no clothes off

The emperor is fully clothed?

I'm not helping. Sorry. Did try to be serious somewhere upthread, but seems the comedy festival is rubbing off influencing on us.

David Cameron/Nick Clegg slashfic, John Key, Bronagh and Danyl Mclauchlan getting tangled up in it somehow, and Craig with no clothes off to one side acting as MC.

Time for the…

You'd have to ask Bronagh about that...

Which makes me think again of this:

...It is a year to the day since he won the election and we are in the Prime Minister’s office on the ninth floor of the Beehive; Key has redecorated to suit his own modest tastes…

Thank you — eight shows a week, two matinees, no cover.

Uninsurable, you mean?

Huh. That's totally not what I was picturing on reading 'no cover'.

(Craig's partner in Lowering the Tone, exits, stage left.)

She just thinks that children need to be protected from wanting to work as rent-boys

Somehow, I can't imagine any of the gay MPs in the Coalition would be encouraging anyone to choose "rent boy" as a career. Fingers crossed. :)

Pretty amazing really, youngest person in the House of Lords. Will have to…

Thank you — eight shows a week, two matinees, no cover.

Uninsurable, you mean?

I thought John Key liked to eat in.

[Coat. Gone.]

You'd have to ask Bronagh about that... (Face it — you all knew I was going to lower the tone.)

Thank you — eight shows a week, two matinees, no cover.

David Cameron went to Eton?

I thought John Key liked to eat in.

[Coat. Gone.]

I think (and may be wrong) that calling the alternative they are discusssing 'Alternative Vote' is misleading at this stage.

I think they just agreed to discuss an alternative (to FPP), rather than a Capital-A-Alternative, if you see what I mean.

Not sure, but, according to…

Does anyone else double-take when reading this David Cameron quote:

We haven't yet explored all each other's offices

I said slash public spending, not write slash!

Just me? Ok then.

What, you didn't go for the Just Des(s)erts?

Those are best served with Special Reserve, Aged White Drip (2004 Vintage).

I recommend the Young Turk Key cutlets...

If you're game for Aussie tucker
watch out for bugshot le font
The flag is in 'taters
but it's not ours that has holes, 'init?

I'll sit this one out. Mwahahaha!

Although I personally wouldn't order this dish again, my dining companions seemed eager to go for seconds, although this might have had more to do with the lack of a credible alternative on the menu.

What, you didn't go for the Just Des(s)erts?…

no poll option for "needs seasoning" then?

John Key's blandness and lack of taste goes well with a range of drinks :

Rarely is he seen in a relaxed, informal setting without an acceptable drink: a glass of crisp white wine when at home, a bottle of some authentic…

Sent my lunch back. Tasted like John Key.

Iti's line about returning the car but not the ownership papers I thought was pretty good actually.

JK Autos, boy do we have a deal for you.
Cue more waving and smiling from our own wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man

(I could mention Tame Iti, but that's far too easy a cheap shot even for me.)

Ah, but, Tame Iti could pass it off as "Performance Art" I don't think John was ever considered for the Comedy Festival, although some may say that he does a passable King Leer.
;-)

"The good news is that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou, as opposed to their neighbouring iwi which is Tuhoe, in which case I would have been dinner. Which wouldn't have been quite so attractive."

Two part answer to this:

Prime Minister: Come here so I can slap you,…

As long as the wittering left keep talking about a do-nothing…

it's been showing those same percentages since then

What's with the version on The Standard where the numbers are exactly the other way around (51% for "doing a great job")?

A few of the left politics blogs seem to be keen on "Mr Smile and Wave" as a nascent attack…

it's been showing those same percentages since then

Perhaps the script spammers are in perfect political balance?

At first I was going to say This Mortal Coil's 1984 Album It'll End In Tears, but that sort of obscure reference is best saved for a music thread.

Every thread's a music thread..

NZH Poll
What do you think of John Key?
Mr Smile and Wave (51%)
Doing a great job (49%)

The Tom Dixon S chair.

