Why Are Polling Stations Called Polling Places In Scotland?
As I watch the BBC News, I have noticed that polling stations, seem to be called polling places in Scotland.
It’s just like with what you call bus stands!
What Is The French For Knackered?
According to The Times, the French PM said “We have six months to save France, or we’re knackered”
Google translate gives the answer – crevé
Should We Have A Margaret Thatcher Square?
The Standard reported last night that Madrid has named a square after Margaret Thatcher and that there are calls to do the same in London.
We definitely should not, but then we don’t generally name squares, roads or buildings after politicians. Tastes change and one person’s hero may one day be some other person’s ogre.
Or as in the case of Jimmy Saville, there may be the darkest of secrets. The problems of erasing his memory are described here.
A Control Engineer’s View On The Result Of The Scottish Referendum
I trained as a Control Engineer in the 1960s and applying what I learned then to everyday systems is fun.
Avoid Discontinuities
One of the first things, you should do in designing a system is avoid discontinuities.
Take riding a bicycle. One of the things you try to avoid is steps, as even a single one like a kerb is a discontinuity to be got around. It is much easier to ride along a nice flat, smooth road.
I live in London and as I walk around, I see more and more instances, where steps have been removed or made easier. Even our Class 378 trains on the Overground, are in most instances step-across to get in or out.
So whether the Scots vote for independence or not, the trend in life is to remove discontinuities, so Edinburgh and Westminster must work to remove them. Here’s a few that we should have, as we share an island.
- An Interchangeable Currency
- A Public Transport System, that is continuous.
- A Legal System, where a crime in one country is a crime in the other.
- A Health System with similar access.
- Continuous Telephone and Internet
There are probably a few other things, but these don’t impact on the minutia of daily life.
We should be eliminating these, but politicians love creating a few more or are stopping the elimination of some. Take metrication and adjusting the clocks to European time, for two simple examples.
Avoid Large Control Movements
When you control a system, like our simple example of riding a bike, imagine you only had the options of turning the handlebars hard left or hard right. You’d soon fall off!
So in other words to make a system better, you do everything in a softly-softly mode. If you need to get from one state to another you do it in a smooth set of planned movements taking account of conditions over which you have no control.
Just think of the complicated process of landing an aircraft. It probably goes fine, until the aircraft gets struck by an unexpected lightning bolt. After that the experience and training of the pilot takes over.
Plan Ahead For Change
Changes can be difficult, if you don’t plan for them. That is why natural disasters like floods and earthquakes cause so many problems in the world.
But take some recent earthquakes in California and Japan. Some large cities like Tokyo avoided anything other than minor damage, because of good planning.
At present there are two mega projects in the UK; Crossrail and the Scottish Referendum.
I am surrounded in London by disruption caused by Crossrail, but everything has been planned minutely, to cause the smallest amount of pain. This planning was a long process taking many years.
Where is the planning in the separation of Scotland and the rest of the UK? Alex Salmond has decided to inflict all the pain afterwards.
In other words, he is like most politicians. Fuck you Jack, I’m alright and I’ve made my place in history!
The others are no better, as Devo Max should have been devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the first place. After all, the Isles of Man, Jersey and Guernsey seem to get on well with us all and isn’t that what they’ve got.
Don’t Panic
Corporal Jones was often right in Dad’s Army, when he used this phrase, whilst panicking like a good-un.
Obviously, the three main party leaders are too young to have watched the BBC’s iconic comedy show, as they have entered headless-chicken mode over the Scottish Referendum, as reported on the BBC.
I think we’re all doomed!
Could The News Of The Royal Baby Really Change The Referendum Result?
It’s only the Metro, but I did find their front page fascinating.
Could The News Of The Royal Baby Really Change The Referendum Result?
The baby could probably have more effect on next year’s General Election!
What would broadcasters do, if he or she turned up on Election Day?
If he or she turned up to be monarch, they would then probably be the only one for hundreds of years, who interfered personally with an election!
Are English-Based Politicians Making Scots More Likely To Vote Yes?
Reports like this one on the BBC are saying that the Scottish Referendum is swinging towards independence.
There’s an old medical joke told by doctors. – “You can always tell a Barts man, but you can’t tell him anything!”
I suspect that in terms of politics this applies to Scots. After all the voting patterns for Scotland are very different to England in General Elections.
So as the No campaign seems to be based around those who found political fortune in Westminster, does the Yes Campaign have an advantage. Even Alistair Darling represents an Edinburgh constituency, so he must go down well in Glasgow.
So what is the No Campaign doing?
According to reports like this one, they’re sending in their secret weapon – John Prescott.
I have a feeling that this could give the Yes Campaign a winning push!
Where Are All The Yes Voters?
I’ve got quite a few friends and acquaintances, who will be entitled to vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum.
I have yet to talk to anybody who can vote, who have said they will be voting Yes! Several have very forcefully said they will vote No!
I don’t care either way how the vote goes, although if Scotland decides on independence, that will finish the argument once and for all and my legal friends, will be able to put their noses in the big full trough, that the hassles over breaking up will create. As we all know, the only winners in divorce are lawyers and paper manufacturers.
So despite what the polls and bookies say, where are the Yes voters?
The Odds Are Going Towards Yes
When I first looked up the Scottish referendum odds on Odds Checker, the results were as follows.
August 25th
No! – 1/8
Yes! – 9/2
They are now.
September 2nd – No! – 1/4 Yes! – 3/1
September 5th – No! – 2/7 Yes! – 14/5
September 7th – No! – 4/9 Yes! – 9/4
September 9th – No! – 4/9 Yes! – 2/1
But they’ve now started to go the other way.
September 11th – No! – 3/10 Yes! – 10/3
September 12th – No! – 5/19 – Yes! – 7/2
September 15th – No! – 1/4 – Yes! – 7/2
September 17th – No! – 2/9 – Yes! – 15/4
So it would appear that the vote is moving towards a Yes! It’s been quite a swing in the first seven days.
It’s All About Votes!
The phone-in on Radio 5 this morning was about child abuse and the Rotherham scandal in particular.
It was generally informative, but it livened up at the end, when a Muslim of Pakistani orgin from Rotherham denied the facts of the court case, where several men of Pakistani origin were found guilty and jailed.
Then a member of the Labour Party in Rotherham described meetings of the local party, where members tried to ask questions about the scandal, only to be shouted down.He then finished by saying how certain Asian councillors deliver several thousand votes and make sure Labour win.
Politicians of all parties have courted minorities and interest groups, as long as elections have been contested. But in this case, a group’s baggage has been discounted in favour of votes and power.
This must not be allowed to happen.
The Anonymous Widower 