MetaFilter posts tagged with UK and election

Let's

adrianhon — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:37:42 -0800

Today, the UK is voting on a series of national and local elections along with a referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote system. The referendum has caused fierce rows within the Coalition, with accusations of lies flying around, including the supposed high cost of an AV system. Most polls indicate that AV will not be adopted, spelling yet another potential disaster for the Liberal Democrats.

Swiftboating considered harmful.

samworm — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:16:46 -0800

UK (ex)MP Phil Woolas has indicated he will seek a judicial review of the decision today to void his election victory of earlier this year. He was found guilty of "knowingly making false statements about [rival candidate] Mr Watkins in campaign literature". Woolas claims the ruling will "inevitably chill political speech", whereas the Justices' ruling found that his Election Literature breached UK laws.

Indecision day UK style

idiomatika — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:59:27 -0800

Following days of uncertainty not witnessed since 1974, David Cameron makes a hasty entrance to 10 Downing Street, an hour or so after Gordon Brown made a surprisingly hasty exit. We began today with the unlikely, but possible prospect of seeing a Liberal Democrat/Labour "progressive coalition" government following last week's UK general election ending up as a hung parliament. But talks between Labour and the Lib Dems did not meet with success, and so earlier this evening, Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to the Queen, forcing the hand somewhat of the Tories and the Lib Dems, who have not finished their coalition negotiations at the time of writing. The upshot is that David Cameron, as leader of the biggest Party post-election, went to see the Queen shortly after Brown left her, asking permission to try and form a government. With permission granted, he is now in No. 10 Downing Street. We know there is to be a full coalition government for a fixed term (unheard of in UK politics), with some cabinet seats going to the Liberal Democrats, but we as yet do not know the details - and crucially for Liberal Democrats, whether we are to have any possibility of proportional representation the next time we go to the polls. I bet someone else has posted something in the time it has taken me to write this

Dr Evan Harris - The Liberal Democrat's Dr Death?

DNye — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:37:00 -0800

The new focus on the Liberal Democrats sees the Daily Telegraph's Cristina Odone profiling Dr Evan Harris. That's "profiling" in the sense that the FBI might profile a criminal. A criminal the papers are calling Dr Death. The Daily Telegraph, the standard bearer of British conservatism and the best-selling broadsheet paper in the UK, has been caught, like the rest of the country, slightly on the hop by the strong showing of Nick Clegg in the first televised debate between the leaders of the three leading British political parties. Clegg has been elevated in the public eye over the Lib Dem's previous biggest gun, the highly respected Treasury Spokesman and ballroom dancer [YT] Vince Cable. Cristina Odone, former editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Stateman, is now a columnist-slash-blogger for the Telegraph, and chose to focus on a relatively little-known character, the Shadow Science Minister Dr Evan Harris. And how. Noting that his critics call him "Dr Death", Odone takes strong issue with Harris' position on voluntary euthanasia (for), the freer availability of abortion (for), God (anti) and abortion levels in the United Kingdom (indifferent). She warns that: Labour still has a rump of Christian socialists. The Tories are relatively sympathetic to faith. The Lib Dems are now the most secular party in the Britain – and not in a good way. There’s something sinister about a movement that, in my view, doesn’t hold all life precious; that thinks that less than perfect lives can be dispensed with on grounds of “compassion”. Remember that creepy side of the Lib Dems next time you see Clegg bouncing with vitality. It's interesting to see, post-Twitter, how the comments run. Up to 11am today, the comments universally support Odone and criticise Harris and the Liberal Democrats. After that, it's one-way traffic the other way. Matters of policy and etiquette aside, Odone does raise an interesting question - to what extent should Britain expect its leaders to be religious? After all, the country still has an established church, although one to which neither Harris nor Odone belong. She has also drawn unexpected attention to Dr Harris. So, since this appears to be Liberal Democrat week, Dr. Evan Harris:

In 2000, he volunteered to be injected with a trial AIDS vaccine. In 2003, he stepped down as Health Spokesman to care for his terminally ill partner.
He appears not to be a huge fan of homeopathy - he took part in the symbolic mass overdose of homeopathic remedies outside Boots [YT]. Before that, he got quite snarky about the importance of shaking homeopathic remedies, on page 108 of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's Health Check on Homeopathy. Video of his questions here, in which he asks (at 6:45) why the waters in homeopathic remedies retain the memory of the medicine placed in them pre-dilution, but not the memory of poo.
He was awarded a "Golden Ammonite" for his work to remove the crimes of blasphemy and blasphemous libel from the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. He is also a Vice President of the British Humanist Association.
He wanted to reform the Act of Settlement, which bars the heir to the throne from marrying a Catholic. Damien Thompson, then editor of the Catholic Herald, clearly preferred the idea to the proponent. Oh, and what do you know? He actually is called Dr Death.

He also has a blog. All of which leaves me wondering - why do Liberal Democrats' resumés seem so much more colourful than their counterparts in the major parties?

