Philip John

Tag: elections

  • Why I voted in a safe seat

    A little while ago I posited the argument that not voting is a proxy vote for the winner. Now I’m going to suggest that it’s worth voting even in a safe seat where you’re voting against the incumbent. In Lichfield I’ve voted for Rob Pass, the Green Party candidate. He won’t get anywhere close to…

  • It’s down to politicians to persuade non-voters otherwise, not to force them to vote.

    It’s down to politicians to persuade non-voters otherwise, not to force them to vote. http://leftfootforward.org/2015/01/compulsory-voting-no-sweeping-intervention-can-fix-our-electoral-system/

  • No mandate: PCCs need to go

    One of my biggest gripes about UK Parliamentary elections is that successive Governments claim they have a “mandate” to introduce their ideological reforms (whatever the flavour) as if every single vote in their favour is a full and unconditional endorsement of their entire manifesto. That is, of course, an absurd assertion but the ruling party invariably rolls out…

  • UK may have no say on EU top job, frontrunner warns

    Re: UK may have no say on EU top job, frontrunner warns European Commission President hopeful Jean-Claude Juncker suggests British people aren’t getting a vote on who becomes President but ignores one fundamental problem: the British people never get a vote and neither do the rest of Europe’s citizens. Ridiculously, this is the first time that the Commission…

  • Estonia publishes its e-voting source code on GitHub

    Good on Estonia for leading on this, and let’s hope others follow suit soon too. This is certainly one reason why the principal of ID cards isn’t a bad idea. Read Estonia publishes its e-voting source code on GitHub