There’s a vote coming soon, are you excited?

On May 5th we get the chance to vote on a new voting system. We will be asked whether we want to replace the First Past the Post system that we have now with the Alternative Vote. See, it’s more exciting than you thought, isn’t it!

This is only the second national referendum, the first being in 1975 to gauge our appetite for continued membership of what was then called the Common Market. We’ve been arguing about the topic of that one ever since.

However, despite the palpable excitement, with the UK involved in two conflicts abroad, the economy on its knees, tough cuts about to bite, public sector hit hard and people losing their jobs you have got to ask if now really is the right time to be having a vote on a voting system.

I’m sure that the Liberal Democrats would say that the country needs a change because the people are disenfranchised and the FPtP results are unrepresentative of the way people actually vote. And that the Conservative and Labour parties would say that what ain’t broke don’t fix it.

My feeling is that until you can get people to feel like this about voting then the method by which the votes are counted is largely irrelevant. Turnout has been in decline for many years with a large proportion of the voting population showing huge apathy for the process.

So forget how we vote and concentrate on getting people to actually get out and cast their vote in the first place. Only then can we worry about how we count the votes.

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It seems that presidential style election debates are all the rage in the UK this year and last night I got to see one – regrettably not THE leaders debate but a similar event that was being held in each BBC region last night and televised. Actually it was more like Question Time than the leaders debate (we were allowed to clap, boo and cheer if we felt like it) but fascinating never the less.

The panel was made up of a representative from the three mains parties and one each from UKIP and the Greens and was supposed to be looking at local issues – those directly affecting South of England, however, as ever, it proved impossible to prevent a politician from answering the question that they wanted to answer rather than what the questioner asked.

I’m not sure that I feel any better informed for having attended than had I just read the statements in the media and the manifestos but it was interesting to see the process and I made the following observations (based on a partisan position it should be noted):

• Chris Huhne talks too much
• Nigel Farage talks way too much
• Michael Gove talks without any substance
• John Denahm talks the party line
• Caroline Lucas talks a lot of sense (but then you can when you aren’t likely to ever get into a position of power!)

So Alex and I got our 15 minutes of fame and we’ve got pictures to prove it. Actually I added to my fame bank following my successful media debut on the Timmy Mallet programme promoting my record, but that’s a story for another day!

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Just going through the photos taken when on our tour of Australia and Hong Kong and came across this one taken at Melbourne airport. Now I know that “aviation security” or terrorism as it is called outside of airports, is important but I have never considered jokes as “a threat to commit an unlawful interference with aviation”. Obviously I didn’t point this out to the security officers!

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Having difficulty deciding who to vote for in the European elections? I know that if you are anything like me you just can’t wait to get into the polling booth and make your mark and influence the next four years of European policy. Well you will be glad to hear that there is a new tool available that is just for you – it is called Vote Match.

You go onto the site and answer 30 questions about what your thoughts are on a range of European related issues, spanning from should the EU have a say in your retirement age to should we join the Euro (Yes!). Should you not have lost the will to live by the 30th question it then matches you against the answers given by the policies of the parties entering the elections and tells you who your best match is.

So this is a good idea right? Wrong!

The idea behind the site is to engage with more people and encourage them to vote. While the idea is laudable I think it is a bad idea. Firstly, because, as they have been saying on the radio all this week, no one cares about the European elections. In fact it seems that no one cares about Europe until you ask them if they want to see a change of coinage. SO why is anyone going to get excited by 30 questions on the subject?

The major problem thought, is that is this the way to be encouraging people to vote? Yes, we want people to get out and enjoy the democracy that we have but I would much rather people took an interest and looked at the issues for themselves rather than be guided by a series of simplistic questions.

Whatever happens the turnout in June will be low and the major parties will take knock as a backlash against the economy and having had to pay for MPs to have their swimming pools and moats cleaned.

Feel any different? Think it is a good idea? Leave a comment.

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It was reported on the BBC today that the UK borrowed £16bn last month? Given the current financial situation just who is lending us the money?

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So, finally, the day of the US elections is here. The web is full of it, particularly the US sites that I read.

One site this morning was urging their readers to go and vote which I thought was very laudable until they added “You get to decide the course of the free world for the next four years”. Unfortunately I think that is the problem right there – perhaps it is about time that responsibility was given to someone else.

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So the 2008 Olympic Games are drawing to a close and the British are celebrating a record haul of medals – as I write this we have a pretty amazing total of 39, including 17 gold medals. What has been striking is where the successes have been achieved, in the sailing and, particularly, in the cycling where there were ten gold medals on offer of which we won seven.

