Not being a supporter of either of the coalition parties, the current range of opportunities to accuse them of betraying their manifesto commitments are very tempting. It’s hard not to relish a few years of Nick Clegg having this video replayed constantly in the light of Tuesday’s budget VAT hike. But taking the partisan hat [...]
Posts under ‘Elections’
What kind of election was it?
The Election 2010 blog is asking ‘what election was that‘? “The opening book in the ‘Nuffield’ election series – The British General Election of 1945 – lists a series of ‘named’ elections: 1874, when the Liberals went down in a flood of gin and beer; the Midlothian election of 1880; the Khaki election of 1900; [...]
Voting against
I think that a lot of election commentary is missing something important about how we vote. As some commenters here have said, in the past, ‘at elections, we order our preferences’. That makes this really interesting. Nick Clegg doesn’t seem to be strongly objected to in the way that Gordon Brown and David Cameron are. [...]
Elections bring the best out in bloggers
I’ve tried to boil down the killer argument in the whole ‘blogger v journalist’ debate, and it runs something like this: Take the best article you’ve read in a newspaper recently. The one that was well-written and argued and the one that met a particular need that you have personally. You can be almost certain [...]
Election websites to watch
I mentioned in a previous posting here that I thought bookmakers have more of value to say about the forthcoming election than opinion pollsters (though the Electoral Calculus site is really worth a look for its detailed predictions in individual seats) If the excellent (though troll-infested) Political Betting site isn’t enough for you, here’s Betfair’s [...]
Two other election-related tidbits
I know there have been a few election-related posts here, but here’s two more: I’ve been keeping an eye on Mike Smithson’s ‘Political Betting‘ website. Mike’s general prejudice seems to have been that, generally the most optimistic poll from the range available for the Tories actually understates the support that they will get at the [...]
Should ‘don’t knows’ be discouraged from voting?
There is nothing that annoys politicians more than people who just don’t get around to voting. For months, the parties are knocking doors and getting pledges. In a tight fight, every vote will be counted on, and a well-resourced team will manage to knock on doors a half-dozen times until the name is ticked off [...]
Election expenses & ‘swiftboating’ – still relevant?
Apologies for the light posting here – I’ve been a bit busy with other things lately. This post will be some way off being a detailed bit of innovative research as well – more an observation to fill the gap. Every candidate at the next general election will be subjected to a set of rules [...]
Elsewhere
I’ve just had this article published by The Telegraph. Sometimes, it’s only when you read yourself elsewhere that you see that you buried your more important point under less significant ones. “Since the 2005 election, we have raced past the tipping point. Facebook has 23 million British users. About half of the eligible voters are [...]
Voting systems compared
If the rumours are correct, Gordon Brown is about to announce his intention to promote a new voting system for Parliamentary elections in the UK. His choice is said to be the Alternative Vote (AV) system. It looks like the Vote For A Change campaign will get their way and there will be a referendum [...]
A blog about representative democracy, social media and a conversational politics. How will peer-to-peer communications change local democracy? How is representation changing? 
