36% of 61%, that’s all it took. 22% of voters have chosen a government to rule untrammelled over the rest of us for the next 5 years. I guess that right after an unfair election probably isn’t the time to start talking about electoral reform. No, it was time to start talking about it thirty years ago, when three-party politics returned and the ability of our decrepit electoral system to translate votes into representation began to derail. The benefits of some form of PR are obvious: the will of the people translated into a form more manageable than referendum-based democracy. There is no criterion for a just electoral system that takes precedence over that.

Sure, there are one or two problems. There is no perfect electoral system — and plenty of non-starters to replace FPTP (first-past-the-post). But most of the objections are myth and mischief.
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What exactly to do about the continued disengagement with politics and collapsing voter turnout — now almost the lowest in Western Europe?

Come the weekend, expect plenty of hand-wringing and a barrage of familiar ideas to reverse the decline that puts us well below even similar polities like New Zealand, miles down the OECD voter turnout average (23rd out of 30), but still ahead of Canada (just) and the US. Read More

Immigration policy blogging will be officially closed after today. Just one more pre-election query relating to the Conservative Party’s detailed policy proposals on asylum.

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Just for a moment, real politics has invaded my tiny little life. This isn’t an ‘all about me’ masturblog, so I’ll write a couple of paragraphs then shut up.

Two weeks ago, I was in court.

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