Originally published @ 4:08 am, Mon 10th May 2010
After the nonsense of "motorway man", I can at least see that politics is not the only topic to suffer from journalists writing ridiculous hooks only to knock the hook down.
It is contended that physicists are reluctant to test their theories as they struggle to explain the creation of the universe and combine the laws of gravity and the laws of very, very small things -
only for the very same article to list all the experiments being conducted to test theories that might work mathematically but have not been proven. I would expect no other - testing an hypothesis is drilled into us during our education as physicists.
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And perhaps now politicians are to witness a test of the notion that a government elected by P.R. will be good for us.
I understand of course that the current situation whereby 2 or more parties may have to come together is happening after a first past the post election, but this is a rare occurrence (once in the seventies and once in the twenties). And it's becoming obvious quite quickly that what is to be agreed is something no-one voted for.
P.R. will require this kind of negotiation and adoption of a programme no-one voted for every time.
It's noticeable too that those who proclaim fair votes don't talk about fair representation. P.R. would see less representation for those areas that don't vote as heavily.
I heard few calls for a change of voting system on the doorstep; P.R. was not the demand of many. This is not to say whether people would favour change or not; just to say that it wasn't a priority.
Of course, I argued for the Labour Party manifesto, which supported the Alternative Vote, especially when I came across people who were undecided between Labour and Lib Dem, but definitely did not want a Tory. It seems only fair to offer people in that position the chance in future to be able to list candidates in order of preference, even if it makes it more complicated for voters used to placing a cross (especially on days when General elections and local election take place together).
But I think the more general discussion of tactical voting towards the end did Labour harm, as it did in 1992, and detracted from what needed to be the main message - securing the economic recovery.
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I'm pleased that most discussions of a change seem to acknowledge that a referendum for fundamental changes would be required, and I would add that a universal postal ballot might be the way to get the turnout up for decisions that might not be strong enough to encourage people to walk or drive to the polling station.
There was a universal postal ballot for the East Midlands European elections in 2004 and that's something I'd like to see repeated in future European elections, especially if they are to be held as they were last year, on what was the hottest day of the year when many families decided on a evening out instead.
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