Yummm! This is my 'I could never afford that, but god I want it' chair.

Regina ll Armchair From Poltrona Frau. I would have to get the fluffy cat to go with it.

I'm guessing after the above news, the furniture porn is over, unless…

Could it be? could Mr. Smile and Wave be gone by lunchtime, or at least before desert? Or will the Smiling Assassin/Appetizer be forced to eat his own words?.

"The good news is that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou, as opposed…

And I'm gutted, because I got to Nancy and Love in a cold climate and somehow juxtaposed Cold comfort farm (see above).

Pipped at the postman, again!

It offers what I imagine is the unprecedented situation of having a public display of vehement disagreements between two senior members of the same team, simply because they were bitter opponents at the time.

I wonder how the delicate petals are going to drag themselves off the fainting couch long…

Just to revisit the voting reform question, the Alternative Vote (AV) they are discussing is more akin to the Australian PV than our PR (MMP), right?

I think (and may be wrong) that calling the alternative they are discusssing 'Alternative Vote' is misleading at this stage.

I think they just…

Still. Beds, lying in, and all that.

but can they lie straight?
and how flammable are these bunks?

Nancy buoys the spirit....
in the pursuit of love
the very Fabrice of society
can be rent asunder....

and it did all end in tears,
dulling!

Really? She simply opines the coalition will face too many hard choices they can't agree on.

Well, she's a well-known Labour cheerleader, and the tone of her article smacks more than a little of sour grapes, to my eyes.

My view is that she went well beyond simply opining. Certainly…

The difference in the UK is that the rules haven't changed. I'm not sure they ever will. I really, really want to be wrong about that.

That's cold comfort indeed. Just to revisit the voting reform question, the Alternative Vote (AV) they are discussing is more akin to the Australian…

I'd love to believe this will work, but I'm not optimistic. Here's why – the Guardian (not the execrable tabloids, but the great liberal voice) telling…

Polly Toynbee has an epic toy-throwing, dummy spitting meltdown.

Really? She simply opines the coalition will face too many hard choices they can't agree on. Not an unreasonable opinion, I'd have thought, even if it turns out to be wrong.
Then a good lashing of:

Look hard at the agreement…

(Virtual chocolate fish to the person who identifies where I stole that from — with extra points if you see the joke.)

Not this Teledaft piece from the Obama inauguration?

At first I was going to say This Mortal Coil's 1984 Album It'll End In Tears, but that sort of…

It'll end in tears, I tells ya!

Oh, dulling, one always thinks that. Every, every time. (Virtual chocolate fish to the person who identifies where I stole that from — with extra points if you see the joke.)

One can pick up any design mag in NZ and it becomes apparent just how influential the flatpack has become. :)

What are the chances we could turn a UK election thread into Furniture Fetish? My chair collection is only just getting started. It hasn't yet reached my self imposed…

It'll end in tears, I tells ya!

QFT — last time I visited Sydney, several hours were spent drooling softly in Ikea. (Relatively) cheap and functional doesn't have to be nasty and dull after all, and weren't they planning to move into New Zealand before the recession bit...

Then again, I do like Scandinavian Modern…

can't knock Ikea. Affordable form with function is a great lesson for anyone interested in design

Hear, hear.

I'll defer to your superior expertise in Ikeaphilia.

At least ye ol' flatpack Ikea has considered function with it's form, not like the "Freedom" crap we claim the big all, end all of the Pacific. Admittedly I do try to afford the finer things in life and am lucky to…

The love between a man and his chipboard coffee table can be a beautiful thing, Craig.

I'll defer to your superior expertise in Ikeaphilia. And perhaps I shouldn't be such a bitch, given that I've breeched the UN Convention on the Elimination of Torture of Metaphors, Analogies and Other Rhetorical…

Not so much mixing your metaphors as throwing them in a blender and making a 360 bpm mash-up of spluttering incoherence. Or your average Michael Laws column.

Boing!

had no idea you could get civilly unified with kitset furniture in the UK – damn perverted socialist hellhole.

