MAY 7th. 2015

I thought so too, Nonu!

So sweet.

LTP Ana I was Losing The Plot

Don't blame you, Soutra!

Hildajenni is DH a bigamist (or a twin?)

Love and leave ?

Granjura, this is for you. And any one else who wants to read it, of course.

www.democraticaudit.com/?p=9970

Do you agree?

The suspense is killing... not the election, the LAL thingy.

Ladies Adore Lycra

Legs All Lumpy

Well - in principle it is how IMO a democracy should work, however the problem is that the Swiss have a much lower population level and an overall better educated one, which makes it much easier for sensible outcomes. The other problem in the UK is that we have such a vociferous press who would undoubtedly try to swing the vote, printing overblown possible outcomes etc.

But saying all that I do think that Parliament should be far more accountable, with each member being held responsible for the way they vote etc. Perhaps it could be done at constituency level?

If it's done at constituency level, it can also be done at national level. In Switzerland I think it said that only about 45% of the electorate vote on most individual issues, but overall 80% vote over the year.

At the moment there is a petition on www.change.org to make it illegal for MPs to lie in Parliament. It was started on 3rd December and had over 100,000 signatures by 10th. It could be that because our population is larger, we could say 500,000 signatures. If this was built into the political system, people would not feel so disenfranchised.

Also, if it were done at constituency level, it would mean that the government of whatever colour could still control it by taking away money from local government.

OK but how do you answer the press problem? Most are right wing which would make the argument very unbalanced?

Direct Democracy? A case of we should be careful of what we ask for - this is not Switzerland.

Whitewave is right about the tabloids trying to swing the vote.

At certain febrile times we could suddenly wake up and find the return of capital punishment; no dole for 'scroungers'; conscription, etc.

Apparently Nigel Farage has been reported to have said that "the key to money for us will be the hedge fund industry". It is known that NF has been seeking the support of hedge fund owners and managers and has been quite successful in obtaining funds from them. Given that NF was a banker and the UKIP treasurer is a spread-betting tycoon, no doubt their interests are similar. Not much in keeping with the "People's Army" that NF pledged to build.

Despite the finance industry's support for UKIP, the Conservative Party is apparently its main beneficiary. It's reported that the Conservative Party will be spending three times more on the General Election campaign than Labour - and the smaller parties are, of course, even more out on a limb.

Given this financial situation and the fact that most of our press has a long history of supporting the Conservative Party, it makes me wonder whether such a system can truly be characterised as democratic.