If the guy down the street isn’t going to do that and wants to just walk in and vote for Labour or Conservatives or whoever just because his parents always voted for Labour or his wife is a Conservative supporter or because the guy who came around to talk to him about the Lib Dems smelled a bit funny so obviously they’re not a good party for parliament, or even just pick someone at random so he can at least say he voted… well, I’d prefer those people stay away from the polls, if it’s all the same to you.

(I’ve always thought we might get better actual representation if the ballot was accompanied by a short multiple-choice question about the policies of each candidate, drawn up by the opposition and agreed by the candidate, so that people only get to vote if they actually know what they’re voting for – and it might even change a few people’s opinions of the parties they’ve been supporting – but of course, that would never happen.)

Take the BNP as an example, while ever they are ignored by the Political Elite and the Media, they grow, I’m sure once we see them in power, their incompetence and real attitudes will shine through and they will be removed at the next election. But like smoking, or drinking or anything else the current government / BBC tell me not to do, it just increases it’s appeal.

I caught a brief snippet of debate on News 24 last night – sadly turned it on too late to hear it all. A couple of guys (don’t have a clue who they were) appeared to be arguing that voting reform, especially PR, would allow extremist parties (such as the BNP) to get a foothold in parliament and therefore was a bad thing.

Someone made the admirable comment: “Since when did democracy become conditional?”.

I find the BNP distasteful but I find it more distasteful that the will of the electorate should be so disgracefully ignored when it doesn’t fit into an incumbent governments notion of what is and is not acceptable. To ignore the people who vote for the BNP – or indeed UKIP or Green is alone enough to shatter any myth that we live in a democracy.

THE DIFFERENCE ?

I DIDN’T WRITE THE RULES, UNLIKE THE HONOURABLE MEMBERS, they decided just how deep and wide the trough was, and boy was it deep and wide, they stuck their snouts in and gorged their fat arses on us – angry ? – you bet you – vote Tory? – no chance, I don’t care if I vote extreme left or right, but I’m not going to vote Lib, Lab or Con.

Anyways, nice you’re back !!!!

Oh yeah, and Jake, if the French laugh out just threaten to hit them, their hands will go up and they’ll run away (don’t do fighting the frogs !!!)

Still, it’s kind of reassuring in a morbid way that Cameron isn’t the twee naïve idealist I almost mistook him for when his bike got nicked, realises that proper representation for the British people would mean his party wouldn’t get the complete landslide they can realistically expect from the next election using first-past-the-post and is engaging in that fine tradition of five-year short-term thinking that has buoyed British politics since time immemorial.

(Brown, on the other hand, gave us something like “PR is a bad idea because it removes the link from the MP to the constituent”, which is a reasonable complaint in those three constituencies in the country where the MP actually pays the slightest bit of attention to the people who elected them – but still conveniently ignores the fact that there are plenty of systems which are a damn sight better than straight plurality voting and still elect a single candidate. Give us preference voting, it’d be nice to be ruled by people considered an OK choice by more than 30% of the population once in a while. And it’d be nice to not be laughed at so much by the French, for that matter.)