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The Election is over, although as I write this there are still 38 seats still to declare, but it looks like we have a hung parliament, which means that both Brown and Cameron will no doubt be courting Clegg for his support.
The results do, however, through up the issues with our first past the post system.
At present, the position is this:
Conservatives 36% of the vote = 44% of the seats
Labour 29% of the vote = 37% of the seats
LibDem 23% of the vote = 8% of the seats
Which doesn't really seem right.
Hopefully, even if we end up with Cameron as PM (which would appear the most likely outcome) his need for support from the LibDems may mean we get electoral reform.
Of course, we are also likely to get massive cuts to public services, great steps backwards in terms of Human Rights protection, equality (both in terms of gap between rich and poor, and in terms of equal rights for everyone regardless of gender, sexuality, disability etc).
All I can find to say this morning is that I suppose it could have been worse. At least the BNP & their slightly less nazi racist far-right moron friends in UKip didn't win anywhere.
It's pretty cold comfort.
And yes, 'my' MP, got back in with just over 50% of the vote. In a way, I mind that less, because I knew it was almost inevitable, whereas I had greater hopes for the election as a whole
In Which There is Blood, and Politics
May. 5th, 2010 09:49 pmSo, today I finally made it down to the civic centre to give blood. It's the first time I've managed it for over a year, as I've kept having colds, and chest infections and things at the times they've been in town.
I was most upset to discover (after they got their hands on my precious blood) that they had run out of chocolate biscuits! I mean, what's the point of giving them my blood if I'm not going to get a guilt-and-calorie-free chocolate biscuit afterwards...
And tomorrow, of course, is Election Day, and I shall have to go and put my cross in a box at some point. My polling card never arrived, but it appears that this is a postal problem, not a sinister attemt to deprive me of my vote (I spoke to the council, who confirmed that I am definitely registered and that I don't need it in order to vote)
I keep spinning between hope and fear about what the results will be. I have a horrible suspicion we're going to end up with a Conservative government as people decide to punish Gordon Brown for being in charge when the economy tanked, and for generally eroding our civil liberties and betraying the pricipals the Labour Party used to stand for, but the problem with that is that voting in the Tories instead is a bit like hammering spikes through your eyes to try to cure that mild headache... They've cosied up to the far right in Europe, have said they will scrap the Human Rights Act (because it's not as though having legal protection for our Human Rights is important or anything...) they have made it clear they don't intend to bring in any electoral reform, and any tax cuts they make will benefit the rich at the expense of the most vulnerable in society. and they have spectactularly failed to critisise or disown the candidate of theirs who believes people are gay because they are possesed by demons and can be cured by prayer.
I really, really hope that isn't what we wake up to on Friday morning.
I was most upset to discover (after they got their hands on my precious blood) that they had run out of chocolate biscuits! I mean, what's the point of giving them my blood if I'm not going to get a guilt-and-calorie-free chocolate biscuit afterwards...
And tomorrow, of course, is Election Day, and I shall have to go and put my cross in a box at some point. My polling card never arrived, but it appears that this is a postal problem, not a sinister attemt to deprive me of my vote (I spoke to the council, who confirmed that I am definitely registered and that I don't need it in order to vote)
I keep spinning between hope and fear about what the results will be. I have a horrible suspicion we're going to end up with a Conservative government as people decide to punish Gordon Brown for being in charge when the economy tanked, and for generally eroding our civil liberties and betraying the pricipals the Labour Party used to stand for, but the problem with that is that voting in the Tories instead is a bit like hammering spikes through your eyes to try to cure that mild headache... They've cosied up to the far right in Europe, have said they will scrap the Human Rights Act (because it's not as though having legal protection for our Human Rights is important or anything...) they have made it clear they don't intend to bring in any electoral reform, and any tax cuts they make will benefit the rich at the expense of the most vulnerable in society. and they have spectactularly failed to critisise or disown the candidate of theirs who believes people are gay because they are possesed by demons and can be cured by prayer.
I really, really hope that isn't what we wake up to on Friday morning.
In Which there are Politicians
Apr. 23rd, 2010 09:50 amAs you may have noticed, we are shortly to have a General Election here, so the politicians are out in force, and, for the first time, there are televised debates between the leaders of the three main parties.
I don't generally get too excited over politics. I vote, whenever there is an election, becasue I feel I have a duty to use my vote, and because if you chose not to participate, I don't see that you then have any right to complain if you don't like the outcome. But I have never really felt that it makes much difference.
It doesn't help, of course, that the constituancy I live in has always, until now, been a very safe seat for the conservatives. The seat has been held by a Conservative MP solidly since 1924, which is a little discouraging if you are not a Conservative.
