The Good Thing About AV
AV or Alternative Vote is something that politicians can’t agree on.
I was tending towards saying No, but mainly for conservative reasons. Note the small cee.
However a few days ago, I was at the Angel and both sides were handing out their leaflets. On the bus home, many people were reading the leaflets and that was a surprise and a good thing. Anthony Berry would have approved. I say he would have approved as I remember he was one of three candidates who came to my school at probably a General Election in 1964. Whereas the other two candidates, brought out their parties’ lines, Berry concentrated on how voting was a right and we should always exercise it.
So when there was a meeting on AV tonight, I went along. It was a genteel meeting, with both sides putting their views eloquently and answering some intelligent questions from the floor. Wouldn’t it be so much better, if Parliament behaved better and dare I say it more independently and scientifically correct.
I think that AV will not have much effect on the two major problems of our elections; the mediocre nature of many of the candidates and the low turn out. Although with better candidates would we get a better turn out.
I asked a question about which system would bring forward better candidates, but neither side seemed to think it would make much difference!
As the debate proceeded, I came to a logical conclusion, that perhaps AV might improve the candidates in certain circumstances.
I should say that I’ve been represented by some good MPs, I’ve met a couple too, who retained their seats because they looked after their constituents. And I’d also met a couple of real political hacks, who ticked all the right boxes, but who you’d never trust.
But thinking about my last constituency, Newmarket, AV might persuade someone from the racing industry to come forward. They would not stand a chance under first-past-the-post, but under AV many in the town would place them second. So AV might mean that important single issues in a constituency, could give a good single issue candidate a chance. We might see a few more good doctors, like the one in Kidderminster.
On the other hand, single issue parties like UKIP and the BNP might benefit. Which in my view would be a bad thing!
So I think I might have changed my mind and will say Yes to AV.
On the other hand, I might spoil my paper.
Google 10th Anniversary Awards Centre
I received an e-mail saying I’d won.
It’s a scam.
If you don’t believe me! Just think why it’s not been on the news!
Terrorism Arrests at Sellafield
There have been arrests under the Terrorism Act at Sellafield.
I have been over nuclear facilities in both the UK and the United States and am pretty sure, that untrained people without the right technical background could learn anything of use, that they couldn’t get from something like Wikipedia or Google. They certainly wouldn’t get inside.
In fact all they’ve done is draw attention to themselves and get arrested.
I’d do them for wasting Police time.
Amnesty International Strikes Itself Off My Charity List!
You can;t walk down Upper Street in Islington, without getting accosted by one of the numerous Big Issue salesmen or chuggers.
Today, I got stopped by someone trying to sell me Amnesty International.
These charities would be better off publicising their donate by SMS message numbers.
It is a charity that I follow and have donated to in the past.
But I won’t be supporting them in the future, as I don’t support charities who chug.
I should say that another charity that approached me in the traditional way with a bucket held my a lady earlier, got my loose change. As I always do though, I refused the sticker.
Pakistan’s Intelligence
The Pakistan Intelligence Service didn’t seem to know that Osama Bin Laden was living in their midst and they didn’t seem to know or detect the American raid.
But is this anything new?
They didn’t have any inkling of the attacks on Mumbai, that killed so many innocent people either.
And this is just the start.
Pakistan gets masses of aid from countries like the United States, but where does it all go? Certainly not to the Intelligence Service in any meaningful and constructive manner.
It is a very broken country, that really needs to get a grip on itself. Some like Imran Khan have tried but got nowhere. Others like Benazir Bhutto have been assassinated.
The Anonymous Widower 