Entries from May 2010

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Counting alternative votes before they’re cast

It’s interesting to see this from the BBC, which has some handy interactive digital graphics on its web site to show how the different voting systems work, in the run-up to most likely adopting one. What I want to know is how on earth they can apply the alternative vote system to the 2010 result, when […]

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Be careful what you wish for…

Nearly 30 years ago, David Steel told the Liberal Party to “go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government”. I wonder if, three decades later, they’re actually ready for it…

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

One journalism job that won’t have many applicants from journalists

Spotted on Journalism.co.uk, a journalism job ad for a blogger/opinion former to cover the foreign exchange markets. “Great,” think the mass of underemployed hacks scouring the classifieds. “I could turn my hand to that. Let’s see, what does it need? Hmm – ‘Must have a genuine interest in financial markets’. Well, I don’t know much […]

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

“The people have spoken – we’re just not sure what they’ve said”

What went wrong with last week’s election? In media terms, clearly, it was a lack of narrative. How could the media make sense of the voting patterns in 2010? Massive swings to the Tories in unexpected seats, solid swings away from Labour in others. But swinging to where? Sometimes to Tory, sometimes to Labour, sometimes […]

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Fear and West Lothian in Westminster

The latest argument for a “Progressive Rainbow Coalition Government” in the UK comes from the Scottish Nationalists, who argue that a LibCon arrangement would be resented by the 83% of people who didn’t vote Conservative in Scotland. I’m sure the 100% of people who didn’t vote SNP in England will welcome a government that includes the […]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Whoever you vote for, government wins

I usually love elections, but, despite the fact that this is the most unpredictable, closest-run contest I’ve known, I just can’t seem to get worked up about this one. I’ve always enjoyed them. Appropriately enough, the first election I was really aware of was in 1974 – the last time that we had a minority […]