absolutely nothing to do with house prices - gwyneth dunwoody dies

JonnyBravo

jamescredmond wrote: »

I've thanked you for this because my father does the spoilt paper thing at local/nat./euro elections, and has done for the past 10yrs.

pleased to see he's not alone.

I argued that by spoiling he's wasting a vote.(tongue in cheek a bit).

he argued back: it's purely my vote. by spoiling I make a vote. nobody can accuse me of being too lazy/indifferent for not visiting my polling station. I've made a choice that wasn't offered to me on the ballot sheet.

I've sometimes wondered if this type of approach would work in future elections. the turnout is high, but so is the no. of spoilt papers -in fact so high they outnumber the votes cast for any candidate.

I, personally, would love it.

Yep agree it would be great but unfortunately voter apathy is far too strong for spoilt papers to ever become significant enough IMHO.


However, I'm with your dad, it doesn't stop me trying, I don't want to be accused of being too lazy/indifferent.
I do of course appreciate the fact that I could be living in a country with no right to vote and I don't want to forget that. I appreciate that this right has been hard fought for by people other than me.

What I don't appreciate is that modern politics is more about avoiding putting your foot in anything untoward rather than any real conviction of doing what is right. (And no I don't believe that Blair's main reason for invading Iraq was because he felt it was "the right thing to do").
I don't feel as if there is any real choice. The vast majority of the 600+ politicians are, in my opinion, simply more interested in making sure they keep their job or in the extreme defrauding the people of as much money as possible in as short a time as possible.

eg. I was incensed recently that Derek Conway has all but admitted that he paid his sons over £40k to do nothing. The punishment? He gets to keep his job for the next couple of years then stand down. Well **** that. I want my money back. I want him charged with fraud. I want him flogged. I want him in the stocks. :mad:
Any normal person who quoted £40k for a job and then did nothing certainly wouldn't get this treatment.