Caesars Cafe, AV, Twitter and Lembit
It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Somehow, it fell my way.
So I found myself at seven o'clock this morning at Caesars Cafe in Barry trying to explain the alternative vote to an expectant nation.
Explaining how AV works can be a challenge in broadcasting. Some of the BBC's greatest brains, and me, have been struggling to find an appropriate gimmick, sorry visual metaphor, for TV audiences.
So I turned to Twitter in the hope that supporters and opponents alike would give their views concisely within 140 characters.
Here's a summary of the response:
@CharlotteV: "Many have tried, and many have failed. Have not yet seen AV described in 140 chars"
@moronwatch: "Have yet to see FPTP defended coherently anywhere"
@bjhallett: "Rank candidates by preference, candidate has to get 50% of votes, lowest goes out & next pref counted till 50% reached"
@SimonThomasAber: "AV is the same as first past the post except the goalposts move as you count the votes"
I do hope that helps. Tonight, I shall be trying to explain it for a Wales Today audience, this time with an added Welsh angle.
It's difficult to predict how seats would change hands in future elections under AV, as voters' second preferences may change and political parties may campaign differently.
But academics have tried to look at how AV would have made a difference during the last campaign. The British Election Study found 43 seats would have changed hands a year ago, including five in Wales.
In Cardiff North, Labour's Julie Morgan would have held off the challenge of the Tories; Labour would also have held Aberconwy, won by Conservative Guto Bebb. The Liberal Democrats would have taken Swansea West and Newport East from Labour and in Montgomeryshire, Lembit Opik would have survived the Tory challenge.
Never mind changing the course of political history, AV could well have changed the world of celebrity television as we know it today.
Hello. I'm David Cornock and I'm parliamentary correspondent for BBC Wales. This is the blog for the latest news and gossip from the Westminster village - with a Welsh accent.
Comment number 1.
At 14:56 19th Apr 2011, caradog_minchin wrote:Is there a better demonstration of these principles than the scene in "Auf Wiedersehen Pet" where Barry polls his mates on decorating their temporary home?
The hut is painted grey because that is the colour least disliked by the majority..Is that AV?
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Comment number 2.
At 15:04 20th Apr 2011, RW49 wrote:A succinct 140 characters hmm? A bit difficult knowing the verbose nature of politics, still I'll have a go: Instead of an 'X' put a '1' against your choice, and a '2' etc is optional. How about that as a minimalist effort? I like the 'paint' analogy in the previous post about the eventual government, mind you I think a shade of grey is what we usually get regardless of what the colours are at the start of the election campaign. Rather like that remarkable modelling clay 'plastercine'
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Comment number 3.
At 23:10 23rd Apr 2011, AccurateChronometer wrote:You're not still flogging the BOGUS AV v FPTP BOGUS REFERENDUM FAKE DEBATE are you, Mr Cornock? You need to do some 'under the bonnet' research to understand why the whole thing is a fiasco and a charade with no proper or credible electoral foundations.
The proposed AV v FPTP UK Referendum consists of a contrived, fabricated and simplistic bipolar choice of only two options out of numerous possibilities set against unfit UK Electoral Law, unfit UK Electoral Registers and unfit UK Election Returning Officer negligible powers of cross-constituency scrutiny. Election Returning Officers will be unable to guarantee 'One Person-One Vote' (even if the choices on offer made more sense) nor to sign off ANY part of such a referendum as 'true', 'democratic', 'free' or 'fair'. (It's a wonder Mr Cornock hasn't dug deeper into such nitty gritty facts about the BOGUS REFERENDUM yet!)
Here are fundamental AV v FPTP BOGUS REFERENDUM flaws:
1. UK Electoral Law - NOT 'fit for purpose'.
2. UK Electoral Registers - NOT 'fit for purpose'.
3. UK CERO powers - NOT 'fit for purpose'.
Your BBC colleague Graham Smith appears to have travelled further and deeper than your good self into the subject (you appear to be playing along too eagerly and compliantly with the LidDemCon CON parlour game):
A UK REFERENDUM MUST, ON PRINCIPLE, BE GUARANTEED TO BE VERIFIABLY 'ONE PERSON-ONE VOTE'. IF THIS AV v FPTP BOGUS REFERENDUM IS ATTEMPTED IT WILL NOT BE.
BOGUS UK ELECTORAL REGISTERS = BOGUS REFERENDUM:
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/second_home_voters_1.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/secret_ballots_and_second_home.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/worried_about_second_home_vote.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/kevins_too_busy_to_probe_secon.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/game_on.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/06/a_letter_to_the_chief.html
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2011/04/some_second_home_voters_purged.html
BOYCOTT THE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CONSERVATIVE PARTY CAMERON CLEGG COALITION BOGUS AV v FPTP REFERENDUM CON.
OR
OR SPOIL YOUR BALLOT PAPER WITH A SUITABLY CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE BOGUS AV v FPTP UK REFERENDUM & LIBDEMCON COALITION CON.
NOTE: ALL SPOILED BALLOT PAPERS HAVE TO BE RECORDED AND NUMBERS PUBLISHED.
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