good and valid points.
A hell of a site more informative than that spin laden video using emotional minor celebs to bring a public on board without actually informing them what the ship is they will be jumping on to!
I would however disagree with the effectiveness of a hung parliament. Anybody who has sat on any committee would tell of the slow and cumbersome nature of the beasts. sometimes a majority government is effective (if not always right). The amount of political compromise that the Lib dems have had to make in this parliament has done nothing for their public image (read the polls) and it is this point that I would say is the largest barrier to a changing democratic system.
I have not stated if I support or oppose A.V
I have done this only to point out that spin, by any party, should not be the way we have to do politics.
If it is then perhaps this should be the thing we need a referendum on
The Lib Dems are suffering because the elctorate is not used to what it means to have a coalition government. Clearly their mandate to do what they want to do is significantly less than that of the Conservatives, but for the first time in many, many years they have a real say and influence in what’s going on with the levers of power. It’s ironic that all those people who voted for them in the past have now deserted them; for the first time their vote has an influence in government. It makes you wonder if they were happier just carping from the sidelines and didn’t really want any power in the first place. As for slow decision making, the evidence is not really there. Yes, it took quite a few days for the coalition to be agreed (something that most countries are used to, Belgium is still waiting after getting on for a year!), but I don’t have the impression that the current government is working slowly. In fact, many would be happy if they slowed down a bit!
The party that A.V will benefit the most is the Lib Dems.
There will be more hung parliaments.
Minority votes will be distributed to more major parties.
These adverts do not treat the general populus with any respect. and do not give information about the impact of changing the voting system.
At the moment the Lib Dems popularity is seriously on the wain.
They may have just scuppered their best chance in a hundred years.
People treat the first past the post system with too much respect. It happens to be the simplest way of electing someone to a legislature but is by no means the best. The No campaign treat it with a kind of reverence that it has never deserved. It is like advocating we should still be using slates and chalk to write just because they came before paper and pen. Hung parliaments? There is no problem there; we would at least get consensus politics (and on that point please don’t quote the current coalition as not working; they have been forced to bring in extremely unpopular measures due to exceptional economic circumstances and swinging cuts would have been made by any government, coalition or not). The AV system may not be perfect but it would improve the relationship between elected and elector; my current MP doesn’t need my vote (I met him outside Tesco before the election and as soon as I told him I wasn’t going to vote for him, he walked off and talked to someone else – he made no effort to persuade me) to get elected. But if he knew I might put him down as 2nd or 3rd preference, he might be more willing to engage with me as a person who has some influence in putting him where he wants to be.
It will be a more interesting political scene after may 5th. At the moment the Lib Dems are scared of rocking the boat with the conservatives ( my opinion, obviously) When the vote is in this may change.
Whilst it would be madness to agree that cuts are not necessary, Other Country’s (USA) are cutting more slowly and seeing improved economic performance. It seems from my perspective that this government is using the huge deficit to introduce a Conservative mandate that is a hangover from the early nineties! Privatise, privatise, privatise.
Destroying the social infrastructure (unless you can pay for it) as it goes along. Yes we should make cuts. We have no option. We should also make sure we raise the taxes that we as a country are entitled to from big business. We should not tolerate people who live and earn money in our society and do not contribute their fair share back. (Wayne Rooney, you know who you are!)
If you took my income tax back to the level of the early nineties I would suffer but not complain if it meant that pensioners, schoolchildren, the disabled and the people who were unfortunate enough not to be able to work had a level of security in our society and that education was free at the point of source to anyone who would wish to better themselves.
Well that was a rant
Sorry.
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good and valid points.
A hell of a site more informative than that spin laden video using emotional minor celebs to bring a public on board without actually informing them what the ship is they will be jumping on to!
I would however disagree with the effectiveness of a hung parliament. Anybody who has sat on any committee would tell of the slow and cumbersome nature of the beasts. sometimes a majority government is effective (if not always right). The amount of political compromise that the Lib dems have had to make in this parliament has done nothing for their public image (read the polls) and it is this point that I would say is the largest barrier to a changing democratic system.
I have not stated if I support or oppose A.V
I have done this only to point out that spin, by any party, should not be the way we have to do politics.
If it is then perhaps this should be the thing we need a referendum on
The Lib Dems are suffering because the elctorate is not used to what it means to have a coalition government. Clearly their mandate to do what they want to do is significantly less than that of the Conservatives, but for the first time in many, many years they have a real say and influence in what’s going on with the levers of power. It’s ironic that all those people who voted for them in the past have now deserted them; for the first time their vote has an influence in government. It makes you wonder if they were happier just carping from the sidelines and didn’t really want any power in the first place. As for slow decision making, the evidence is not really there. Yes, it took quite a few days for the coalition to be agreed (something that most countries are used to, Belgium is still waiting after getting on for a year!), but I don’t have the impression that the current government is working slowly. In fact, many would be happy if they slowed down a bit!
Lots of feelings, no substance… sounds like spin to me!
For balance.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/av-referendum/8329906/AV-referendum-to-go-ahead-on-May-5-after-Lords-challenge-fails.html
The party that A.V will benefit the most is the Lib Dems.
There will be more hung parliaments.
Minority votes will be distributed to more major parties.
These adverts do not treat the general populus with any respect. and do not give information about the impact of changing the voting system.
At the moment the Lib Dems popularity is seriously on the wain.
They may have just scuppered their best chance in a hundred years.
People treat the first past the post system with too much respect. It happens to be the simplest way of electing someone to a legislature but is by no means the best. The No campaign treat it with a kind of reverence that it has never deserved. It is like advocating we should still be using slates and chalk to write just because they came before paper and pen. Hung parliaments? There is no problem there; we would at least get consensus politics (and on that point please don’t quote the current coalition as not working; they have been forced to bring in extremely unpopular measures due to exceptional economic circumstances and swinging cuts would have been made by any government, coalition or not). The AV system may not be perfect but it would improve the relationship between elected and elector; my current MP doesn’t need my vote (I met him outside Tesco before the election and as soon as I told him I wasn’t going to vote for him, he walked off and talked to someone else – he made no effort to persuade me) to get elected. But if he knew I might put him down as 2nd or 3rd preference, he might be more willing to engage with me as a person who has some influence in putting him where he wants to be.
It will be a more interesting political scene after may 5th. At the moment the Lib Dems are scared of rocking the boat with the conservatives ( my opinion, obviously) When the vote is in this may change.
Whilst it would be madness to agree that cuts are not necessary, Other Country’s (USA) are cutting more slowly and seeing improved economic performance. It seems from my perspective that this government is using the huge deficit to introduce a Conservative mandate that is a hangover from the early nineties! Privatise, privatise, privatise.
Destroying the social infrastructure (unless you can pay for it) as it goes along. Yes we should make cuts. We have no option. We should also make sure we raise the taxes that we as a country are entitled to from big business. We should not tolerate people who live and earn money in our society and do not contribute their fair share back. (Wayne Rooney, you know who you are!)
If you took my income tax back to the level of the early nineties I would suffer but not complain if it meant that pensioners, schoolchildren, the disabled and the people who were unfortunate enough not to be able to work had a level of security in our society and that education was free at the point of source to anyone who would wish to better themselves.
Well that was a rant
Sorry.