An Alternative Vote and Gerrymandering Round Up

Labour's behaviour over the Government's plans for electoral reform has infuriated me. It's as if they think that shouting loud and using nasty words like gerrymandering will make mud stick particularly to the Liberal Democrats. Well, it's no substitute for the intelligent, reasoned debate that people are entitled to expect.

I was going to write about this in greater detail but on this occasion I'm bowing out because so many other people have already done it better. Instead, here's a round up of some of the best of the articles on electoral reform:

First of all, have a look at this video which explains AV:

Now everybody knows that the Liberal Democrat policy is for proportional representation and that AV is not proportional. I've long felt lukewarm towards it and have expressed the view that a referendum on AV isn't really that great. I still feel like that, although the lovely elephant's words do make me feel a little warmer to it, particularly the bit about politicians having to engage outside their natural voters. That in itself makes politics healthier. 

Fred Carver gave the opposite point of view on Liberal Democrat Voice and I found that I actually disagreed with him - politics is the art of the possible, after all, and at least this is a move away from first past the post which is really discredited as an electoral system.

On the other aspects of the Government's reforms, namely the equalisation of constituency boundaries, Mark Thompson gives Labour blog Left Foot Forward a right old fisking.

Martin Kettle writes in today's Guardian about the damage Labour is doing to its own credibility by the position it's taking on this Bill:

"Be clear, therefore, that Labour is not trying to protect fairness from those who would destroy it but to perpetuate an unfairness from which Labour itself benefits. Inequality of constituencies is not the only source of bias in the electoral system – but it is certainly one of them. For the past five parliaments it has been biased towards Labour. No amount of red herrings about the danger of reducing the number of MPs, or the inappropriateness of including more than one major change in the same bill, should be permitted to distract from the essential propriety of correcting that bias. To claim this bill should be opposed because it is partisan is not just opportunism, it is an Orwellian inversion of the truth."

Our own James Graham argues that Labour may actually have a point on some of the issues it raises about the equalisation of constituencies particularly in respect of the amount of casework there is in urban areas where registration is low, but that their current attitude precludes proper scrutiny and attempts to find a solution.

"So there are genuine social justice problems that need to be ironed out of this legislation. Unfortunately, by focusing on the false gerrymandering charge, Jack Straw puts party self-interest above the public good and only ensures that the debate in parliament becomes more heated. In doing so, the possibility of MPs working across parties to give the bill proper scrutiny recedes. It is at best self-defeating and at worse a deeply cynical attempt to derail the coalition which has nothing to do with the real issues that are at stake"

There is to me a certain irony in Labour shouting, nay, screeching, to anyone who will listen that we've abandoned our principles by going into coalition with the Tories while at the same time abandoning their own principles to try to destabilise the coalition and perpetuate a situation that benefits them.  I just hope that common sense prevails and that that the ensuing debate on these measures is serious and actually deals with the issues at hand. I won't be holding my breath, though.

Update: Do you know, some people! While I was actually writing this post Stephen produced a brilliant riposte in which he discussed how Labour are abandoning all their key principles and then backed it up with a personal example from West Lothian as to how Labour really care about keeping communities together.

2nd update: and still they keep on coming - although this from Cicero might well have been here earlier and I missed it. But it's good.

In which my vile day was brightened by an elephant

I have not had a good day. The bits of it I have been awake for have been vile. But mostly I have been sleeping.

I got up to pick Anna up from school and then spent some time working.

Now I am about to limp back to bed.

It would probably be better if I could learn to pace myself, but that wouldn't get the work done.

Anyway, one thing did cheer me up today. Actually, two.

If you are getting scared by what Gordon Brown and David Cameron are saying about a hung parliament, read these two articles. The first is by a very wise elephant who explains why the Tories are just wrong, and the second is by our favourite blogging bruiser James, for Comment is Free, who has a left hook for Labour.

Always keep in mind that 49% of pepole want to see a Lib Dem Government and would vote that way if they thought we could win. Well, we're second in most polls at the moment, and all the parties are pretty much within the margin of error. If there was ever a time for your vote to make a difference, this is it!

Jo Swinson Dropped from Question Time - Update

Since I wrote this post yesterday, a steady flow of people have let me know either via Twitter or Facebook or the group on the new Lib Dem social network Act that they have complained to the BBC about Jo being dropped from tonight's panel and there being no Liberal Democrat on for two weeks out of four. Hell, some people have even done the old fashioned thing and told me via using their own voices, face to face, or on the phone that they've done it! It's obviously an issue that's touching a nerve and not just amongst Liberal Democrats.

