the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke

I’ll start by saying that I did vote in the recent UK general election, and my vote did not go to the lot who won. I am disappointed with the outcome, but it is what it is. We have a system in this country, it isn’t perfect, but it is better than what goes on in some countries around the world.

This time around it is reported that about 60% of eligible voters expressed a preference, although The Guardian was quoting as low as 52% (that could have been one of their legendary misprints), but, taking the higher figure, the current government was elected by around a third of those who voted, so about 20% of those who were able to vote on such things. Hardly a triumph, more a show of apathy.

My Leftie friends have had a tendency to shout Not in my Name over every vote that they have lost in recent years, but I don’t see it that way. We have a system of first past the post, so one side will win and the others will lose. It has its detractors, but it’s what we have.

One alternative would be proportional representation, but that has been shown to lead to stagnation and, for me, it would be a disaster for the country because we would be unable to get back out of it short of a revolution. As much as I think that the new Labour government will also be a disaster, at least we get a chance to be shot of them in five years.

I don’t agree that voting should be compulsory as it is in Australia, amongst other countries. If you are not interested, but are made to do it, then you’ll probably stick your cross anywhere and that isn’t going to help. Democracy should be about involvement, and that is where we are failing.

Giving the vote to 16 year olds is not a good idea either, unless you are a Leftie, because most kids will vote left if given the chance. I would have done back in the second half of the Sixties when I was full of idealism, but lacking any sort of realism.

We still have, if only just, a decent society in this country. Change is always with us and the last twenty five years or so have seen a massive change with the last Labour government’s failed attempts at social engineering. I don’t like the country that we have now, but the system of democracy that we have does, at least, give people a say. Don’t let’s lose that.