Ken MacLeod

Comment Threads

• Richard Gadsden commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  I'm not going to describe STV in detail, but you vote for people (not parties), preferentially (ie 1,2,3,etc), which means the independents are fine and don't have to cobble together a list, it also means that you can choose between multiple candidates from the major parties, so you can still vote for your party of choice and against someone you dislike. For Australians on the thread, it's the Senate system, except no above the line voting, and you don't have to number every candidate for your vote to count, just the ones you care about....
• Dave_the_Proc commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  Just because this hobby-horse is stabled in my yard, so to speak ... I have tried several times to imagine what "pulling the plug" on Northern Ireland would really mean. Despite the constitutional statements to the contrary, the Republic of Ireland do not want NI -- there are no benefits other than historical nostalgia, and initially (and probably for the foreseeable future) it will be a huge financial drain; so simply handing the place over isn't going to happen. (Also: The Troubles in reverse -- not a completely unlikely scenario.) Either spinning it off into complete independence, or simply stopping...
• Greg. Tingey commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  Yes & No The "non-Doms" also include a large number of NHS workers .... As for Press Barons, well, Murdoch is just scum, backing two opposing camps & people noticing .... As for "press restrictions" re Leveson ... I'm not so sure. all the really vile stuff WAS ALREADY ILLEGAL ... the problem was you had (probably still have) corrupt journos & corrupt cops co-operating. The Jefferies scandal in Bristol was a classic. I note no "Bristol" police have even been cautioned over their grossly illegal behaviour in that case .......
• Greg. Tingey commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  Because Thursday was the day before pay-day ... so people were more likely to vote. And we haven't got round to changing to Sat or Sunday, yet. "EVEL" Cameron is indicating a general degree of devolution. IF he sticks to that, then - phew! - well & good. However, he will have some really serious opposition, who are real shits to shift if they really don't like it ... (whatever "it" is) The "Civil Service". Errr .......
• JDz commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  I've long heard the fine for not voting if you aren't one of the (not too difficult to get) exclusion groups is $50. It's not because Australians think any better of their pollies - far from it. Nor that they are more politically engaged. We surely do not think well of our pollies in general or most of the big 2 party front bench in particular. And as for Cameron not being that smart - well he's just managed to pull an absolute majority out of a situation where everyone thought he was going to be replace by Labour. Give...