AV: My twopennethworth..

Given that I will be so caught up in Royal Wedding joy (sense the irony) nearer the event, I thought I would chuck in my thoughts on AV now..

I'm anti.

It seems to me that AV gives an excuse to not reform constituency boundaries which is something which the country needs. It still bases an entire system on constituency MP's, which whilst honourable is actually somehow unworkable.. (its very difficult to be a good constituency MP if you have Government duties: not impossible.. my MP does it but its hard).

However my fundamental objection to AV is that its a validation of the notion that we should the least repulsive. Ultimately in AV the middle wins. It becomes safe and dull.. In any kind of tight race it will be the the person who gets most second choices who will win.

And that is a triumph of mediocrity.

I don't think it bodes well.. I could refer to the era when the Church of England was run by the second choices, second sons who were safe and all that.. We still bear the consequences. SO lets not do that with politics.

Comments

Who will rid me of this meddlesome...

... piano? It occurred to me yesterday as i nursed ANOTHER bruise on my arm.. that I have had a piano sat in my hallway for 2 months! It seemed like such a good idea at the time but apparently is not... its stuck there and everytime I walk down my hall I have to squeeze past the darn thing- often not successfully! A number of options lie before me: -chop the thing into several hundred pieces -find lots of people who want to move it.. to where I'm not sure -sell it -give it away -pray it away It goes next weekend.. even if it kills me... which it might.. hummm

Remembering What I Enjoy..

Occasionally I forget things. Some stuff like birthdays, names and stuff is a normal human thing, and I don't sweat it so much. But I also forget some other stuff which is not so good. I forget what I enjoy. I don't know how it happens but it does from time to time. And its at these moments that I need a bit of help remembering. So- this is a request for help. What do I enjoy doing? What gives me joy? Leave me a comment.

A Broadside: plot spoiler for Tory sympathisers

Today some alarming social equality data was released. It said what we all know: if you are poor, you have less opportunities in life. For every £100 a month less income than the median you start school one month behind developmentally. Your vocabulary aged 5 is half what it is for a rich kid if you are in the bottom ten percent of income. Housing tenure stats are even worse. "Only 4 per cent of those of working age living in social housing have degrees, and nearly half have no or only low qualifications. Only half of men and 42 per cent of women of working age living in social housing are in paid work, compared with 89 per cent of men and 81 per cent of women in households with a mortgage." Social housing: by its nature, is grouped (london people ignore this, you are the freaks not the norm). That means that we have allowed ghettoes of poverty and low attainment (not just in a SATS way either). Now it would be easy, and some daft Tory has already done it, to pin this on

Jude Smith

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