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| George |
Superb article from Iain MacwhirterJust read this excellent article from The Sunday Herald, Macwhirter has redeemed himself and let it be known what his favoured coalition option is.http://www.sundayherald.co.uk/new...dnews/display.var.1379914.0.0.php |
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| Reluctant Hero |
Good article by MacWhirter, humble pie an' all.
He hinted that the Labour in-fighting has started already 
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| SLG |
That's what we want to hear! It's also worth noting that due to the Labour policy of not allowing candidates to stand on the list and fptp, there are quite a few new Labour faces as well. Might be interesting to see if any of them are inclined to rock the boat. |
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| Reluctant Hero |
If you think that is good, read this http://www.sundayherald.com/news/....1379934.0.how_labour_lost_it.php |
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| SLG |
Since when did the Sunday Herald publish on a Saturday? | ||||
| FALSYDE |
More often than not MacWhirter turns in a good piece and seems to have an excellent contacts book for back channels. | ||||
| Hendry |
Re: Superb article from Iain Macwhirter
You cannot have a multi question option in a constitutional referendum where there has to be a clear >50% result. |
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| agentmancuso |
Re: Superb article from Iain Macwhirter
Says who? |
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| Holebender |
Are we going to go this all over again? Says Wikipedia among others.
How can you change the constitution without >50% backing for one of the options on offer? If there is going to be any sort of attempt at a multi-option referendum each option has to be made as simple and unambiguous as possible and there must be some mechanism to establish a clear winner. One question with a yes/no answer is the standard form of a referendum and is the only form which will produce a clear winner. Multiple options might be possible but, given the high proportion of spoiled ballots during the recent general election, would it be practical or produce a satisfactory result? |
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| agentmancuso |
By a 'satisfactory result', you mean the result you would find satisfactory. I don't much like referendums at all. The tyranny of the majority is no less tyrannical, especially when that majority is artificially engineered to suit a fundamentalist minority. If there has to be a referendum at all, use STV, and as many options as people want. That way a more genuine and accurate picture of people's wishes can be obtained. |
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| Aventinian |
I don't see why you can't - we've never done it any other way.
There's a difference between holding two elections on one day and holding a fairly straightforward multi-option referendum. |
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| Holebender |
A satisfactory result would be a result with clear majority backing. Whether or not that result is the one I would personally like to see is irrelevant.
I would not object to a multi-option referendum with an STV system, I just doubt the capacity of politicians and public sector employees to not c**k it up. |
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| Dave Coull |
Holebender wrote
> I would not object to a multi-option referendum with an STV system, > I just doubt the capacity of politicians and public sector employees > to not c**k it up. I would object to a multi-option referendum BECAUSE I'm sure they would **** it up. One of the options, we are told, is "more powers". But what does that actually mean ? The parliament of an independent Scotland would certainly have more powers than at present. "More powers" covers everything from mere window dressing to full independence with a dozen other stages or variations in between. Unless it is very specifically spelled out exactly which "more powers" option is being offered, this would be buying a pig in a poke. So how long do we wait for the "more powers" crew to figure out exactly what they mean by this? A year? Two? Three? Four? Five? Ten? It sounds like a recipe for delay to me, and in fact it sounds like a recipe for quite _deliberate_ delay and confusion to me. It sounds like a way of avoiding the real issue, which is independence - yes or no ? |
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| agentmancuso |
That might be the real issue for you, but it's not the real issue for most people in Scotland. Which is why, when presented with a full range of options, they never choose independence in any poll. |
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| Jimbo |
I think they never go for the independence yes or no format is because they are afraid of the answer. I read that when it was put this way in a poll I'm pretty sure the result was 54% said yes, I may be a couple of % out either way but it was definitely over the 50% mark. IMO that's why they take the safe multi-option route to make it easy for the maybes or would like to's but a bit scared to take the step group to cop out of a straight answer. |
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