The (Shipped) Gold Standard

For all you keen FOB fans (or for those of you able to Google!), you'll have noticed that I've got my titles the wrong way round. This post should have come before the last. However, since it's my blog, I can do whatever I like round here. (So there.)

The TV debate was interesting. It wasn't a polished and buffed, soundbitey, gimmicky affair like you might have got over the pond (where presidential debates have been going on for years). I was reading the story of how various leaders over the years have tried to get a debate going over here. The person doing worse in the polls would ask the other, and the other would say no, and give an official reason such as "TV politics, rubbish, gimmick, blah", when the actual reason is: "I'm going to win anyway, I have a large margin above you on the polls. I don't need a debate to potentially ruin that." However, at the moment, a hung parliament is more likely than any other scenario, so the parties have nothing really to lose.

Nick looked very cute on the TV, and I think he presented himself well. Probably not the most polished (given Daveyboy and Gordon have been speaking in public in the role of Some Important Dude for a bit longer), but with practise, he'll get better. It's great that the election's really became more of a n-horse race (n>2), since that is the reality of it. There are MORE THAN TWO parties, despite what Labour and Conservative want you to think. It's in their best interests to have a two-party system, I guess, because you just swing between the two in 10 year cycles, and you only have one ideological viewpoint to oppose.

It's great that the Lib Dems got some TV time. It'll just further increase their support and show that they do have a non-negligible base of popular support.

The polls have, all of the sudden, got rather interesting. In several taken after the debate, Lib Dems come a close second, with some even having them come out on top! Of course, the percentage points are so close, taking into account the margin of error gives you the result "Everyone's a winner". Well, it should. Except the way the electoral system goes at the moment means that 30% of the country can vote Lib Dem, but if the support isn't concentrated enough in traditional homesteads for Labour and Conservative, it won't translate to more seats. So, if the Lib Dems do as well in the actual vote as the polls suggest they might, it might lead to some voting reform (which is exciting!) - it doesn't seem fair that over half of the country can vote for "not party Y", yet party Y can legitimately gain over half of the seats.

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GO YELLOWS! <3