. I submit and subscribe to many and have access to more at the University Library and (sometimes) local bookshops. In this piece I'd like to cover the progress of these magazines in England over the last quarter-century - not in a comprehensive way, but biased by the extent of my dealings with them (mostly in the form of rejection slips), starting with prose magazines and ending with poetry magazines. I'll finish by identifying a few themes. Prose Small magazines were often started by Writers groups, Arts Centres or University English Departments. My first accepted story appeared during 1986 in Momentum , a small A5 magazine run by Wrexham Writers Workshop that lasted 11 issues or so. Summit by Coventry Writers came and went at about the same time. width=150 style="float:right" /> Also A5-stapled was Dream (later New Moon ), an SF magazine that...

Warning! English articles can lead to excessive Rage Face. Those of you with reasonably good memories recall that February 2011 was the occasion of our first meeting. That’s right, the Bad Article will be exactly one year old on February the 23 rd . I’ll do a fun thing on that day, probably with some sort of picture of a cake. But before we reach that particular milestone, I think it’s high time we actually addressed the number one, all-time most popular complaint about correct and natural English – articles! If there’s one thing guaranteed to drive all English translators completely bat-shit insane, it’s the articles. Article usage is the vey last thing anyone, regardless of age, education or experience, gets right. It’s a source of frustration not only for translators and language learners, but also for natives called upon to explain the rules or justify a particular article (or lack of it). At times it seems like an impossible, illogical subject. Often, the concrete rules of usage ...