UK UK general election, July 4

[Gough]

I think Reform are more like PUP after the 13 election, guaranteed to split. I can't see the egos of their MPs being conducive to a productive working environment.

 

[brutus76]

So how did the Silly Party do?

 

[Hank Scorpion]

Is it all the so called ‘wets’ who’ve lost their Tory seats

A mix. Shapps/Mordaunt on one hand. Rees-Mogg/Truss on the other.

Jeremy Hunt surviving is a surprise and gives the moderates a decent candidate if they so choose.

Short odds they pick someone batshit though.

 

[Festerz]

Turnbull makes a good point. And one missed by most commentators.

What we are seeing on the scale we are seeing is not good for democracy in the long term no matter how satisfying it feels in the moment.

 

[Hank Scorpion]

Turnbull makes a good point. And one missed by most commentators.

What we are seeing on the scale we are seeing is not good for democracy in the long term no matter how satisfying it feels in the moment.

Someone on the coverage last night said Belarus is the only other European country that relies on this farce.

It'll bite Labour on the bum again one day, but for the time being, changing it would leave half their caucus out of a job, so don't think there'll be much enthusiasm.

 

[Festerz]

Someone on the coverage last night said Belarus is the only other European country that relies on this farce.

It'll bite Labour on the bum again one day, but for the time being, changing it would leave half their caucus out of a job, so don't there'll be much enthusiasm.

Yep.

There are very few politicians with the vision and courage to champion electoral reform for long term benefit if it means it costs them in the short term.

And history tells us, including in Australia, that those rare leaders who have that courage are seldom rewarded by their peers for their actions.

 

[peetoo]

Turnbull makes a good point. And one missed by most commentators.

What we are seeing on the scale we are seeing is not good for democracy in the long term no matter how satisfying it feels in the moment.

It’s voluntary voting though

 

[swingdog]

Yep.

There are very few politicians with the vision and courage to champion electoral reform for long term benefit if it means it costs them in the short term.

And history tells us, including in Australia, that those rare leaders who have that courage are seldom rewarded by their peers for their actions.

Was listening to a podcast a while back where an elections expert said that Australia's founders really hit the jackpot with the three elements of a good voting system:

1. independent electoral commission
2. compulsory voting
3. preferential voting

 

[Festerz]

Was listening to a podcast a while back where an elections expert said that Australia's founders really hit the jackpot with the three elements of a good voting system:

1. independent electoral commission
2. compulsory voting
3. preferential voting

They learned from the errors of the state systems which had franchise voting systems based on property and wealth holdings.

Some of those state based gerrymanders were extended long beyond Federation.

The SA Liberal and Country League Premier Thomas Playford created the infamous 'Playmander' in 1936 which saw 26 low-population rural seats holding as much as a 10-to-1 advantage over the 13 high-population metropolitan seats despite the fact that those rural seats contained only a third of South Australia's population

That gerrymandering saw Playford remain as SA Premier for 27 continuous years until electoral boundaries were redrawn with the support from incoming Liberal leader Steele Hall, signing his own death knell as Premier and eventually Liberal Party leader (hence my comment about courageous actions going unrewarded).

Playmander - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That man of courage, former Liberal Premier and Federal MP Steele Hall had his state funeral this week btw and was remembered as a man of "integrity" and "courage" who "never compromised on his principles" by political friends and foes.

Sorry for taking the thread off topic for a moment.

 

[NSWCROW]

 

[Forward Press]

Was listening to a podcast a while back where an elections expert said that Australia's founders really hit the jackpot with the three elements of a good voting system:

1. independent electoral commission
2. compulsory voting
3. preferential voting

The US has none of them (for the most part) and we all know how f***ed it is over there.

 

[Festerz]

The US has none of them (for the most part) and we all know how f***ed it is over there.

Yep.

The conservatives have suffered an historic and embarrassing loss in the 2024 UK election.

But there is something to be said about the manner in which the losing UK PM (like our own) accepts defeat and respects the democratic process.


A little detail I'm sure will be lost on that orange man across the Atlantic.

 

[Festerz]

Love this guy.

Opinion | ‘50 Shades of Beige’: Meet Britain’s New Prime Minister

Britons are celebrating the end of 14 bleak years of Conservative rule. But the new government must turn things around and fast, or the populists will be back.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Mofra]

Turnbull makes a good point. And one missed by most commentators.

What we are seeing on the scale we are seeing is not good for democracy in the long term no matter how satisfying it feels in the moment.

Turnbull is a much better ex-PM than he was as PM.
Worth listening to and makes some good points.

 

[Cap]

Was listening to a podcast a while back where an elections expert said that Australia's founders really hit the jackpot with the three elements of a good voting system:

1. independent electoral commission
2. compulsory voting
3. preferential voting

I'll always be a fan of compulsory voting

I don't see it as forcing people to have a view, you can donkey vote if you want.

It stops the attempt at making it harder to vote.

We don't get the GOP or Reece Mog types deliberately targeting people they don't want to vote.

 

[Blue1980]

Was listening to a podcast a while back where an elections expert said that Australia's founders really hit the jackpot with the three elements of a good voting system:

1. independent electoral commission
2. compulsory voting
3. preferential voting

The US successfully ****ed up all 3

 

[swingdog]

The US successfully ****ed up all 3

And throw in election days on Tuesdays because farmers needed time to get to the polls in the 19th century…..

 

[Todman]

Starmer has a problem the will start to appear within the next six months, the absolute large majority will cause the far left to put pressure on Labour to legislate far left laws. You can bet that the far left is a huge bloc. It won't be a good look when Starmer is pushing back against this group.

 

[Ghost Patrol]

A little detail I'm sure will be lost on that orange man across the Atlantic.

 

[DaTBird187]

 

[BigVic]

The UK tried to adopt preferential voting in 2011 and was rejected in a referendum

 

[peetoo]

First Lady sense of humour with umbrella

And what’s with the drone footage?

You can see what starmer means by ‘performance politics’

 

[peetoo]

Starmer has a problem the will start to appear within the next six months, the absolute large majority will cause the far left to put pressure on Labour to legislate far left laws. You can bet that the far left is a huge bloc. It won't be a good look when Starmer is pushing back against this group.

Because the ‘far right’ policy has worked so well?

 

[Festerz]

 

[Gough]