The love between a man and his chipboard coffee table can be a beautiful thing, Craig.

My 'beds' comment was more aimed at Labour.

I stand corrected. Sir. :)

And Polly Toynbee has an epic toy-throwing, dummy spitting meltdown.

I was tempted to link, point and laugh but that would have been mean. Not so much mixing your metaphors as throwing them in a blender and…

And Polly Toynbee has an epic toy-throwing, dummy spitting meltdown.

Still. Beds, lying in, and all that.

Fair enough, but you can hardly blame Clegg for not kicking in a locked bedroom door to try lying in a bed that was short-sheeted from the start. Silly me — of course you can! :)

Until they act on it though, they…

One minister inside the bunker in the final hours

Did The Guardian just Godwin NuLab?

Strange days indeed.

"The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour government and roll back state intrusion."

Yes, without being too flippant, it would be nice to see a population treated with some dignity and respect, instead of constantly being…

Happy much?

Yeah, and as Russell tweeted earlier The Guardian's Henry Porter has looked at "the civil liberties stuff" and his judgement of the Coalition is a very good start they better deliver on.

As I read through the list, I have an exhilarated sense of restoration. It is a relief…

Well, whatever it is that I've helped to [be] elected by voting tactically, it certainly isn't a Tory govt. Look at the reform agenda and the civil liberties stuff as well.

Happy much?

Perhaps I'm biased in all kinds of ways, but I'm still trying to get my head around Labour's irrational sense of entitlement and refusal to take the Lib-Dems seriously. It would be kind of funny if it wasn't so damn sad watching people in deep denial about how much things…

I've got to say that if the punishment at Eton for being caught smoking dope is merely "copying 500 lines of Latin" then perhaps we could relax here in the Antipodes a bit.

Do like the NYT's unselfconscious reference to "England's ruling classes." Perhaps they could do…

At Oxford, he was a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club, whose agenda consisted of getting dressed up, getting drunk and getting out of trouble by paying off the people whose things were destroyed in club bacchanalias.

The question is, with his trident in hand, did he impale?

If you're going to trot out all the Bridehead Revisited Tory toff cliches, don't forget institutionalised jailbait homoerotic BDSM.

Always on my mind.

54 years later, at £130 billion Trident is probably considered cheap if it allows the decadent British establishment to continue the…

Especially when Britain really does not have £130 billion to spend on symbolism.

130 billion to continue something that most people consider ended about 20 years ago? Cheap at twice the price!

Via TPM, Fox News's hopeless reporting:

Also been rather amusing watching the usual Tea Bags wrinking their noses at that Maoist infidel Cameron and those funny old Brits. After all, we all know litigation is infinitely superior to negotiation when it come to settling close elections...

Joking side, the story…

Mr. Cameron then went to Eton, the traditional finishing school for Britain’s ruling classes, where it was reported that, as punishment for getting caught smoking marijuana, he was made to copy 500 lines of Latin…

Queen Elizabeth accepted the invitation of Conservative Party leader David Cameron to become Britain's new prime minister Tuesday night after Gordon Brown resigned following his failure to form a coalition government with another liberal party.

Very nice of Mr Cameron to extend the invitation…

There is that, yes. If I were Labour's research unit, I'd be making a list of those statements.

I hope my linebooks are still there...

I find it funny that the exact same people arguing for fiscal discipline and cutting debt were only 5 years ago moaning about the size of the surplus

There is that, yes. If I were Labour's research unit, I'd be making a list of those statements.

We did have near zero net government debt when the credit crunch struck. Greece is not the word for us, whatever present difficulties we face.

I find it funny that the exact same people arguing for fiscal discipline and cutting debt were only 5 years ago moaning about the size…

Trident nuclear deterrance? Did we jump back to the 1980s and the cold war? How is that still a not negotiable priority for anyone?

It does seem to be a little more nuanced than that. From The Guardian's live blog:

A commitment to maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent. Renewal of Trident…

We did have near zero net government debt when the credit crunch struck. Greece is not the word for us, whatever present difficulties we face.

