Interesting Links for 04-02-2025

[andrewducker]

1. The Scottish flag in the style of other flags. Love the Canada one!

(tags:Scotland flags viaDanielDWilliam )

2. Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer are being taken to court

(tags:neilgaiman rape AmandaPalmer law USA )

3. Marvel Has No Plans To Publish Neil Gaiman's Miracleman: The Dark Age

(tags:neilgaiman Miracleman )

4. 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' Reboot With Sarah Michelle Gellar At Hulu Moves To Pilot

(tags:buffy TV )

5. What does the polling show on Proportional Representation?

(tags:UK polls proportional_representation voting )

6. Some suggestions for God

(tags:religion funny comic )

Comments

[jack]

I love the flags

[andrewducker]

Yeah. I don't think we're changing the Scottish flag any time soon, but I do love the look of some of those!

[pseudomonas]

I recently had a go at the Scottish lion (seen in the UK arms) at https://www.reddit.com/r/heraldry/comments/1i9zl1i/i_call_this_one_some_european_coats_of_arms_if/

[nancylebov]

1. Some handsome and/or funny flags.

[simont]

#5: I liked the irony of this final paragraph:

I think one of the major obstacles to replacing FPTP is what replaces as there are so many better systems such as the aforementioned AV and my own preference which is the multi-member single transferable vote system.

I think what they just said is: even though a lot of people would like non-FPTP, their vote is split, so that no particular non-FPTP voting system wins a FPTP vote among voting systems!

[andrewducker]

So we need a vote to decide how to vote on changing our vote?

Joking aside, New Zealand kinda did that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reform_in_New_Zealand#1992_electoral_system_referendum

[simont]

I think the point was less that we need a vote, and more that by starting a "yes but which system?" argument every time someone suggests improving on FPTP, we're having the effect of a FPTP vote among voting systems whether we like it or not!

[andrewducker]

Ah, gotcha.

Yes. I'd start with "Is FPTP shit?" as a referendum.

If so, then we get another referendum of "What's the best voting system?" - using AV to get down to the best one.

And then we get a *third* referendum that's Yes/No over "Should we switch to the best voting system?"

If you were in a hurry then we could skip question 1.

[danieldwilliam]

With the added fun that if you put 10 electoral reform campaigners in a room and ask them to pick their favourite system they will start arguing about which are the dozen best systems to consider.

We are frankly a liability to our own movement.

[bens_dad]

And if we have a non-FPTP referendum, which system would we use ?

Something meta like the system that does best under a) itself or b) everything but itself ?

[calimac]

There was the procedure of the commission that Tony Blair set up to examine voting systems, whose report was then shelved and never heard of again. They made a detailed study of various alternative systems to FPTP, and decided the best was a single-member top-up system (similar to the one now used in Scotland, I think). The plan was to have a straight-up vote, this system v. FPTP.

[danieldwilliam]

IIRC that was the Jenkins Commission which recommended mixed-member proportionality (the system used in Scotland and, I think, some German elections) but using AV for the single-member seats.

Which as a PR wonk and electoral reform campaigner I've always liked. I would not be upset if we ended up with that.

[andrewducker]

Yup, I'd be happy with that. You get the local person that most local people prefer, with proportionality added on top.

Would you use your first preference from the AV part to choose your proportional party? Or two entirely separate votes?

[danieldwilliam]

You have two votes, one local using AV, one regional using D'Hondht.

[andrewducker]

In some ways a shame. I had thought that tying them together would make it harder for people to mess about with AMS, as they sometimes try to.

[calimac]

Yes, that was the Jenkins Commission.

I believe this is also the system, or closely related to it, used in New Zealand.

[simont]

When Andrew linked to the New Zealand referendum in the other half of this thread, it did strike me that they'd got lucky in having an overwhelmingly obvious winner in each of the two referenda – everyone wanted not-FPTP and most people agreed on the best replacement. I think under any sequence of votes, and any voting system, the thing that won in NZ would still have won, so it would be very difficult for anyone to quibble after the fact.

But you could easily imagine that if the vote results had gone differently, it would have been amazingly easy to quibble after the fact!

[adrian_turtle]

2) Taking them to court, yes, of course, there are lots of situations where a rich and famous person can be sued for damages but not prosecuted. But taking them to court in Wisconsin really startles me. (If he assaulted someone in Wisconsin, that person hasn't sued him yet.) This case is entirely about his activities in New Zealand.

I see how it can be called human trafficking, to offer somebody a job, not pay them, and sexually abuse them in the workplace. But if it's not international human trafficking, aren't your remedies limited to New Zealand courts?

[andrewducker]

I've seen discussion of this - a few quotes:
"it's some combination of the Trafficking Victim Protection Act extending reach and Gaiman being considered a resident of Wisconsin."

"Us federal law allows victims of trafficking anywhere in the world to bring suit against us citizens and residents, and AP is both, and NG is a resident"

From https://www.reddit.com/r/neilgaiman/s/C3xVL9zBdQ

[juan_gandhi]

Sarah Michelle playing an old witch?