Looking at the medals table you can see just how great the achievement really is – third for a county of our size is fantastic. Putting it into perspective I took the top 10 and worked out each countries relative position based on the medals won per head of population. On this basis it puts us second, just behind our current sporting rivals Australia. That last fact should give some comfort to this lot of whinging Aussies! 

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I note from the BBC that it is the deadline for Northern Rock bids to be in today. Along with one from Richard Branson’s Virgin group it is expected that these will include a bid from the existing management team. This is presumably the same team that helped get Northern Rock into the predicament that it currently finds itself in and needing to find a new buyer.

Is it just me that thinks that this is a bit of a cheek and that the application should be rejected out of hand? What makes them think that they can make a better job of it than they did previously, other than them being insulated by guarantees from the government with my money. Not me that’s for sure!

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So the new Liberal Democrat leader is in hot water already with the “revelation” that he does not believe in God. No sooner had he answered the question than he was having to beat a hasty retreat and saying things like that he had “enormous respect for people who have religious faith” and that his wife was a Catholic. But what does it really matter these days and who does it actually matter to?

According to the last census in 2001 36 million people recorded themselves as Christian while 15% had no religion at all. Of that 85% who have some religious affiliation only 6.3% attend church. So, they may not get out much on Sundays any more (probably too busy shopping) but as Nick Clegg has found they are clearly a scary lot. It is still the case that you need to have some form of religious belief in a public and political position and as Tony Blair found out that had better not be of the Catholic variety.

Of course religious affiliation makes no difference to your ability to do the job whatsoever and I was heartened to read the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who said: “It matters less to me than to know they are honest and reliable and that what beliefs they have they hold sincerely.” Now all we need to do is find an “honest and reliable” politician and we’re in business!

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With the advent of multi-channel TV the publishers need to find something to fill these channels. So today on BBC Parliament we have live coverage of the Labour Party Conference, complete and unedited. From the little I saw this morning this message hadn’t got through to the MP Keith Vaz who was chairing a Q&A session. As they were setting up he was explaining how things were going to work to his panel of MPs: “Don’t speak until I call your name. Pretend it’s like the old cabinet”…

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The local council want to shut my sons secondary school, Ryeish Green based on a falling roll. Research carried out by the council shows that the roll will continue to fall making the school not viable.  However, independent research carried out shows that the councils figures are wrong and the that the roll will actually rise making the school a necessity. It is the only school in Wokingham designated as “rural” and the only one this side of the district. Should it be closed it will mean a great deal more travel across the district for the displaced pupils – many of whom can walk today.

My personal view is that this is a purely political move for the council who could do with the money the sale of such a large site would bring in. Of course they claim otherwise, however, I would be very surprised if the council just left the site empty though.

Anyway should you wish to support the school you can do so on the Downing Street e-petitions site. I would urge you to do so.

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For some time now I have worried about the way terrorism has become the latest way to keep the public in check by creating a state of fear and uncertainty. However, a mate of mine has written a blog that puts it all back into perspective and injects a bit of much needed humour. Check out this link:

http://www.planetmanuel.com/dirk/?p=57

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I had to catch the train yesterday morning for a meeting in London. This cost me £30.90 for the privilege of standing between Reading and Paddington. Thankfully it’s not often that I have to catch the train nowadays but there was a time some seven years ago when I did the journey daily. In that time nothing much has changed I stood then and I stood yerterday. The need to stand was, perhaps, less acceptable yesterday as this was a journey at just gone 9am when I would have thought that most commuters would be long gone. I could have driven but I don’t enjoy driving into London and trying to find parking and anyway I would prefer to “go green” and use public transport.

So the government wants us all to use public transport more and the roads less. Now to my way of thinking overcrowded, expensive trains are not the way of encouraging us onto the trains. Nor is having a private, profit making organisation running the service. No, if the government wants better public transport usage then they had better be prepared to pay for it – but of course they are not because that would mean we would have to pay for it through the taxes and no-one wants higher taxes for that sort of thing, or do they?

There is a problem which I don’t know how any government is going to address it: namely that the UK people want world class services but don’t seem to want to pay for them.

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John Prescott has had an affair, who cares? What’s of more interest is how he managed to persuade her into his arms in the first place.

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So, Tony Blair has finally lost a vote in the commons. It has been a long time coming but was pretty spectacular when it finally arrived with 49 of his own MPs voting against the motion. The bill that the members were voting on was an extension to Britain’s existing anti-terror laws and in particular to increase the time that the police can hold a suspect without charging him from the current 14 days to 90.

