I watched University Challenge this evening. It's not something I typically do but I do find the difficulty, indeed the impossibility, of answering any of the questions part of its appeal. I am constantly impressed by the bespectacled youngsters knowing answers to the most intellectually challenging of questions. It is not clear when in their lives they decided to aim so high but kudos to them for doing so.
University Challenge is also a refreshing respite from the channel surfing options of Britain's Next Top Model, endless repeats of Friends and 'Hotter than my Daughter', all of which were on at the same time as tonight's show. Paxman's show is the prime number sitting gloriously off-kilter against the lowest common denominator brainlessness that tends to come out of the tv set.
Where am I going with this? Well, I fear the growing debate over the date of the AV referendum is beginning to pander to the dumbest amongst us. Apparently there is concern that having an election and a referendum on the same day will lead to confusion, as if the public won't be saturated with news on what will be happening on May 5th for months beforehand, whichever side of the border one lives on. Furthermore, even without such political discussion as a lead up, are most Brits really too thick to work out what they need to do in a polling booth?
Labour, Nationalist parties and Tory backbenchers are circling Nick Clegg, scenting vulnerability over the Deputy Prime Ministers push to improve the arcane voting system that saddles our democracy. The white knight of British Politics may soon be knocked from his steed out of something between malice and sport from his opponents. There is little principle at stake in the objections to both the implementation of AV or the proposed date of the referendum, particularly with no genuinely proportional voting system as an alternative option.
We should aim high. Aim high for a better voting system, however incremental an improvement it may be, aim high by recognising the financial savings in holding a referendum on the same date as elections and aim high by trusting that the majority of people are above confusion if faced with more than one ballot slip on polling day.
And for those who do find a 'yes/no' question too much to take, should we really lament their lost votes? Really? I daresay they in turn will only be lamenting having missed the latest Hotter than my Daughter episode...
Carla in bronze
1 minute ago
15 comments:
All good points Jeff, but it makes a mockery of 'respecting' the Scottish Parliament. It also laughs at the conclusions of the inquiry into the last Holyrood voting day fiasco by saying 'yes, we'll double up on the voting again'. Most importantly to me, after six/sixty months of the "main" parties hogging all the TV time we will be treated to a lead-up to the next Scottish Parliament elections of... the "main" parties hogging all the TV time. What is wrong with 2012..?
Take yer point Jeff, we need tae get on an' improve the electoral system. However, d'ye think they wid arrange a referendum, any referendum, on the same day as a Westminster GE? Ah doubt they wid, cos they wid say it wid detract fae the election, so whit's sae different fae a Scottish GE?
Ah will be shoutin ma heid aff against AV whenever the referendum comes, if come it does, cos it is a sham. It is designed tae block necessary electoral reform, which remeains the introduction of a proportional system.
AV is a step back, for not only is it not proportional, an' can be even less sae than FPTP, but it gives elected MPs a faux-mandate. We wid hear plenty fae MPs sayin they had been elected by a 'majority' when in reality maist o' them wid be dependent on 2nd an' 3rd preferences. That's not a majority in ma book.
Ah dinnae think anybody's intelligence is bein insulted by the idea that ye should gie each election its day. Thae politicians will dae anythin they can tae avoid scrutiny, an' we should be daein aw we can tae mak sure they cannae.
If it wasn't tagged onto the elections to be held on that day it would be a very low turnout. AV is not something to excite anyone. What we need it STV.
Perhaps we could have a 40% rule brought in for that AV proposal or maybe 55%?
Fully agree it is disrespectful and that a consultation should have taken place but that's a separate point. Should Scots not back Clegg's date out of spite for getting to discuss it?
Good point about the conclusions of the 2007 election enquiry but, as you could probably guess from my post and despite my thinking that we should make it as simple as possible, at a fundamental level we shouldn't officially decree that a referendum and an election is beyond the average Brit. What an awful message to send out to the wider world that would be.
Having referendums and elections on separate dates is a bit like having to have your food cut up into little pieces.
I cut my food up into little pieces. It makes it easier to swallow. You may be able to eat a big steak in one bite, but I'm no snake; I can't dislocate my jaw.
Aha, but I bet you cut that food up yourself Anon, because you have the skills and understanding to do so. You didn't need a politician to come and do it for you, which is my point.
(Oh goodness, I'm now picturing Ed Balls cutting my fish fingers into little pieces for, a horrendous image!)
Yes, most of us can work out the difference between a referendum and voting for our MSP and voting for our party. I'm guessing that most of the participants here are well-educated, socially-aware, self-confident individuals.
There are a lot of people however, who don't have enough confidence in their own judgement, and rely on the media or their parents/grandparents to make up their minds for them. It may be in the interests of some parties to create confusion where previously there was none; to try to conflate two separate issues.
As far as I can tell confusion is not the issue. This is what Nicola Sturgeon said:
“By holding the AV referendum on the same day there is a real danger of the Scottish Parliamentary elections being overshadowed and the issues that really matter to the people of Scotland being eclipsed by a media focus on an electoral system that is not supported by any of the political parties.”
