A little prediction

[same_difference]

'Labour will win, with a decreased majority, but a significant majority all the same. This will be shortly followed by tax rises.'

Cynical I know, but as I've always said the worst thing about being a cynic is being right almost all of the time. This isn't the result I want, btw, but the problem with democracy is everyone else* getting to vote.

*Everyone else excludes those I respect, i.e. my friends.

Comments

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

Brown gave control of interest rates to the bank of england, so its now administered by a professional with a vested interest in long term economic stability rather than an amateur who just wants things to be going well in 4 year's time. (I think) Inflation just happens; it is influenced to an extent by interest rates .

Your correction to first axiom is irrelevant; it just means that none of the others get voted for either.
I'm still not convinced that the government can still have a measurable and predictable effect on a counteries economy, but I guess it might be possible. It used to be the case.
I'm less convinced that it is this argument that causes people to vote in favor of pro-business anti personal rights-in-the-face-of-bussiness policies.

As far as I could tell everyone was going to spend their money on more police in cleaner hospitals. whilst thinking that 'forward not back' was the real alternative.

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

I should point out that left-wing governments and parties tend to increase governments interference in peoples daily lives. So it's anti personal rights in the face of business, or personal rights limited by how the government wants you to behave.

Anyway this whole arguent is vaguely academic, because we only have an approximation of democracy anyway:

Seats in parliments, decide which party form the government. Each seat represents an area of the country and its population. Governments (and certian civil servants) decide, and can change, the size and boundaries (and hence make up) of the voting area for each seat. Hence governments (and certian civil servants) can to an extent control the number of seats a party wins.

For example in this election the electoral role in seats Labour won was smaller than in seats that the Tories or Lib Dems one. So you can conclude that those areas who have strong traditional Labour support get to decide more seats (and have a greater effect on the outcome) than those that support the other party. So effectively Labour won by making it's votes worth more. Hence why labour has over a 100 more seats that the conservatives with only 3-4% more of the vote.

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

The restrictions I think you are talking about are things like the minimum wage, maximum working hours, minimum working age, etc. These restrictions only effect employers; it is illegal to pay less than x pounds an hour, it is not illegal to work for less than x pounds an hour.

As for left wing governments restricting individual actions more than their comparatively extreme right wing counterparts, this is simply not true. Center-left parties simply do not dictate what positions you are allowed to make love in.
Mili, incidentally claims to have been more free under Communism than she is currently. Despite this she still exercises her freedom to consume.

Shifting the electoral boundaries around to give your party an advantage is called gerrymandering. The current case of UK politics, however, has arisen though inaction as the public moved. The only changes since last time was the merging of a bunch of safe Labor seats in Scotland, effectively shrinking the Labor majority before the election started.
Labor /had/ made a manifesto pledge last time to look into the whole system. They even assigned a committee, which said to change the voting system (I think to STV, as is used by Bath SU). Then they waited for a bit. Then a few years passed. Then they had another election using first past the post.

Oh and I forgot to say!

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

don't feel too down; the new Tory MPs are much more like real people than the bulk of the Conservitive Party, and a significent improvement on the rest of the Parlimentry Conservitive Party.

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

But merging the Scottish seats, did make Gordon Brown's Labour seat, much safer by increasing his majority there.

Did they make new seats elsewhere to keep the numbers the same, or are there less seats now?

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

there are 13 fewer seats now, I think.