Trident nuclear deterrance? Did we jump back to the 1980s and the cold war? How is that still a not negotiable priority for anyone?

Especially when Britain really does not have £130 billion to spend on symbolism.

And what's with the fag end for an avatar?

I was gonna say it might mean
The butt stops here!
but now I see it is merely a
fickle collie form

Sir, I bow to your superior animal torture prowess.

I do draw the line at making AGL wear a knitted sweater and allegedly cute beanie — that's just nasty.

It's Abu Ghraib Lassie

Sir, I bow to your superior animal torture prowess.
{:0)

And what's with the fag end for an avatar?

It's Abu Ghraib Lassie — or what the proverbial puppy gets if you don't do exactly what I say. You have been warned, I so dislike repeating myself. :)

Well, she's married. Thank god for that. None of this solo mother…

Ah yes... wasn't it generous of Samantha's uterus to get with the media strategy?

Well, she's married. Thank god for that. None of this solo mother dependancy crap.
Dont you just love photo op no.10(previous link). The "Get them whilst they're young". ;)

God, I hate being right...

Well then, come over from the dark side, you know you want to, we're all so friendly and cuddly over here.
And what's with the fag end for an avatar?
;-)

Doncha just love it when a right winger comes out with a line like "We will look after the frail, the elderly and the poor" Do they sell Tui's in Pomgolia?

"Now some of my best friends are the frail, the elderly and the poor, but...."

Was it the baby?

Ah yes... wasn't it generous of Samantha's uterus to get with the media strategy?

Is it just me, or does that Mr Cameron look just like that Mr key ?

Not just in looks. It is quite scary how similar they are. Key has modeled himself quite closely to Cameron, although I don't think Cameron has the 'common touch' of Key. That and Key…

I got it! It's the photo ops. :)

American inauguration is a pretty public spectacle, with the President not too far from the plebs on that whole drive thing.

True enough — but I think a clot of Tea Baggers trying to get within a hundred meters of the front door of the White House would be on…

What a depressing list of priorities.

Trident nuclear deterrance? Did we jump back to the 1980s and the cold war? How is that still a not negotiable priority for anyone?

And it's quite endearing when you think that if Cameron was behind an American-style security lockdown, they wouldn't have been…

I vaguely remember seeing something about how Bush was unable to do so because of the rain of eggs landing on his limousine in Jan 2001.

Not that I have any particular love for people who turn up just to abuse their new PM, but it did make me smile.

And it's quite endearing when you think that if Cameron was behind an American-style security lockdown, they wouldn't have been able to get within a half-mile…

Booing audibly starts up and the Sky commentator says: "And a cheer there from the crowd in Whitehall ..."

Not that I have any particular love for people who…

You know, I don't think that woman at 00.10 is really "cheering" ...

Why wasn't she dragged into the middle of Downing Street and kicked to death for the cameras? Really, Dave — you're supposed to be a fascist monster start acting like one. Bite the head off a baby.…

Sky News' coverage of Cameron's arrival at Downing Street:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKDkrhMOQqg

You know, I don't think that woman at 00.10 is really "cheering" ...

the likely deal on offer will include a promise to force through parliament by a three-line whip a referendum on introducing the Alternative Vote (AV) system.

It would also ditch any proposal to cut the inheritance tax threshold, and end plans to recognise marriage in the tax…

the British are a terminally stupid nation much enamoured with their own sense of superiority

It's like looking in a mirror!

Oh, how will I cope with the painful truth? Hmmm, this overinflated sense of superiority should help.

"Strong indication that Nick Clegg might be Deputy Prime Minister". Just sayin'.

Well it isn't just the LD's fault the Rainbow Coalition didn't work out –

I don't see how you can fairly say the Lib-Dems bear any fault for the fact a good chunk of Labour hate them as much as their Kiwi soul mates loathe the Maori Party and/or Greens,…

To be fair, Tom, how many times — and how loudly — did you expect the Lib-Dems to be told to fuck off by Labour before they said "OK, then"?

