Rationalskepticism,lol part III.

[Strontium Dog]

Anyone know how our bestie mates at Ratskep are dealing with their world view going down the toilet. What with Tory win. Brexit, Trump and another Tory win incoming. I can't even be bothered to go over there to laugh at them as they are so pathetic

It's fair to say that, for me, the one shining silver lining about the Tories' impending landslide victory is the thought of all the nasty, vindictive Corbynistas who hounded me out of that place crying into their Little Red Books on Friday morning. They deserve nothing less. Enemies of liberty, each and every one.

[Scot Dutchy]

Dont shout to soon a landslide it is not and nowhere near it. A hung parliament is the best nag is this race.

[Strontium Dog]

Oh, I do hope that is the prevailing attitude over there too. Will make it all the more amusing when Labour barely scrape 200 seats.

[Brian Peacock]

And that's with the electoral system unfairly weighted in Labour's favour eh?

[Strontium Dog]

And that's with the electoral system unfairly weighted in Labour's favour eh?

Correct.

At the 2015 election, the Tories beat Labour 36.9% to 30.4%, and that was good for 330 to 232 seats.

Whereas Labour's last victory, in 2005, was narrower (35.2% to 32.4%) but they won 355 seats to the Tories' 198.

Of course, both major parties have an unfair advantage over all of the small parties (save for the SNP, which is the most over-represented party in the House of Commons).

[Brian Peacock]

This is why I favour a proportional voting system, one that accounts in some degree for the national vote as well as local one. I do however think the Tories have bent the birch too far the other way since 2010 though. A proportional system would, I think, reduce the temptation of new governments to fiddle at the edges to make life easier for themselves - or at least harder for the others.

[surreptitious57]

I will probably vote Liberal Democrat again in spite of the recent appalling interviews. Just say you think homosexuality is a sin and leave it at that. You are an
evangelical Christian after all. As for the second one do you seriously think you came out of it well because it was embarrassing to watch. And so can you learn
not to get so animated from now on as it makes you look desperate. Just answer all questions you are asked as calmly as possible with as few words as you can

[Strontium Dog]

I will probably vote Liberal Democrat again in spite of the recent appalling interviews. Just say you think homosexuality is a sin and leave it at that.

He doesn't think that though. He's now made it quite clear that he doesn't think it's a sin.

The point is that it's entirely irrelevant what he thinks about it, so long as he's not trying to impose his private view on anyone. You don't need to even like gay people or women or black people to be a liberal, just to support their equal rights.

Just more mischief-making from - surprise, surprise - the Corbynistas again.

[Brian Peacock]

To be fair, everyone across the board has made hay with that one.

[surreptitious57]

I agree that what he thinks is irrelevant so long as he does not seek to impose it upon anyone else. I just think one should be careful when
this involves those running for public office for the line can become somewhat blurred for rather obvious reasons. That small caveat aside
I have no problem in principle with what anyone thinks in and of itself. But I do prefer honesty to denial as hard as this may sometimes be

[Scot Dutchy]

This is why I favour a proportional voting system, one that accounts in some degree for the national vote as well as local one. I do however think the Tories have bent the birch too far the other way since 2010 though. A proportional system would, I think, reduce the temptation of new governments to fiddle at the edges to make life easier for themselves - or at least harder for the others.

How about back in the 50's. Once Churchill got back in the tories redrew all the constituency boundaries making it almost impossible for labour to win. Wilson came in on the back of a massive swing and redrew the boundaries again. Talk about democracy? On top of that you have the House of Lords and that is enough said about that.

[JimC]

Our electoral boundaries are controlled by an independent commission, whose mandate is to monitor demographic changes, and alter boundaries only to maintain vote equality as much as is practical.

[Brian Peacock]

Don't get me started on Lords reform - if you asked me I could write a book, as the old song goes.

[JimC]

Please don't reform it until after I have become Lord Jim of Melbourne.

Thank you.

[Scot Dutchy]

Our electoral boundaries are controlled by an independent commission, whose mandate is to monitor demographic changes, and alter boundaries only to maintain vote equality as much as is practical.

The trouble is that constituencies are never equal so the weight of a vote varies. In PR all votes are exactly the same.