Thanks Gavin. Given my name, it's unsurprising that I have thoughts on the Irish issue (though you have to go back 2 generations to get real insights).
Regarding "non Anglo saxon English" I, as a generation Xer, don't recall these racial issues being the dominant issue (and believe me I grew up in the biggest racial melting pot in UK and in utter poverty).
Marx is out of fashion and his solution is clearly wrong. But his diagnosis should be examined. I had to take a course in Marxist Economics in early 1990s at Cambridge. Glad I did.
I'm glad to see another writer commenting on the First Past the Post in regard to the last election. As mentioned, Labour hugely benefitted from targeting their seats. They did so in a clear, if unofficial, understanding with the Lib Dems, who achieved over 70 seats with only 11% of the vote. This was evident in the Frome and East Somerset constituency where I stood as the Green Party candidate. Not only did Labour underfund their campaign, allowing the Lib Dems a considerable advantage, the notion of tactical voting was heavily presented by the Lib Dems, at the expense of little real philosophical engagement. Inevitably my own vote was squeezed. In the Somerset Council elections of 2022 I won a seat with 51% of the vote. In the Parliamentary election I was reduced to 11%, finishing 5th behind a Reform candidate who did not conduct a really "visible" campaign. Many of his votes were gleaned at the expense of the Labour candidate. Proportional Representation would clearly be to the advantage of Reform and the Greens, which is why we won't see either Labour or their Lib Dems allies promoting electoral reform for quite some time.
I agree with much of your conclusion. So often when questions of constitutional confidence so much heavy lifting is put on the shoulders of electoral reform. It would change things significantly. The evidence is of less extreme outcomes, more collaboration. Yet our system is riddled with antiquated process and inertia driven by tradition. Would simply changing the electoral system change that?
I fear not.
Indeed, it is the constitutional inertia that probably stops electoral reform in its tracks.
Instead we can push for, and probably shift he foundations a little to make more radical constitutional and electoral reform more likely.
Enjoyable snippets Gavin. Ref FPTP, yes it drives me mad, but yet how will we ever see proper discussion, with two ‘turkeys in charge of the ‘Christmas’ voting system?
Same with Brexit: plenty whingeing from both sides of the fence there, but very little dialogue on how we ensure such issues are debated - and voted on - more logically.
Although I really support the issues you discuss in this piece, as journalists shouldn’t you be forcing the right dialogue with ‘Them in Charge’, and not simply interviewing your fellow esteemed colleagues?
Thanks again for letting us all read your insights!
Yeah I think we can all agree on that. But when over half of Brits do not even know the correct orientation of their Union Flag (look it up, it's recent news) then I think "taking us forward" should be about how we treat the worst off in society, not the flags appearing on EVERY BLOODY LABOUR LEAFLET.
Thanks Gavin. Given my name, it's unsurprising that I have thoughts on the Irish issue (though you have to go back 2 generations to get real insights).
Regarding "non Anglo saxon English" I, as a generation Xer, don't recall these racial issues being the dominant issue (and believe me I grew up in the biggest racial melting pot in UK and in utter poverty).
Marx is out of fashion and his solution is clearly wrong. But his diagnosis should be examined. I had to take a course in Marxist Economics in early 1990s at Cambridge. Glad I did.
I'm glad to see another writer commenting on the First Past the Post in regard to the last election. As mentioned, Labour hugely benefitted from targeting their seats. They did so in a clear, if unofficial, understanding with the Lib Dems, who achieved over 70 seats with only 11% of the vote. This was evident in the Frome and East Somerset constituency where I stood as the Green Party candidate. Not only did Labour underfund their campaign, allowing the Lib Dems a considerable advantage, the notion of tactical voting was heavily presented by the Lib Dems, at the expense of little real philosophical engagement. Inevitably my own vote was squeezed. In the Somerset Council elections of 2022 I won a seat with 51% of the vote. In the Parliamentary election I was reduced to 11%, finishing 5th behind a Reform candidate who did not conduct a really "visible" campaign. Many of his votes were gleaned at the expense of the Labour candidate. Proportional Representation would clearly be to the advantage of Reform and the Greens, which is why we won't see either Labour or their Lib Dems allies promoting electoral reform for quite some time.
I agree with much of your conclusion. So often when questions of constitutional confidence so much heavy lifting is put on the shoulders of electoral reform. It would change things significantly. The evidence is of less extreme outcomes, more collaboration. Yet our system is riddled with antiquated process and inertia driven by tradition. Would simply changing the electoral system change that?
I fear not.
Indeed, it is the constitutional inertia that probably stops electoral reform in its tracks.
Instead we can push for, and probably shift he foundations a little to make more radical constitutional and electoral reform more likely.
I hope so.
Enjoyable snippets Gavin. Ref FPTP, yes it drives me mad, but yet how will we ever see proper discussion, with two ‘turkeys in charge of the ‘Christmas’ voting system?
Same with Brexit: plenty whingeing from both sides of the fence there, but very little dialogue on how we ensure such issues are debated - and voted on - more logically.
Although I really support the issues you discuss in this piece, as journalists shouldn’t you be forcing the right dialogue with ‘Them in Charge’, and not simply interviewing your fellow esteemed colleagues?
Thanks again for letting us all read your insights!
Alan
I think I’d like to take my country forward, not back.
Yeah I think we can all agree on that. But when over half of Brits do not even know the correct orientation of their Union Flag (look it up, it's recent news) then I think "taking us forward" should be about how we treat the worst off in society, not the flags appearing on EVERY BLOODY LABOUR LEAFLET.
When I was a kid in the 1970s the ONLY political flyers that displayed the Union flag were those of the BNP. Go figure.