Nick Clegg's support base hates the Tories. Based on our experience here, Labour is going to have great fun painting…

The Lib-Dems have tied themselves to a political corpse and are about to throw themselves off a cliff.

To be fair, Tom, how many times — and how loudly — did you expect the Lib-Dems to be told to fuck off by Labour before they said "OK, then"?

The Lib-Dems have tied themselves to a political corpse and are about to throw themselves off a cliff.

I think I need a drink

Based on an inexpert translation of the spidery script by the Guardian, it appears to begin by listing the Tories' "red lines" on which they are not prepared to give ground: Europe, immigration and the Trident nuclear…

And when all is said and done, it just seems the Tories want it more (h/t The Guardian):

The clincher for me though was a Lib Dem MP who is pretty sympathetic to Labour telling me this morning…

>What's this stuff about a bare majority. If the Labour and Liberal Democrats get together they will represent 52% of the vote to the Tories 36%.

No they don't Logan — they represent less than half the seats in the House of Commons.

Actually, they represent both of those things,…

What's this stuff about a bare majority. If the Labour and Liberal Democrats get together they will represent 52% of the vote to the Tories 36%.

No they don't Logan — they represent less than half the seats in the House of Commons. Hell, even when you add in the…

quick, get Clegg over to the man-slut threads

Question is though, Sacha, which one is he?

Too young to be the Silver Fox, doesn't have the Hero Coat so he can't be Dark and Brooding, definitely not The Rocker, The Preppie or The Uniform, can't be __The Slightly-Disreputable Working Class…

Collage of topical newspaper front pages via @SiobhanBulfin

Good grief – talk about hyperbole...

Look at them all metaphorically running around waving their hands in the air yelling "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

I think the Daily Mail is the worst:

A squalid day for democracy
Brown…

behaving like every harlot in history

quick, get Clegg over to the man-slut threads thread

What's this stuff about a bare majority

Majority of seats not of popular vote?

From the Grauniad's live election blog:

Quote of the day so far has come from former home secretary David Blunkett, who was on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He warned that a "coalition of the defeated" between Labour and the Lib Dems would "lose very badly" at…

Daily Star is classic – "Sort it out you clowns"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwdWnmqAYzM

worth a crack,
at least Zane Lowe could play it!

Hell, even Savuka might get some mileage out of the name check... and some of…

I'm guessing Winston hasn't read "Waiting For Godot" a hundred times:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/30/nick-clegg-my-hero-samuel-beckett

Whether this helps us understand Clegg's political manoeuvring, I really couldn't say ...

Stick it out for a couple more days and he'll be moving in to Number 10. ;)

Deputy Prime Minister? That seems vaguely familiar. Surely no sensible leader would allow that much influence to their opponents just to form a government? No, wait, this.

Winston Peters, the mercurial leader of…

On Friday he had a disappointing election result and an offer from Cameron to do diddly squat.

By today he's got Gordon Brown calling it quits and the Tories promising a referendum (albeit not yet the one he wants). Apparently it's their "final…

The conservatives are never going to agree to vote for it in the house, but you might be able to get them to agree to have a referendum and then implement that referendum

Unfortunately both Tory and Lab parties are smart enough to see a referendum for what it is,…

Yes. But putting it to referendum is also their best chance of getting it through.

Is it? What do the British people actually want? It could actually end up getting through on bizarre twists by existing cliques trying to hold onto their power. I think this is at least as…

I tend to agree with the mechanics (if not necessarily the sentiment) of Ben's analysis: this is the best chance the Libs will ever have. It's now or never, and if they need to fight dirty to grasp it, then so be it.

Yes. But putting it to referendum is…

I think it's good form to put any substantial changes to your voting system to the general population. If there's one thing we should have direct control over, it's how we elect the politicians.

Moving to a PR system is a fundamental change. It'll mean that every election will end…

I'm not suggesting they do it without concessions. I just can't see them getting major electoral reform through with a bare majority.