I agree with Nick: you're no Jack Kennedy.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:05:36 -0800

Yesterday, the leaders of the three largest political parties in the UK engaged in a live televised election debate for the first time in history. Most commentators seem to agree that Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain's perennial third party the Liberal Democrats, made the best impression in yesterday's first of three weekly debates leading up to the general election on May 6. The progressive-leaning Guardian even goes so far as to claim that he is now prime ministerial material.

This being Metafilter you will undoubtedly ask, "how does Cory Doctorow figure into all of this?" Well, he agrees with Nick on the Digital Economy Act. Then again, Nick is agreed with quite a lot.

UK Election Statisitics Brain-Candy

hydatius — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:10:14 -0800

Hurtling as we are towards an election that will be the most closely contested for a generation, where can we in the UK get a hit of statistical brain-candy? Well, no-one's going to do it quite as well as FiveThirtyEight did it for our transatlantic chums (though they will be posting on the UK), but try Electoral Calculus or UK Polling Report. For information about voting, try About My Vote.

General Election called in the UK

iso_bars — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:22:41 -0800

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for an election on the 6th of May. Parliament will be dissolved on April 12th. The Conservative lead in the polls has been cut in the last few months, and while they still lead overall according to some surveys, a hung parliament is looking increasingly likely. This may or may not be a good thing for the UK economy. Of course, polls can be misleading. Some members of the current cabinet are particularly under threat. From the second link, there will be further TV debates on the 15th, 22nd and 29th of April.

What happens if David Cameron loses?

Len — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:16:49 -0800

Most people assumed the Tories would walk the coming election. But with their poll lead evaporating, what would a Conservative defeat mean for Britain – and David Cameron? What happens if David Cameron loses? Sidebar: Britain's last hung parliament

Hate Wins

chuckdarwin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:40:42 -0800

The far-right, whites-only British National Party (BNP) has won two seats (Andrew Brons, Nick Griffin) in the European Parliament. According to its constitution, the BNP is "committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948." The BNP also proposes "firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home."

George Galloway

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 06 May 2005 06:18:14 -0800

Highlight of the election coverage: George Galloway is the leader of Respect and won a historic and unexpected victory against the Blairite Oona King, on an anti-war ticket. He was then interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, an increasingly controversial interviewer well known for asking questions absurd numbers of times until they get answered - a technique which arguably backfires here. You might want to watch Galloway's acceptance speech first. [Windows Media. My two cents: Paxman is an egregious cock, more interested in getting his eternally righteous indignation across than any issues.]

Blair wins third term in UK

drewlondon — Thu, 05 May 2005 21:58:56 -0800

Blair wins third term in UK overcoming public outcry against his handling of the war in Iraq. His Labour party was elected despite attracting votes from only 22% of those eligible to do so.

UK Election 2005

carter — Thu, 05 May 2005 11:41:56 -0800

Psephologists rejoice! The Guardian will be blogging the UK election as it happens, and there's already some comments and links to other online discussions. As the UK polls close at 10:00 pm, this means that early results and exit polls will be in late afternoon for US poll-watchers.

It's a basic irony, folks...

tapeguy — Tue, 03 May 2005 22:04:59 -0800

I'm amused by today's Editorial in The Sun. It starts off with how a protest vote against Labour may mean 'you could be signing a young person's death warrant' due to the Liberal Democrat party's drugs policy.

The second half of the newspaper's editorial is a tribute to Anthony Wakefield... whose death came, of course, as part of the Blair government's war in Iraq... a basic irony that the newspaper has failed to pick up on. [via Bloggerheads]

For those who don't know, The Sun - which backs Blair, though not like this - is the UK's biggest selling newspaper and is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Lee and Dan's Excellent Adverts

Navek Rednam — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:23:11 -0800

The truth behind the spin? - three party political broadcasts (.wmv) made by Lee and Dan, the men behind the VW Suicide Bomber advert, and commissioned by the UK's Channel 4

Rock the vote

Mwongozi — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:44:52 -0800

In 21 days the UK will be holding a general election, and people around the country will be voting for the next government. Can't choose between the different parties? Who should you vote for?

...and a robber button is?

nthdegx — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 02:14:28 -0800

"Before, during and after the upcoming [United Kingdom] general election campaign, Channel 4 FactCheck will provide the most reliable analysis of what the political parties and their leaders are saying. The site will scrutinise interviews, speeches and manifesto pledges - informing public debate by creating a popular resource for an information-hungry electorate." A UK cousin to FactCheck.org.

davehat — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 01:52:52 -0800

Unfortunately, the Jam Wrestling Party failed to win a seat in the UK Elections. I think this is a real shame. I mean, can anyone else think of a better use for the Millennium Dome?

Vote early, vote often.

holgate — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 12:18:42 -0800

Vote early, vote often. (With apologies for sticking this on the front page.) Using your skill and judgement, predict the winning party in the UK general election, size of the majority, and the number of seats won by the Lib Dems. Closest to the actual result gets a gift subscription to Private Eye, the fortnightly antidote to British politics and media, or the equivalent value in that international currency: Amazon vouchers. (And if you've emailed me already, there's no need to post a prediction.)