BBC Question Time

[sds]

So you think we live in a democracy.

Aha, people get really confused over this. We don't have direct democracy; we live with a representative democracy, whereby we vote representatives into the democratic chamber to best represent our wishes. Sure, it doesn't always work perfectly, but it generally does tend toward the will of the majority. (At worst, less-than-unpopular policies get pushed through but the public don't care enough to collectively make their representatives aware of their discontent. And, yes, those representatives can act against our will because sometimes they do actually have more information available to them than we do. Finally, yes, sometimes they're just dumb; we all can be from time to time.)

You want a true demoncracy? Then start campaigning for it. It's nearly achievable today, with near-instant communication channels.

[Josef]

Well put, sds.

There are a number of hard right/left issues that have a degree of support amongst the UK population. The point was made earlier that the main political parties are not appearing to allow the electorate a choice on these issues. This is absolutely true. For the simple reason that elections are actually decided by a very small proportion of the UK electorate, and the risk of losing the part of the electorate that objects to a particular policy far outweighs the potential of gaining voters in favour of it.

It's far better for a party to rely on the core faithful's perception that they are in favour of something, whilst not openly stating the fact (or indeed having a stated policy that implies the reverse). Thus the 'dog-whistle' party conference speeches (the theory being that people whose ears/minds are attuned to a particular issue will catch the implied 'real' policy in the nuances of the speech, whilst the actual words appear to give no identifiable offence).

This 'risk penalty' is also a major factor in the 'they're all the same' perception of politicians in general, btw. It's not their fault, really, it's ours.

[Mori]

Herald

I note that Hamiltons new radio station have had their fingers burnt by bringing herr griffin to the station this morning.

The BNP leader was on air between 10am and 11am and faced eight calls from the public.
L107 programme director Derek McIntyre defended the decision to have the BNP leader on but admitted it was “commercial suicide”.
He said: “We have received 50 emails this morning from people withdrawing their support for the station and two or three advertisers have said they are pulling out.

[Bing Buzby]

When punters (or bigots) tie their knickers up in a knot about skin colour I usually think of Grace:



She casually makes a serious point, whilst giving me trouser ebony. Good job Miss Jones.