It's the best shot they've ever had. It's got to be the most exciting and rewarding time imaginable for the leader of the LibDems, short of actually winning…

PR is merely a different method of electing your house of representatives, it is not a panacea change agent for people unhappy with the status quo – that properly is the job of those elected to the parliament.

I think it's good form to put any substantial changes to your…

What reason would there be to vote for it again, if the leadership made it abundantly clear that the one time they get a hung parliament and hold the balance of power, all they do is get spooked and hand the Tories the bloody keys to office without concessions?

I'm…

It seems to me many Lib-Dems are repeating the wild utopian expectations of the pro-MMP campaign here, as if changing from a grandfather clock to a digital watch will somehow change the way we tell the time.

Strange comparison. I tell the time way differently because of my digital watch…

Deep breath, and you haven't quite hit you man-splaining third strike.

I do wonder if you could try blowing slightly less hard sometimes.

And you're entitled to be a Tory partisan, but it would be equally nice of you to acknowledge that Lib-Dem voters generally lean a lot more towards Labour than the Convervatives, as per a number of polls.

Deep breath, and you haven't quite hit you man-splaining third strike. If I…

That said, I'd hate to be Clegg right now. He's not going to do well whichever way he goes – and I do agree that a confidence and supply sort of deal with the Tories might well be the least politically damaging route.

See, I can't buy any of this…

You're absolutely right on the point of fact, and as for the rest of the argument we're not that far apart (you have to stop doing that – we haven't had a lung-busting row for ages.)

But I'd still argue that here in New Zealand, we went the right…

But it doesn't invalidate the general validity of Toynbee's point.

Well, I'm just getting rather impatient with the opportunistic conflation of "legitimacy" with "my preference" by commentators all over the show. Toynbee is entitled to be a Labour partisan, but I do wish she'd at least acknowledge that there are…

So, arguably the most important and radical electoral reform since women's suffrage would be rammed through the House by a government with a wafer-thin majority (however you slice the Parliamentary cake) without a referendum?

The 1928 act giving women the vote was not put to a referendum. To my mind…

My Bottom Five (in no particular order):
"Legitimate."
"Positive and constructive."
"The markets."
"Hung" (unless there's full frontal nudity involved)
"The people spoke, and we don't know what they said" (no, you're not listening, you tin-eared bint).

Why would you want to win this election?

Why would you want to work for The Herald?

Wait, I know this one. The answer to both questions is: certainly the game is rigged, but it's the only game in town.

What do I win?

OK, I know it's a unfashionably…

Can't bear Campbell, but he won that one at a canter.

When you make a human snail trail like Campbell look like the sane one in the room, you've screwed the proverbial pooch.

And could I nominate someone else for the rather crowded media naughty step? I generally read Polly…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt_cUiCjggE

Are they serving methamphetamine in the staff canteen?

Here's the business end of the confrontation between Sky News's Adam Boulton and Alastair Campbell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZm5cm0ZtL4

Can't bear Campbell, but he won that one at a canter.

"never a frown with Gordon Brown"

it's so inappropriate for the grumpy-faced Brown but you have to admit it's catchy!l

Gordon brown finer temptress... now seems appropriate…

Clegg’s Choice as Fighting Fantasy

Finally! After so many battles you have reached the final chamber. Here, your quest will end. Wiping off the last of the Bloodbeast’s ichor from your tunic, you climb the…

And Gwynne Dyer in The Herald asks a not unreasonable question: Why would you want to win this election?

Why would you want to work for The Herald? OK, I know it's a unfashionably good natured view of politics, but perhaps both Labour and the Conservatives want to win because…

But if it works, it would be a remarkable blow to a Tory party determined to waltz into Downing Street on less than a quarter of the vote, dragging a captive…

This is a bleak day for our democracy.

Oh, shut up, you pretentious windbag tool.

And Gwynne Dyer in The Herald asks a not unreasonable question: Why would you want to win this election?

The writer should be wary of moral arguments, and especially of waving around the popular vote figures.

