Changes for the Better
What I meant by the election going "as well as could be expected" in my last post was, of course, the fact that New Labour had its majority slashed, meaning that - hopefully - Blair's wings will be a little clipped.
And despite his talk of staying the full term before appointing a successor, it's looking increasingly likely he'll be obliged to step down within a year. And with Gordon Brown - possibly even anyone other than Blair - in charge, we're talking about a more straightforward job for the opposition parties, a clearer divide. Who knows? The Tories under a new leader may even get their act together as champions of individual freedom. That would really shake things up.
However, I have to agree with my mates at perfect.co.uk and elsewhere that the next big subject is electoral reform.
Thanks for the reminder noskidmarks, BTW.
From both sides of the political spectrum, the Sunday Times and the Guardian Blogs there is much made of the fact that our current electoral system is heavily biased in Labour's favour. Just to repeat (cos this still staggers me), it took:
I want the government to fulfil its promise of providing a referendum on the Jenkins Commission proposals - or just possibly a very well-reasoned alternative that provides for a similar or greater degree of Proportional Representation.
And it looks like that's exactly the desire of the Make My Vote Count Campaign
Right, I'm off to do some research!
And despite his talk of staying the full term before appointing a successor, it's looking increasingly likely he'll be obliged to step down within a year. And with Gordon Brown - possibly even anyone other than Blair - in charge, we're talking about a more straightforward job for the opposition parties, a clearer divide. Who knows? The Tories under a new leader may even get their act together as champions of individual freedom. That would really shake things up.
However, I have to agree with my mates at perfect.co.uk and elsewhere that the next big subject is electoral reform.
Thanks for the reminder noskidmarks, BTW.
From both sides of the political spectrum, the Sunday Times and the Guardian Blogs there is much made of the fact that our current electoral system is heavily biased in Labour's favour. Just to repeat (cos this still staggers me), it took:
- 27,000 votes to elect a Labour MP
- 44,000 votes to elect a Tory MP
- almost 100,000 votes to elect a Lib Dem MP
I want the government to fulfil its promise of providing a referendum on the Jenkins Commission proposals - or just possibly a very well-reasoned alternative that provides for a similar or greater degree of Proportional Representation.
And it looks like that's exactly the desire of the Make My Vote Count Campaign
Right, I'm off to do some research!
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