What struck me was the complete arrogance of the man after he had lost. There was absolutely no attempt at being gracious in defeat, in fact quite the opposite. From the interviews I saw Blair was adamant that the “rebel” MPs had got it wrong and had not followed the will of the people. This is forgetting, of course, that all MPs are elected representatives of the people. I am also not convinced that Blair has got it right about the will of the people. Talking about the plans with colleagues and friends no-one came out strongly in favour for a 90 day rule. In fact the main feeling you got was one of indifference, but that could just be the company I keep.

There are many styles of leader and being a pig headed, autocratic one, in my experience, tends to breed resentment amongst the masses and only leads to rebellion and downfall. Blair has already announced his intention to leave – episodes such as this can only place him under pressure to go sooner.

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You would have thought that if you were the most powerful man in the world (allegedly) that you could go to the toilet when you liked and wouldnt need to get permission. Well we now know that is not the case.

Pictures from the UN Heads of State Summit show US President George W Bush passing a note to his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stating “I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?”. Apart from the obviously worrying fact that he needed to ask, of even more concern was that he wasn’t even sure he needed to go.

History does not record Rice’s response. Nor do we know whether he made it in time. Maybe it’s a good job he stood behind that plinth to give his speech…

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“Bombers were all sponging asylum seekers” was the big, bold title on the front of today’s Daily Mail. I didn’t pick up the paper and bother to read the article as I had already read enough to have my stomach turned. Just to make matters even worse I noticed that in the top left hand corner of the front page was a union flag. So we can be very clear about where the Daily Mail stands on the issue of immigration – not that we were ever in much doubt.

What I can’t quite work out is how they think that this sort of tone is in anyway helpful at anytime let alone now when the need to stand together is greater than ever. But, of course, they don’t care about that. What they do care about is shifting as many papers as possible. They probably also believe the right wing rubbish they write too.

I repeat: everyone needs to stand firm against those who wish to do harm to the country. Stirring up racial unrest is not helpful and gives the bombers what they strive for. My advice? Don’t buy the Daily Mail.

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Following the bomb attacks last Thursday US President George Bush, addressing an audience of 1000 FBI agents but clearly intending his words to be heard by a wider audience, said “In this difficult hour, the people of Great Britain can know the American people stand with you”. (BBC News)

Well, actually that has quickly turned out not to be true – they aren’t standing with us but ever so slightly further away outside of the M25… It seems that American soldiers stationed at bases in the UK have been banned for travelling anywhere inside the M25, i.e London. (BBC News). Are these not the brave men and women that the US relies upon to go into difficult situations around the world to promote America’s brand of freedom? If they can’t handle a shopping trip to London a week AFTER a bomb attack then the US should be pretty worried about the state of their defences.

I am really struggling not to use the word “hypocrite” here (oops it just slipped out) but I really cannot think of anything else to describe it. How can you on the one hand give support and then with the other take it away? It’s an art that clearly only the Americans have mastered.

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What a difference 24 hours can make. Only yesterday London was celibrating the success of capturing the 2012 Olympics and today it is rocked by a terrorist attack.

I, like any other normal person, was shocked and sickened by the attacks. I just cannot comprehend just what the attackers think they will gain from such an attack. Will it make me less likely to travel to London? No. Will it make me less likely to travel on public transport? No. Will it make me more likely to support their cause? No. So what has it achieved, how has it furthered their cause and what is their ultimate aim. As it is unspoken one can only assume that they have no aim and no purpose other than to cause death and disruption.

My family and friends in London were fortunately not hurt in any of the blasts – others were not so lucky. We will see this through and London will quickly return to normal, however, it will take us a long time to forget.

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Oooh! I’ve come over with a great wave of nationalistic pride – London has succeeded in it’s bid to become the host city for the 2012 Olympic Games. As if that wasn’t enough it has also managed to do so by beating the French at the same time, making the victory even sweeter!

But this is not just a victory for London, oh no, it’s also a win for Weymouth who are to host the water events and the likes of Cardiff and Glasgow who will host some of the football matches.

I have to say that I am genuinely excited by the prospect of the games coming to the UK. I look forward to taking my two sons to some of the events. In 2012 they will be 18 and 20, so a trip to the women’s beach volleyball might be in order, ahem!

If you want to see more about the bid and what London will be offering then move on over to London 2012, although since the announcement the server has been down due to the amount of traffic.

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