Probably the last politics post for a while...

[andrewducker]

Yay! Edinburgh Central voted Yes to AV!
Boo! Almost nowhere else did (Cambridge and Oxford did, as did a smattering of places in London, and Kelvingrove in Glasgow).
Such is life. I'll be back for YesToPR, if that ever happens.

In other news, the SNP have a majority. Which will be interesting. Presumably there will be a referendum in Scotland on Independence at some point in the next couple of years, and then either Scotland will move to being an independent country (and those will be interesting times to live in), or the SNP will have to shut up about it for a generation (and Scottish politics will align in new and interesting ways).

I am actually feeling a tremendous sense of relief at the moment, that I can stop campaigning and return to life as normal. I am glad that the SNP beat Labour (a lot of Lib-Dem voters seem to have moved in that direction, as the SNP are centre-left and less authoritarian than Labour), and I'm very-much looking forward to observing the political process with a little more distance and amusement than I have been recently. I get waaaay too intensely stressed when I'm actually involved...

Comments

[andrewducker]

Absolutely. My regional vote is likely to stay Lib-Dem, but having seen the results for Edinburgh-East this time around, voting Lib-Dem is pointless for the local seat, and so I will be voting SNP at the next election (unless they do something so awful that I consider worse than Labour. Like invading Iceland).

But this is also why I'd like to have had AV, so that I could vote for my 1st preference, then my 2nd, etc.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Presumably they (SNP) couldn't invade Iceland as that will be a reserved matter / power?

And Airstrip 51 won't invade Iceland unless the US does so. So Bjorkland is safe.

[andrewducker]

Well, not until we have independence.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

I sometimes think the UK should invade the Isle of Man. Start a propaganda campaign: These people have mutant cats, they have anti-gay laws. Easy win.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Or, indeed, their national symbol is basically a swastika, later used by Terre Blanche.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Or you can now vote for independence, with Scotland already having a PR system? Leave the English to their Conservative FPTP dominance?

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the Independence referendum. I shall be voting for Independence. I shall probably be campaigning actively for Independence. I do not want to be ruled by Home Counties Tories. I’m not keen on being governed by Glasgow Labourites but as the SNP have proven that this is not necessarily the case I’m all for Independence. It can’t come too soon.

[skington.livejournal.com]

The LibDems had no chance in my constituency (their candidate is 21 or something, and hasn't graduated yet - president of the Glasgow Uni LibDems, and clearly using this as a trial run), but I was certainly not going to vote Labour, I wasn't impressed enough with the SNP to warrant voting for them, and fuck me if I'm ever voting for the Tories.

So I voted for the LibDems, as an indication of the baseline level of support in the constituency, if nothing else. (Which, at 833 votes IIRC, is fuck all.)

[andrewducker]

I also voted LibDem as an indication of baseline support. But with the tiny levels of support locally, I'll almost certainly vote SNP next time.