GAH!

[andrewducker]

The BBC now has a "Best arguments for voting Yes or No" on AV page up.

And while I'm annoyed that the No campaign are still arguing that AV means
that some votes are counted more than others (clearly untrue - every round
counts all votes for people whose preferences are still in the running), I
am _furious_ at the awful arguments put forward by the Yes campaign.

The bit which seems to actually grab people (an end to the split vote
problem, where you can have 70% of people voting for an X-wing party, and a
Y-wing party gets the seat) is relegated to an aside in point 4, which 90%
of people will never see.

I am incredibly frustrated by their continued incompetence at getting their
message across.

Am I wrong? Do people really think that AV will make MPs work harder? Does
anyone really care about that? Is there any reason whatsoever for that to
be the top point?

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I don't think people care about MPs working harder. I don't think people really have much of an idea of how hard MPs work. What people think abotu that, in my experience anyway, is that MPs are paid far too much, and many of them appear to be criminally incompetant.

But being criminal doesn't seem to be a barrier to getting re-elected.

There are many better arguments the yes campaign could be using.

I mean, I'm amazed they haven't been talking about the horribly low t urn-outs we have in the UK for elections, and saying look, the system is so badly broken, only about half of us can be arsed voting. Lets change that.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I don't think people really have much of an idea of how hard MPs work

I agree with this. I suspect that most people have no clue what MP's do most of the time and have no idea about what MP's do for individual constituents or have any idea what parliamentary committees etc. do. The most commonly seen part of parliamentary politics on TV is PMQ's, which is frankly nowadays nothing more than a pissing contest.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Aye. And I think most people have no clue because they really don't care. Except for the expected grumblings when MPs go on their long holiday breaks and suchlike.