Daily Archives: July 6, 2010
Nick Clegg – the lonely schoolboy who dreams of a perfect state
Source the Guardian
In his imagination, Clegg has created an ideal state in which justice, fairness and sheer practicality fight each other for position
In the same way, Clegg has created an ideal state in which justice, fairness and sheer practicality fight each other for position.
It’s called Britain. He’s worked it all out, and written it all down; it’s on a piece of paper, which looks frightfully official, headed “Cabinet Office. News release.” It had obviously taken a lot of work, but you did feel that he would be better off hanging round street corners with his mates, smoking. Anyhow, it was very meticulous. He wants his country to have fewer MPs. Every constituency will have much the same number of voters, except for the Scottish islands, where the tiny populations will have to be eked out by puffins, albatrosses, etc.
They will be elected by the alternative vote system, which probably means that no one party will ever hold power again. Parliament will last for fixed terms, like the American Congress. But if MPs want, they can have an election, provided two-thirds of them vote for it.
His statement was full of lonely schoolboy details. Take this: “These proposals should make it absolutely clear to the house that votes of no confidence and votes for early dissolution are entirely separate. And that we are putting in place safeguards against a lame duck government being left in limbo if the house passes a vote of no confidence but doesn’t vote for early dissolution.” Oh, please, can’t you just borrow Grand Theft Auto: The Final Bloodbath instead?
MPs hated the plans. They always hate change. They sprang up from all sides of the house to tell him how his ideas would never work. They were particularly peeved about the decision to hold the big referendum in May next year, on the same day as the local elections and the Welsh and Scottish elections. This would make for “differential turnout” since people who didn’t have local elections would be unlikely to bother walking to the polling station just to vote for or against AV voting. This would mean very unfair voting, since a single crofter in the Highlands would have the same influence as half a dozen lazy Londoners, since there are no local elections in the capital next year.
To be fair to Clegg, the angrier MPs got, the crosser he became. He had to sound stroppy because he had his dad, David Cameron, sitting next to him, and he didn’t want to look wimpish.
Jack Straw asked why Clegg had originally called AV “a miserable little compromise ‑ I’m not going to stand for that!” Could he tell the house why he had changed his mind? “Power!” boomed a Labour voice.
Some Tories wanted a simultaneous referendum on Europe, something else the Lib Dems once promised but have now forgotten. Somehow Clegg kept going for 75 minutes, then his mother called him down for tea
Salford Fat Cats episode 2 fresh from Mr Kingston at the Salford Star.
From our Local Tory Cllr Lindley,
Pleased that the investment in Salford schools has been confirmed by the Government
I would next expect anything different from a local Councillor of this city. But would he care to make a comment to all those other hard working Councillors and residents accross the country who have lost out and their children will more than likely end up in sub standard facilities?compliments of the Liberal Democrat Tory alliance.
Things must be bad i have just recieved this from the Liberal Democrats
What do these have in common
Got it-? well to be honest it’s simply they are both very hard to find in Swinton -South.The only difference is one is a cartoon and the other hides in Children’s books.
More work for poor old Martin i feel like his secretary.
If i can’t help i can always put you on to the young guy,drop us a line if you have any issues,
Question to all Liberal Democrats if Mr Clegg thought AV IS A MISERABLE LITTLE REFORM why the hell is he so delighted wih this Tory scrap.
Nick Clegg once disparaged AV as “a miserable little reform”. Yet achieving a yes to AV is now seen by many Lib Dems as the major reason – and for some of them, the only reason – to be in the coalition.
I sometime wonder how Clegg sits with Cameron, a man who once said when asked what is favourite joke answered “Nick Clegg” To ne honest the Liberal Democrats are becoming more like a music hall joke every day.
Brought to you by the Liberal Democrat Conservative Party, Gerrymandering it’s on the way mark my words.
Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process.
Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular group of constituents, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.
This is what the Liberal Democrats want to spend million on a referendum on AR! well they wanted PR really but the Tories said no.
The Alternative Vote
What is the Alternative Vote? The Alternative Vote (AV) is very much like First-Past-the-Post (FPTP). Like FPTP, it is used to elect representatives for single-member constituencies, except that rather than simply marking one solitary ‘X’ on the ballot paper, the voter has the chance to rank the candidates on offer.
The voter thus puts a ’1′ by their first-preference candidate, and can continue, if they wish, to put a ’2′ by their second-preference, and so on, until they don’t care anymore or they run out of names. In some AV elections, such as most Australian elections, electors are required to rank all candidates.
If a candidate receives a majority of first-preference votes (more people put them as number one than all the rest combined), then they are elected.
If no candidate gains a majority on first preferences, then the second-preference votes of the candidate who finished last on the first count are redistributed. This process is repeated until someone gets over 50 per cent.
If only he’d considered these purely symbolic gestures of such as scrapping the pointless Swinton ice rink earlier, many more jobs could be saved and countless families could be spared from decades miserable deprivation.
Instead millions of pounds worth of critical public finances are handed over without question to unaccountable private sector enterprises such as Salford City Reds Rugby Club and Peel Holdings.
Salford City Council should be at the forefront of job creation for ordinary working people. It should be building homes, not selling them off. At the moment it is cheer-leading for the wealthiest championing a trend mass unemployment, the like of which we have never seen before. Only through investment can we defeat poverty.
If Cllr Merry truly wishes to make savings and restore the faith in his party through symbolic gestures may I suggest he look closer to home and reconsider returning his £38,000 p.a unpaid expenses. Who really deserves what equates to roughly £700 a week for the privilege of leading this sinking ship of a council?
Meanwhile over at Civic Centre we learn the unelected Chief Executive of Salford City Council is now taking home more than our local MPs Hazel Blears and Barbara Keeley combined (over £200,000 including a ludicrous pension contribution of £25,000). She and dozens of her fellow parasitical fat cats should be at the top of the Merry chopping list.
David Henry
Salford Green Party