Recently in Election 2010 Category

Back in 2005, I wrote about Martin Kyslun. I fully expected to see his name among the election results when they were finally published. However, I did not. This is the reason why. Sorry, belatedly, to hear of his passing.

Martin famously received 5 votes in 2005 - and now that I'm older I can appreciate better his reasons for standing in the first place.

This year, Godfrey Spickernell received the least votes in his constituency of Chelsea & Fulham, gaining 17 votes for his Blue Environment Party (Source: BBC News). Now, given that the Green Party until this election had never won a seat, the desire to replace the Green Party was somewhat ambitious. However, I admire him for trying, even though I certainly do not agree with all that is written on his comprehensive website.

Never one to miss a trick, IKEA have designed kitchens to suit our potential leader's personalities.

Link: IKEA's Political Kitchens

As you'd expect, the parties are gunning hard for your vote. Or so you'd think. I haven't had a single candidate visit me or talk to me - barely anything. I've had a couple of 'personal' letters written to me and a couple of thousand other people from both David Cameron and Gordon Brown, and there have been some leaflets, but nothing much.

So, it's quite interesting to see that not that far from me in LS27 (the newly created Morley & Outwood constituency), some people have been inundated! The map shows a whopping 5 nearby.

Inspired by the #uksnow Twitter map we would like you to help us build up a picture of the level of electioneering across the UK. On a scale of 1 to 5 (see the key below right for suggestions) give each party that is campaigning near you a score for the intensity of its efforts.

Link: The Guardian's Election Coverage Map

Here are the education policies for each of the three main parties condensed down into Wordles. I haven't done this, Jo Winchester has. It's very interesting!

The more times a word is used, the larger it appears on the Wordle.

Image via CrunchBase

Labour's Education Policy:

The Conservative's Education Policy:

Liberal Democrats' Education Policy:

Don't have the time or inclination to read manifestoes? I don't blame you.

Take a quick quiz based on what the parties want to do after 2010 for this country, and be told who you should vote for. I did:

Who should you vote for? UK General Election quiz

Green				22
Liberal Democrat				13
Labour				8
Conservative	-32
UK Independence	-47

You expected: LIB

Your recommendation: Green

Click here for more details about these results

Now, whether I'll vote Green or not is up to me (it's unlikely, to be honest...)

I wrote in 2005 about the election and have decided to again. Voter numbers are in decline for many reasons, but it's important to show that people do care and are not apathetic.

So, another election, another time to change the way the country works. Except, for the majority of people, it won't make a difference who you vote for.

According to Voter Power.org:

In Morley & Outwood, one person does not really have one vote, they have the equivalent of 0.101 votes.

The power of voters in this constituency is based on the probability of the seat changing hands and its size.

While you might think that every vote counts equally, where you live in the UK has a huge effect on your power to influence the election.

The average UK voter has 2.5x more voting power than voters in Morley & Outwood.

So, once again, my vote doesn't actually matter.

If the UK had a proportional voting system:

• We would no longer have safe seats.


• The power of votes would be much more equal.


• All areas of the UK would have equal power to decide the outcome of the election.


• Politicians would not be able to win an election by tailoring all their policies to a narrow section of the population.

I urge you all to join the Power 2010 campaign:

Our democracy is in crisis. MPs fiddle while the planet burns. Our rights and freedoms are under attack. Bankers blow billions and the taxpayer foots the bill. We can't go on like this. We need a healthy democracy that works for all of us and not just a powerful few. POWER2010 exists to help create it. It gives you the chance to have your say on how our democracy works so that together we can change it for the better.

Do you want cleaner funding? Fairer voting? More accountability? You decide. Tell us your ideas for changing the way we run our country. Those with most support will become the POWER2010 Pledge and the focus for our national campaign at the next election.

POWER2010 is a unique campaign to give everyone the chance to have a say in how our democracy works for us. What is different about POWER2010 is that you're in the driving seat. We're not asking you to back our goals. We're asking you to help create them. At the next election we will work to ensure every candidate commits to the reforms you most want to see as part of a nation-wide campaign to reinvigorate our democracy from the bottom up.

Only by changing the system can we fix it and make things fairer.