Thursday, 17 May 2012

Could be a bit Nazi...

Guido has picked up on the story of "a former Nazi", who apparently...
"...recruited a 50-strong army of skinheads to daub buildings with swastikas and hand out racist literature."
Guido's specific angle (so far) has been that Labour MP Diane Abbot has been campaigning for this council candidate, which is serious enough in itself.

He also makes the point that one Ian Austin – who was quick enough to condemn a Conservative for happening to be at a party once where someone else had dressed up as a pretend Nazi – is being very quiet now that it's in his own party and is about a million times worse than that event was spun to be.

I wonder why? Surely Ian Austin couldn't be that ultra-hypocritical, could he? Ah, silly me: he's Labour. I should have spotted that, it explains everything...

Of course, the Nazi dressing-up bit is also hardly an unknown concept to Labour, as none less than Ed Balls showed from his student days...

Bond Moves

This table shows the yields from the UK and some nearby countries' government ten-year bonds, both as they were at the time the Coalition Government took over in this country and as they are now...


It is interesting to note that they were all three-point-something back in May 2010, with the UK the highest at 3·97%, and now the UK is the lowest at less than half that percentage.

This shows that we (and the Netherlands) are considered to be dependable by the international markets and can be trusted to repay our debts. In turn that reduces our interest payments, helping bring the national debt situation under control.

We are still in the deceleration stage, with news today that the deficit (the rate of worsening of our debt, if you like) is now significantly lower than it would have been if Labour had still been running things – a full 25% lower, in fact.

Although it isn't quite as simple as that, and there are also the various traps and fait accompli engineered by Gordon Brown that will continue to have an impact on our attempted recovery for some years to come, there can now be little doubt that Britain is at last unambiguously on the road to (eventual!) recovery.

Those of us who went through the 'eighties will recall the similar pattern that lesser situation followed, then as now taking a number of years to fully turn around. This time, it's considerably worse, as has been well reported during the past two years or more, though some seem to have forgotten since then.

Well, I for one haven't, and am watching our progress. It's slower than it might have been, owing to (a) compromises to ensure Lib Dem MPs' support and (b) the Eurozone crisis that is having some fairly serious knock-on effects for us here in Britain. We'll get there, though, and it is obvious that external observers and the like are confident too, including the various ratings agencies.

The Right to Vote

I long ago lost count of how many people had suggested to me that only the intelligent should be allowed to vote, or that votes should be weighted (i.e. be worth more or less than one, in individual cases) so that they had greater meaning than they tend to do.

I have some sympathy with the grievance, which is that the most dim-witted, ignorant, dishonest and/or self-centered elector has exactly the same voting power as another who is bright, has studied and followed the subject of governance and the various parties, and whose motive is solely for what is best for the country.

Nevertheless, the principle of "one person, one vote" as a universal right for our citizens is something that should remain intact. It was fought for, long and hard and for different groups, for good reasons. Beyond that, who is to decide who should or should not have a vote under an alternative system, or how much each vote should be worth?

Any perceived problems such a scheme might be thought to solve would be overshadowed by new and far bigger issues it is certain to create. No, we need to stick with what we have, warts and all, and live with the consequences, just as we have managed to do all these years.

Yes, it will continue to allow pandering to and conning the simple-minded and the easily led by the spinners, and the more dishonest parties will thus (and through other means) continue to enjoy hugely greater support than by rights they ought to be receiving. The alternatives, though, would be much worse in different ways, and the dishonest participants would simply adapt to the new framework.

It would solve nothing, in reality.

Therefore, although it is healthy to look at our electoral system and processes from time to time, it is not an excuse to make changes for change's sake, and this is one idea that should never be accepted.

On the subject of alternative voting methodologies, and of keeping our democracy under review, it is good that we looked at the Alternative Vote idea, and with that too came to a very firm "no" decision. As some reading this will no doubt recall, I have looked at voting systems myself, and in the past even gone so far as to devise my own electoral system suggestion and political structure, in order to address the expressed concerns at our present arrangements.

As always, those ideas and similar ones must be decided by the people in a referendum, if they should ever come up for serious consideration, as they involve a judgment that balances (for example) a desire for proportionality against voting for a named candidate rather than just a party (or similar identifying description).

My idea of 300 legislative MPs elected by my nationwide True Proportional System (TPS), plus 600 part-time Constituency Representatives elected by local First Past The Post (FPTP) voting, has considerable merit, and if one thinks about it also has a tendency to reduce the perception that results are being swung by those perceived by some to be less fit to vote or be counted as highly as others. The change in that respect wouldn't be huge, but I think it could be sufficient to tip the balance and defuse that argument.

It's a thought; but of course my ideas are hardly likely to be adopted or even seriously considered – though, as with our local ward boundaries, I do intend to put my case forward should a review be instigated one day...

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Pudsey and Ashleigh – The Final

Mission not-so-impossible for these two, methinks.

UPDATE: the video has been blocked here, but click below and you'll be offered a link for viewing at YouTube...



They won!

Bus Spotting

I have been asked what I did before the new Chatham Waterfront 'bus facility was there, to keep my patrician's eye on our local 'buses.

Well, of course, there was the visually very restricted Pentagon-based 'bus station of old; but I found the best place was where I still stand today (indeed, I did earlier today!) which is at the stand adjacent to Chatham Railway Station.

My exact vantage point is next to Stop C, which is the one that leads south along Chatham Maidstone Road, from where I can see south as far as the laundry...


...north to The Cut and even spot the 'buses approaching along New Road before turning right at the filling station, as well as those coming from the Waterfront facility. I can even catch sight of those turning left out of The Cut and not coming my way at all...


...also, by looking west, what's in and what's departing from the three stops...


...if anything(!) It's the best spot that we've always had while I've lived here.

Okay, I don't actually make a point of going out at random times to watch the 'buses – I am there only when I am waiting for a No. 101 or 176 headed in that southward direction, as for my trip to ASDA today. For me, it's just making use of an opportunity, along the lines of: "I was standing there anyway!"