No doubt in the fullness of time, we'll get an anodyne standard response from the BBC, but John Abrams from Stockport advised on the ACT group that it's worth taking it further:

"If you are not happy with your response then rign up the duty manager and ask for complplaints which is what I did when I didn't get a reply to their factual error of saying that the Lib Dems shared power on Newcastle and Sheffield councils on Westminster Hour. They did an on air apology."
.

He went on to add that we should ask for more Liberal Democrat commentators on the programme:


"The other issue is why don't they put up a Lib Dem aligned intellectual? People like Charlotte Gore/Mark Littlewood or from the other wing James Graham would be excellent and it should be ADDITIONAL to a Lib Dem MP"

Actually, I'd pay good money to see Charlotte and James debate the issues of the day for an hour on live tv! It would be quality stuff.

There's a fair proportion of those who have complained to the BBC who have never done anything like that before.

If anyone felt moved to comment during the programme tonight, here is the Question Time website and here is their Twitter feed.

And I know I'm going on about this ACT group, but I was amazed to find a thingy on it today which connected to anything anybody was saying on Twitter about Jo and Question Time. I certainly never put it there, because I'm not technically competent enough, but thanks to the person who did.

Scots do well on Lib Dem Blog Award Shortlists

Those nice people at Lib Dem Voice have been messing with the fragile and egotistical heads of we bloggers over the last few days. They've been teasing us with hints of secrets for days on Twitter, whipping us into an anticipatory frenzy. They even gave us a couple of hours' notice that the shortlists were going to be announced at 11:25 this morning. They were on time, too and you can read the full list here.

I had never had any expectation of being included in any of the shortlists, so I wasn't surprised not to see my name in any of the categories - and then I was completely flabbergasted to discover that this blog on the shortlist for the actual Blog of the Year award. Imagine, a one in five chance of getting a BOTY. Mind you, I tend to assess these sorts of chances in the same way as John Diamond, the late and much missed (by me, anyway) Times columnist who wrote in his book C, Because Cowards get Cancer too about his feelings about being told he had a 80% or a 60% chance of survival or whatever. He said, no, actually, it was 50-50 - he'd either survive or he wouldn't. On that logic, I'm in with a 50-50 chance of victory:-)

So, having talked up my chances of winning by two and a half times, I am crushed that I am not going to be able to be at the glittering awards ceremony on Sunday night at Bournemouth. No Kate Winslet moment for me.

You know when they do the Oscars, or the BAFTAs, they do them very early in the evening, and probably for good reason, because they don't want the participants to have been drinking free booze for an extended period of time. By my the time the awards start at 10pm, all the participants will have been enjoying the delights of the Conference fringe for several hours. That's going to be fun. The spirited and opinionated Liberal Democrat nature is only enhanced by copious amounts of wine and beer so I hope that there's championship quality banter.

Seriously, though, I find myself on a list with exceptionally talented people:

the wonderful Costigan, king of smut, innuendo and tearing the Daily Fail to pieces, also up for best new blog, and with one for Best Posting;

the original and talented Charlotte, also nominated for best new blog and with two posts up for the Best Posting on a Lib Dem blog;

the man they call the Lib Dem Blogosphere's Tactical Nuclear Bastard, previous champion, with his post on the appalling reporting of Jo Swinson's expenses up for best posting, fierce, provocative, sweary and usually right;

everybody's favourite elephant - for a long time, I sported a Bloggers for Fluffy Justice banner on this blog after he was shockingly denied victory last year, cos he's brilliant as this posting on the Megrahi affair shows.

So there you have it - but what of the other Scots? Well, we've done really well, with two of our number up for the "Best Blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office", Willie Rennie MP and Cllr Fraser MacPherson.

Alexander Ryland's Lamp of Liberty is shortlisted for best new blog.

Jo Swinson gets the nod for her fabulous tweets and use of Facebook for which she's already received public acclamation.

Finally, in the Best Non Lib Dem Political Blog, our own Mr MacNumpty makes the shortlist. Nominations were invited from all Lib Dem Voice readers and I nominated J Arthur partly because his diligent round up of Holyrood happenings every week takes some effort and is a valuable historical asset and because of posts like this , this and this. Sure, he often has a good go at the Lib Dems, but then I often have a good go about the SNP but we generally make up over a discussion on Strictly Come Dancing.

We have a lot to be proud of in the Scottish and Lib Dem Blogospheres as the various lists that have come out in this awards season have shown.