tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post3514200744135454222..comments2024-03-29T09:36:27.923+00:00Comments on SCOT goes POP!: Vote Yes To Fairer Votes Or This Dog Goes HungryJames Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-87093703925513257312011-02-23T12:57:30.524+00:002011-02-23T12:57:30.524+00:00Well James, that's a happy coincidence. I did ...Well James, that's a happy coincidence. I did think of asking someone what the SNP line was on it. Not that I'd feel any obligation to follow it, but I’d be interested to find out if their strategists felt that AV would make any difference to their seat numbers. I read somewhere it wouldn’t, and actually, unless it was going to make a vast difference that wouldn’t much influence me.<br /><br />It’s good to know Eck is going the same way. Maybe he dislikes Cameron even more than Clegg too!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-88607844796725028742011-02-23T01:50:30.096+00:002011-02-23T01:50:30.096+00:00If it's any consolation, Tris, it sounds like ...If it's any consolation, Tris, it sounds like you'll be on the same side as Alex Salmond - a report in the Scotsman a few days ago suggested he'd be voting Yes (albeit with minimal enthusiasm).James Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-21511973021237786742011-02-22T21:20:40.504+00:002011-02-22T21:20:40.504+00:00Doug:
I thought that what you wrote was far from ...Doug:<br /><br />I thought that what you wrote was far from nonsense. It sort of relects the way I feel. I was seriously tempted to write PR on my form, or independence... but who will know I did it, unless there is a huge campaign and a quarter of all papers are thus ruined?<br /><br />So in the end I decided that I'd vote for the guy whom I dislike less than the other.<br /><br />And for all his duplicity and ripping up of principles for a seat at the cabinet table, it is sill Nick Clegg.<br /><br />Now I detest Nick Clegg, so that should show you how I feel about Cameron.<br /><br />Yes, I want Cameron humiliated. I want him to lose to Nick Clegg, the stupid out-of-touch stuck up Eton boy.<br /><br />Is that silly, or what?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-47568076607245871872011-02-20T04:52:02.714+00:002011-02-20T04:52:02.714+00:00I remain in the "penis-drawing" camp.I remain in the "penis-drawing" camp.rullkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468064035662238392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-75032697143493633922011-02-20T02:49:39.686+00:002011-02-20T02:49:39.686+00:00There's so much wrong with Westminster though ...There's so much wrong with Westminster though - the voting system, the unelected upper chamber, even the confrontational nature of the actual chambers with their opposite-facing benches - that I just think I'd rather concentrate on independence.<br /><br />Look at it this way - it's taken so long to even get an alternative to FPTP on the table, how much longer will it be before PR comes along? It seems the main argument in favour of AV is that if the referendum returns a NO vote, then PR will never be on the cards as it will look like the country is happy with FPTP. AV may lead the way to PR eventually, but I can't see that happening before Scotland becomes independent. It's of no consequence to me what system England uses to elect its centre-right governments once Scotland is independent, so I'm not really bothered if AV wins or not.<br /><br />Sometimes I think I want AV to win, just to annoy the Tories and old Labour idiots; other times, I want AV to lose just to see what happens with the Lib Dems, and also to annoy those people who have been annoying ME with their emails that try to lecture to me that AV is in some way a far superior system to FPTP, when it's merely a slightly lesser of two evils.<br /><br />Besides, AV just seems like a way of legitimising tactical voting to me - you can have minority parties as your first five votes, but it's still going to come down to whichever of Labour, Tories or Lib Dems you've ranked highest that determines who wins the seat. It's like being given a menu at a restaurant that has some really appealing dishes on it, but when you come to choose your course, the waiter keeps saying "sorry, you can't actually have that one" until you get to the two least attractive options and pick the slightly less horrible one, with the waiter saying "good choice, sir!", even though the reality is you had sod all choice. I just wonder if it's a bit more honest and less disappointing to be given a menu that already has "not available" written beside all the better dishes, so you know straight away that you only have the two worst ones to choose from?<br /><br />What I just wrote could be nonsense.Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-57601558771374530182011-02-20T02:04:55.706+00:002011-02-20T02:04:55.706+00:00Doug, if you'd asked me a couple of years ago,...Doug, if you'd asked me a couple of years ago, I might have said something similar. But although the lack of proportionality is by far the biggest defect of first-past-the-post and AV will do nothing to rectify it, there are other important defects that AV will in fact address (for instance by allowing people to vote for their preferred candidate without effectively disenfranchising themselves).<br /><br />So the more I've reflected on it, the more I've realised that in a straight choice between first-past-the-post and AV, it really has to be AV. I agree it's a deeply uninspiring choice, though.James Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-3990546426228298522011-02-20T01:47:37.659+00:002011-02-20T01:47:37.659+00:00I want the referendum to have a "Meh" op...I want the referendum to have a "Meh" option, as I couldn't care less about changing a non-PR system into another non-PR system. I might vote if they do that.<br /><br />As it stands, an "INDEPENDENCE" spoiled vote is still my chosen option. It would be interesting, however, to see how many people would pick a "Meh" option if they could. I bet it would get more than the "Yes" and "No" options. Possibly more than both combined, even.Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.com