Quote of the Day
"For me the big find has been that Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, the secular fundamentalist who spends all his spare time attacking a bloke he says doesn't exist, is in favour of electoral reform. If someone as clever-but-daft as Dawkins is in favour of PR, then reform has sustained a heavy blow."
Michael White of the Guardian
Meanwhile the Revd. John Bannister, Rector of Whitehaven, and local businessman Gerald Richardson have a powerful letter in tomorrow's Whitehaven News arguing that the only appropriate way to deal with the question of whether or not to change the voting system is to put it to the public in a referendum. It looks like that's what the new coalition government is going to do.
You can read their letter (followed by one from me thanking all those who voted for me) here.
Michael White of the Guardian
Meanwhile the Revd. John Bannister, Rector of Whitehaven, and local businessman Gerald Richardson have a powerful letter in tomorrow's Whitehaven News arguing that the only appropriate way to deal with the question of whether or not to change the voting system is to put it to the public in a referendum. It looks like that's what the new coalition government is going to do.
You can read their letter (followed by one from me thanking all those who voted for me) here.
Comments
The stance on holding onto the First Past the post system was the only thing that put me off voting blue. In the end mine was one of your 15,866 votes as i thought there are more important on the agenda right now, like fixing the economy for one.
I have no interest in peoples regigious beliefs and I truly endorse the right for every single person to practice any religion they see fit to be a part of.
I just fail to see how Mr Dawkins lack of belief makes his stance on electoral reform any less relevent.
Religious beliefs or the decision to hold none at all, are personal. The issue of electoral reform is a separate issue.
I am not an atheist but I am minded to agree with the theory of evolution, respect and admire Richard Dawkins for his great intellect and find Terry Pratchet amusing clever and satirical.
On the subject of electoral reform. Labour were very cynical. Why introduce a proposal just before an election they were not confident of winning?
The first past the post system was kept in place yet boundaries were severely tinkered with under the last Labour Government. The Conservatives got a sufficient number of votes, equivalent to those gained in 1979, to give Mrs Thatcher a comfortable majority and more than the number that kept Labour in power in 2005. The Liberals have felt even greater reason to feel excluded.
Poetic justice. The swing to the Conservatives was not sufficient to give an overall majority, but enough to permit a legitimate Government to be formed.
AV strikes me as a very negative way of voting in that one chooses the candidate that they find least obnoxious. I would personally feel insulted if votes were transferred from a BNP pile to mine, if I was a candidate! However this is to be presented to the country and the people will have the right to choose.
In the meantime the well-being of the country depends on the deficit being brought down asap. Then we can afford the luxury of altering the electoral system.