...and today we have our exciting General Election - I wonder who's going to run Britain next?
Is that run or ruin?
My brother and I are praying that the Lib-Dems make enough gains so that Britain has to get a coalition government because single party can fetch a majority.
We'd both be glued to BBC to see the machiavellian wrangling that would ensue .
- Oscar (who feels that Teflon Tony is still a whole lot better than Bush or Berlusconi) _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
And I really don't like the idea of a Colition Government. Italy has had them for years and they seem to break apart under pressure forcing votes at an alarming rate (and just when you wanted to take a vacation, you have to stay home and vote.)
James
A well travelled American (Been there, done that, and I have a drawer of T-Shirts that no longer fit)
And I really don't like the idea of a Colition Government. Italy has had them for years and they seem to break apart under pressure forcing votes at an alarming rate (and just when you wanted to take a vacation, you have to stay home and vote.)
No way. I'll defer to Fabrizio as needed, but IMHO Italy doesn't have much of a functioning democracy anymore. Something like 90% of broadcast media are directly or indirectly in the hands of the ruling government. The prime minister uses his majority to protecthimself for corruption charges.
For a functioning model, see Germany, the Netherlands or Sweden.
I just meant that British politics are not used to coalition governments and given the style of debated in the Commons, we would have been in for a some smashing TV.
Of course, the BBC exit poll has not given me much hope for such entertainment. _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Nah, we've still got a Labour government, but 'only just'... well, they've got enough of a majority on paper, but the tories picked up a lot of votes this time round. Not all the votes are counted yet, but - Labour red, Tory blue, LibDem yellow, SNP dark turqouise, Plaid Cymru dark green:
It all looks bluer than it really is - most of the rural areas that voted Tory are low population, London (12% of population) is chiefly Labour, etc. The thing is, Cambridge where I live just went from Labour to LibDem - and actually I have no idea what the significance of that will be locally. but the LibDem won by 4500 votes, and only 62% of the voters turned up to vote, so that's about 27,000 uncast votes, just in our sleepy little town. And apparently, 62% is a relatively good showing. What's the matter with us Brits?
It all looks bluer than it really is - most of the rural areas that voted Tory are low population, London (12% of population) is chiefly Labour, etc. The thing is, Cambridge where I live just went from Labour to LibDem - and actually I have no idea what the significance of that will be locally. but the LibDem won by 4500 votes, and only 62% of the voters turned up to vote, so that's about 27,000 uncast votes, just in our sleepy little town. And apparently, 62% is a relatively good showing. What's the matter with us Brits?
Given the lackluster and narrow campaigning, I'm not surprised. In any case you shouldn't be. Even countries with a very well functioning democracy get about 80-85%. And if you go to a pub and try to talk to people about politics , getting 60% to care for what you said is quite a lot .
Best wishes,
Oscar _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Given the lackluster and narrow campaigning, I'm not surprised. In any case you shouldn't be. Even countries with a very well functioning democracy get about 80-85%. And if you go to a pub and try to talk to people about politics , getting 60% to care for what you said is quite a lot .
Even here in the United States, with a great deal on the line, only 65% showed up to cast their desires.
Joined: May 25, 2003 Posts: 4752 Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:25 pm Post subject:
Cool district map! Man, I miss England. I've only visited a handful of times but have had a great time. I really dream of living on a nice farm near Carmarthan.
Out of curiousity, does the British system have anything akin to redistricting or gerrymandering? They're things that are done in US politics...the party that's in power has the ability to redraw the boundaries of each individual district and can tilt the districts by splitting strongholds of the other party between two districts. I think the only gerrymandering that's been declared "illegal" occurs when the new boundaries explicitly seem to be on racial lines (e.g. splitting whites and blacks).
Joined: Sep 18, 2003 Posts: 434 Location: London, UK
Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 6:26 am Post subject:
OPENSTEP wrote:
Cool district map! Man, I miss England. I've only visited a handful of times but have had a great time. I really dream of living on a nice farm near Carmarthan.
Out of curiousity, does the British system have anything akin to redistricting or gerrymandering? They're things that are done in US politics...the party that's in power has the ability to redraw the boundaries of each individual district and can tilt the districts by splitting strongholds of the other party between two districts. I think the only gerrymandering that's been declared "illegal" occurs when the new boundaries explicitly seem to be on racial lines (e.g. splitting whites and blacks).
ed
The redrawing of voting boundaries occurs reasonably frequently here - in fact, a lot of the Scottish boroughs were redrawn for this election. However, I am not too sure just how much control the ruling party has in where those boundaries are placed - I believe it is done by an independent body. This probably started happening when they finally decided to sort out the "rotten boroughs" that used to occur in the 18th/19th century which sometimes only had a few households in them and a few were actually submerged below coastal water!
Joined: Jul 01, 2004 Posts: 45 Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 6:40 am Post subject: Gerrymandering
The Boundary Commission keeps an eye on constituency sizes, but it works on a rolling basis and responds to changes in population rather than anything else. There have been occasions when changes to boundaries have resulted in some MPs losing seats at subsequent elections, but I can't recall anyone making a big fuss about it.
The real hoo-ha this time round has been possible fraud involving postal voting.
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