I am not sure that would happen though I take the point that it is ridiculous to have a referendum on a voting system which is not the preferred choice of any political party.
The danger to me is that the referendum on AV would actually be used as a referendum on the Lib Dem Tory coalition.
Unless we also bolted on a question about Scotland.
Independence referendum anyone?
If it's OK to have a referendum on AV - which no party supports as its preferred voting system - then surely it's OK to have a referendum on independence - which two parties and one independent MSP support.
I think this is the direction the SNP is heading in. Make the Tories and Lib Dems argue the case for having a referendum on AV on the same day as the Scottish elections makes it harder for them to argue that a referendum on independence is out of the question.
Of course the Lib Dems and Tories would die rather than agree to a referendum on independnece but their hypocrisy will be all the clearer when they are arguing the case for the referendum on AV.
Please Jeff, can you say 5th May? May 5th is an invasive Americanism that really grates.
Keep up the good work ;-)
It doesn't make people thick to be confused by a system they don't follow closely. Nor does it imply anything about the TV they watch.
We should aim high and have proper PR at westminster, not a tactically agreed vote on a phoney improvement. What a wasted opportunity, and a waste of money that would be.
The Scottish Parliament already involves two votes. That's enough to fight for on one day. Wasting time explaining AV systems to a scintillated public too? Nah.
The minor reform offered by AV is at least a step in the right direction and should be supported by all who wish to see democratic change in Scotland and an end to the bitter negative political campaigning (mostly from Labour) that a preferential system will go some way to lessening. However, I don't think it's a good idea to hold any sort of UK wide vote on the same day as a Scottish Parliament election. This goes for the planned referendum next year, and the 2015 UK election.
To have both on the same day is simply asking for a repeat of all the problems we saw in 2007, both at polling stations and at the counts. I've lost count of how many anecdotes I've heard from voters who simply did not know what to do when presented with so many ballot papers all at once, and these are intelligent people too, who simply struggled to cope with such complex instructions for different systems. Not everyone follows politics as closely as people who read political blogs, and on the day everything possible should be done to make the voting process as clear and simple as possible for all voters, and if this means holding votes on different days, then so be it.
The 2011 election may end up being the most crucial election since devolution, and we will see a real choice between a party that wishes to continue taking Scotland forward, and one that would take us back to being nothing more than a glorified version of Strathclyde Regional Council. And a real choice between two totally contrasting potential First Ministers in Alex Salmond and Iain Gray. It would be a real shame if the issues surrounding this election were not given proper coverage in the media, having been overshadowed by the electoral reform referendum.
They should have the referendum by all means, but shouldn't use cost cutting as an excuse to hinder the democratic process in Scotland. Why can't they hold the referendum later in the year, when it can be discussed properly as a single issue, or timed to co-incide with the 2012 council elections?
I hope that AV is introduced for Westminster elections, and eventually STV for all elections for Westminster, Holyrood as well as having it for council elections as we do now, but not to the detriment of Scottish Parliament elections that have been scheduled well before the referendum was even thought of.
The minor reform offered by AV is at least a step in the right direction and should be supported by all who wish to see democratic change in Scotland and an end to the bitter negative political campaigning (mostly from Labour) that a preferential system will go some way to lessening. However, I don't think it's a good idea to hold any sort of UK wide vote on the same day as a Scottish Parliament election. This goes for the planned referendum next year, and the 2015 UK election.
To have both on the same day is simply asking for a repeat of all the problems we saw in 2007, both at polling stations and at the counts. I've lost count of how many anecdotes I've heard from voters who simply did not know what to do when presented with so many ballot papers all at once, and these are intelligent people too, who simply struggled to cope with such complex instructions for different systems. Not everyone follows politics as closely as people who read political blogs, and on the day everything possible should be done to make the voting process as clear and simple as possible for all voters, and if this means holding votes on different days, then so be it.
The 2011 election may end up being the most crucial election since devolution, and we will see a real choice between a party that wishes to continue taking Scotland forward, and one that would take us back to being nothing more than a glorified version of Strathclyde Regional Council. And a real choice between two totally contrasting potential First Ministers in Alex Salmond and Iain Gray. It would be a real shame if the issues surrounding this election were not given proper coverage in the media, having been overshadowed by the electoral reform referendum.
They should have the referendum by all means, but shouldn't use cost cutting as an excuse to hinder the democratic process in Scotland. Why can't they hold the referendum later in the year, when it can be discussed properly as a single issue, or timed to co-incide with the 2012 council elections?
I hope that AV is introduced for Westminster elections, and eventually STV for all elections for Westminster, Holyrood as well as having it for council elections as we do now, but not to the detriment of Scottish Parliament elections that have been scheduled well before the referendum was even thought of.
Oops sorry for posting twice
Hotter than my daughter?
Please tell me you made that one up.
@Jeff:
So I can choose when I'm going to take part in the referendum, and when I'm going to vote for my MSP? Do we get to decide our own personal election dates?
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