Behind Blue Eyes

Soooooo…. Mr Brown lives to lead another day. And what world-changing policy does he pull out of the hat? Yes, ballot paper reform. Talk about missing the point. People are pissed off because MPs tried so hard to keep their dirty laundry secret. They are not angry because they don’t get to mark a second choice on the ballot paper. I am not going to get into the pluses and minuses of Alternative Vote* but I do want to mention the fact that no reform of that kind could ever happen a) this side of a general election or b) without a separate referendum.

Is Brown really going to go into the next election with voting reform as his top priority? Is this the vision he so desperately wanted to outline when he was deciding not to hold an election in 2007?

Is Brown really going to go into the next election promising a referendum on constitutional reform? Haven’t we seen what Brown thinks of election promises? One blog post is too small to list all of Brown’s Broken Promises, but if there is one promise that British voters are most angry about it is his failure to hold that referendum on the Lisbon Constitution.

If the Prime Minister really wants to show that he has learned from his mistakes, that he is listening, that he has changed then all he needs to do is fulfil some of his 2005 promises. He needs to roll back some of the things which he has done that so many people hate. He needs to start being honest and open with the electorate rather than trying to distract, divide and fool them.

I could go on, but I won’t bore you any longer. My opinion on this latest headline grabber is this can be summed up in two words: “cones hotline”.

* My own personal theory on democracy asserts that it doesn’t make much difference what voting system is used, because people will adjust their strategy. Our intelligentsia believe we are too stupid to notice them stitching up a perpetual Lib/Lab coalition – but look what happened in Scotland!