I think you've got a fair point there — and one that would equally apply to PR advocates, come to that. One of my bugbears, too, is the slack use of "disenfranchised" as…

England voted decisively for the Tories last Thursday (297 seats to Labour’s 191), yet is to be effectively disenfranchised by the Brown/Clegg stitch-up. Does Mr Brown realise how dangerous a game he is playing? ...

Mr Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. They are, in…

Well Labour have apparently promised voting reform with or without the referendum.

So, arguably the most important and radical electoral reform since women's suffrage would be rammed through the House by a government with a wafer-thin majority (however you slice the Parliamentary cake) without a referendum?

Sounds an awful lot…

Brown quits — but not yet. I seriously still think this is more risky for Clegg than the pundits seem to think: Does he really want to be the occasion for a Labour palace coup (or a Tory one come to that). I…

The question is, with the Tories offering a referendum on AV, will it work?

From now on they have to be on topic and relevant. That should keep it down to one a day.

Lucky you said that, cause I was just about to post a Muppet Sex video. But hang on, how is that not on topic and relevant?

That last sentence…

And I've used up my Alien Sex Fiend post already. Dang it!

I think you technically only get one gratuitous use. From now on they have to be on topic and relevant. That should keep it down to one a day.

Perhaps we need to take the vote off irrational unpredictable human beings and tell our alien overlords to shake their pseudopod and hurry up with the harsh but loving rule? (Just eat those pricks next door first.) :)

I will never vote for any species I would not [edit: willingly…

Perhaps we need to take the vote off irrational unpredictable human beings and tell our alien overlords to shake their pseudopod and hurry up with the harsh but loving rule?

don't blame me, I voted for kodos

Should'a voted for that hope-y, change-y stuff instead, I suppose.

but god that was beautiful.

'twas but a pale shadow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZBCcY0nJao

Can PA give us special Craig tags?

For creative filth, perhaps – to hide the utterances from zealous filters

A new committee could spend five minutes retrieving it from the vault and blowing off the dust. Or a couple of years going nowhere.

That's a pretty sorry tale, IMHO, but I do wonder how much of that is because of what Australians are like rather than because of what their parliamentary system is like.

Indeed. Surely we would be better at it?

Can PA give us special Craig tags?

The mind booggles.

Ladies…

PV has produced a two party system consistently. So it's not really much different to FPP on that score.

PV (AV) can give third parties who have enough votes in a particular constituency representation, as it essentially means that people don't have to split their vote. Australia lacks a centrist…

but I do wonder how much of that is because of what Australians are like rather than because of what their parliamentary system is like.

Perhaps we need to take the vote off irrational unpredictable human beings and tell our alien overlords to shake their pseudopod and hurry up with…

Can PA give us special Craig tags?

Perhaps I'm rather naive, but it might have helped if most of those "veterans" had at least tried to hide their utter contempt for Cameron's attempt to drag the Conservatives out of the hole they'd dug.

Yep

And Ashcroft complaining about the TV debates was remarkable. The Tories have…

]]> Mon, 10 May 2010 12:48:09 +1200 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/pass-the-crisps-uk-election-watch/?p=164747#post164747 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/pass-the-crisps-uk-election-watch/?p=164747#post164747 Thanks George.

This details the Australian system and it's spreading appeal in more detail.

The Global Spread of Preferential Voting: Australian Institutional Imperialism?.

]]> Mon, 10 May 2010 12:46:44 +1200 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/pass-the-crisps-uk-election-watch/?p=164743#post164743 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/pass-the-crisps-uk-election-watch/?p=164743#post164743

Since we are touching on Electoral Reform, can the Mansplainers in the house explain again why MMP is better than the Australian system? i.e. Preferential Voting.

Australia's system of preferential voting gives each voter a ballot in which they order their preferences. If their first preference is not elected their…

If you don't want to represent minority interests, stick with FPP

Actually I think safer would be to say "If the only minorities whose interests you care to account for are the two biggest ones, then go for FPP". It's never been about representing "majority interests" that's for sure.

I understand it doesn't represent minority interests in the way MMP does, but it has other appeals. For instance it would seem less likely…