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March 30, 2005
Independent Inquiry
There was an interesting piece in today’s Independent by Matthew Oakeshott about those delusional no-hopers known as the Tory Party and how they don’t seem to want to get re-elected any time soon. A reply seemed in order, so the letters editor was fortunate enough to receive this:
Sir,Talking about the downfall of the Tory Party is fun. Easy, but fun. However, it is now so easy, that one can often miss important points lurking in the background. Such as Matthew Oakeshott’s piece (Why the Tories don't stand a chance in this election). It’s not just the Conservatives that are put in a quandary with the voting system, it’s the people too. The current level of political disillusionment, where over a million people can get together to shout about something and still not be heard, owes a lot to the gross disproportionality at the heart of our electoral system. Robin Cook, speaking alongside Lord Maclennan at the recent launch of their new pamphlet commented that the Tories’ atavistic allegiance to first-past-the-post was “one of the most striking cases of altruism in British politics of our time”. The sooner the boys in blue wake up to the iniquity of the current system, which, like Cliff Richard, has remained baffling popular against all notions of common decency for what seems like forever, the sooner something can actually be done about promoting real democracy in this country. Mr Oakeshott's colleagues at Make Votes Count are doing a great job, and deserve more support from the disenchanted masses so obviously out there.
Have to wait and see if it gets published. Watch this space
Posted by pauldavies on March 30, 2005