This year *may* be different. For one thing, the constituancy is affected by boundary changes so there will be a slightly different mix of people eligable to vote, and for another, the national picture seems different to previous elections, with the Liberal Democrats being a force to reckon with to a much greater extent than they have ever been in the past.
Here, the LibDems are the second party in any event, so they are who you vote for if you don't want a Tory - I think at the last election, the votes were roughly
Tory 44%
LibDeb 34%
Lab 19%
(I can't imagine ver being in a position where I'd vote Tory, but I would have to admit, (a little grudgingly) that if you're stuck with a Tory MP, the one we have is better than most. He has an iffy record on voting for measures which promote equality for gay people, but voted against going into the war in Afghanistan, in favour of an enquiry, and seems to have avoided the worst excesses of the expenses scams.. I don't like his party or what it stands for, but as a human being we could do a lot worse.)
Following on from the first two leadership debates, it is looking increasingly as though the LibDebs may be able to pick up a lot of votes across the board, and we could end up with a hung parliament, or with a situation where, as a result of the First Past the Post system, Labour or the Tories could end up with the majority of seats but a minority of the popular vote, either of which outcomes could lead to electoral reform and a change to a proprtional representaiton or single transferable vote system.
Me? I'm really hoping that the LibDebs get a big slice of the votes and of the seats. I'm not overly optimistic that they will - I suspect that there will be an awful lot of people who are not engaging in the debate and who will simply vote according to their traditional alleigance, so I'm guessing that a Tory win, but with a small majority, is more likely. But it will be interesting to watch, and either way, if the LibDems, who have to date appeared to be much more ethical and egalitarian that the Tories, much less inclined to erode our civil liberties than Labour, get a significant proprtion of the seats they may be able rein back the worst excesses of whichever party ends up in power...
I was also happy to hear Nick Clegg, in response to a question about the Pope's visit, state that he has no religious faith himself. Icould go on at length about that, but I see that Nick Harkaway has already said it, here more eloquently than I could..
Orioginally posted at http://margomusing.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-which-are-politicians.html comment there or here)
I don't generally get too excited over politics. I vote, whenever there is an election, becasue I feel I have a duty to use my vote, and because if you chose not to participate, I don't see that you then have any right to complain if you don't like the outcome. But I have never really felt that it makes much difference.
It doesn't help, of course, that the constituancy I live in has always, until now, been a very safe seat for the conservatives. The seat has been held by a Conservative MP solidly since 1924, which is a little discouraging if you are not a Conservative.
This year *may* be different. For one thing, the constituancy is affected by boundary changes so there will be a slightly different mix of people eligable to vote, and for another, the national picture seems different to previous elections, with the Liberal Democrats being a force to reckon with to a much greater extent than they have ever been in the past.
Here, the LibDems are the second party in any event, so they are who you vote for if you don't want a Tory - I think at the last election, the votes were roughly
Tory 44%
LibDeb 34%
Lab 19%
(I can't imagine ver being in a position where I'd vote Tory, but I would have to admit, (a little grudgingly) that if you're stuck with a Tory MP, the one we have is better than most. He has an iffy record on voting for measures which promote equality for gay people, but voted against going into the war in Afghanistan, in favour of an enquiry, and seems to have avoided the worst excesses of the expenses scams.. I don't like his party or what it stands for, but as a human being we could do a lot worse.)
Following on from the first two leadership debates, it is looking increasingly as though the LibDebs may be able to pick up a lot of votes across the board, and we could end up with a hung parliament, or with a situation where, as a result of the First Past the Post system, Labour or the Tories could end up with the majority of seats but a minority of the popular vote, either of which outcomes could lead to electoral reform and a change to a proprtional representaiton or single transferable vote system.
Me? I'm really hoping that the LibDebs get a big slice of the votes and of the seats. I'm not overly optimistic that they will - I suspect that there will be an awful lot of people who are not engaging in the debate and who will simply vote according to their traditional alleigance, so I'm guessing that a Tory win, but with a small majority, is more likely. But it will be interesting to watch, and either way, if the LibDems, who have to date appeared to be much more ethical and egalitarian that the Tories, much less inclined to erode our civil liberties than Labour, get a significant proprtion of the seats they may be able rein back the worst excesses of whichever party ends up in power...
I was also happy to hear Nick Clegg, in response to a question about the Pope's visit, state that he has no religious faith himself. Icould go on at length about that, but I see that Nick Harkaway has already said it, here more eloquently than I could..
Orioginally posted at http://margomusing.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-which-are-politicians.html comment there or here)
